Ouadi Rimé – Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve
Chad’s Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve (OROAFR) is a unique place supporting a lot of migratory birds and endangered wildlife.
Nowhere else on Earth can one observe wild addax, scimitar-horned oryx, dama gazelles, North-African ostriches or dorcas gazelles, all free to roam in an impressive grassland landscape.
Located in central Chad’s Sahel and sub-desert zones, the reserve’s name springs from two of its major wadi systems, the Ouadi Rimé in the South and the Ouadi Achim in the North.
The reserve is the largest protected area in the country and one of the largest in Africa. It was established to protect the Sahel’s increasingly threatened wildlife, including iconic species such as the addax, scimitar-horned oryx, dama gazelle, cheetah and North African ostrich.
OROAFR is an important pastoral area for thousands of sedentary, semi-sedentary and nomadic people.
Challenges
A combination of uncontrolled hunting, traditional poaching and civil war led a lot of species of the reserve to the verge of extinction in the late 70s, early 80s.
Various anthropogenic activities are also damaging the habitat, such as abusive logging, pastoralism, leading to overgrazing and desertification. Bush fires are a recurring threat in the reserve. They result in the considerable loss of grazing land for both wildlife and livestock. They destroy perennial plants, microfauna and the nests of ground-nesting birds such as bustards, thus impoverishing the reserve’s plant biodiversity.
ID Card
Year of creation:
1969
Area:
77,950 km2
IUCN protected area category:
Category IV: Habitat management area / Species Management Area
Sahara Conservation’s contribution
As a response to the adoption of a concerted action plan for the conservation of Sahelo-Saharan antelopes in Djerba, Tunisia, in 1998 (CMS 1998), the reserve benefitted from new interest and over the following decade a series of highly important and detailed technical reports on the reserve were written.
In 2008, Sahara Conservation spearheaded efforts to develop a strategy for the reintroduction of the scimitar-horned oryx in OROAFR, on the basis of the numerous captive-bred animals that existed outside of Africa. To do so, we operate in support of the Wildlife and Protected Area Department, an entity under the Ministry of the Environment Fisheries and Sustainable Development.
In March 2016, the first shipment of oryx arrived from Abu Dhabi. These 23 animals were successfully released into the wild. Since then, 300 oryx have been brought into Chad and the wild population is now estimated to be approaching 600 animals, leading to the downlisting of the oryx from Extinct in the wild to Endangered, on the IUCN Redlist of Threatened species.
Since 2020, a new phase of the project has led to a multispecies approach, with the reintroduction of addax, dama gazelles and North African ostrich.
The very survival of several species in the wild depends on conservation efforts undertaken in the reserve.
The implementation of our programs in favor of the reserve builds on what is already successfully taking place to reintroduce the oryx, complementing it with much-needed work to conserve habitat, improve overall management of the reserve, and address the need for greater cooperation between and input from the communities and sectors vying for the reserve’s resources.
In 2022, a first, consensual 2023 – 2032 management plan for the reserve was adopted.
The plan is based on zoning work for the reserve, drawn up ahead of the drafting of the plan. This zoning allowed the creation of strict conservation areas in which grazing, farming and livestock watering activities will be heavily regulated. In the future, this will give a legal basis to reduce anthropogenic pressure within these strict conservation areas and attempt to protect their ecosystems.
We aim to set up sustainable management systems in the main conservation areas, so that local communities can coexist harmoniously with restored populations of endemic species in the region.
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