LAC D'OUNIANGA KEBIR OU LAC YOA

Ounianga Kébir is little more than a ghost village abandoned to the winds, the sands and the soldiers, who are the only inhabitants of this deserted garrison. There's not a tree to be seen in the village, and the market is sparse but well worth a visit. By contrast, the administrative buildings of the national gendarmerie, the school and the former hospital built by the Germans taunt the rest of the village with their fresh white paint... The excessive size of the school is reminiscent of the many others built throughout the BET (Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti) under the aegis of the European Development Fund (EDF). The market's small stalls are pretty much all stocked with the same goods: tins of mackerel and tomato sauce, cookies and sweets, peanuts, tea and sugar, soap and washing powder. You'll also find bottles of fruit juice and Coke. You can replenish your water supplies at the tire-lined well dug in the ground in front of the store opposite the gendarmerie, and your fuel supplies (from 900 to 1,500 FCFA a liter, depending on crude oil prices...) in front of the school, where a few broken-down trucks are usually parked waiting for parts.

Accommodation. The trail continues past the gendarmerie towards the tented camp set up on the shores of the lake, next to the gardens, during the tourist season (December to March). The vast doum tents stand in stark contrast to the small, basic tents of the nomads, which can be quickly dismantled. Here, the interiors are comfortably furnished with curtains and blankets, providing a chicane entrance and several independent bedrooms with real wooden beds. On the floor, mats and carpets insulate feet from the sand. If you wish to sleep in this camp, it will cost you around 20,000 FCFA per night. You can also ask the women's groups, responsible for managing the tents and protecting the site, to prepare meals and organize traditional evenings. The women also sell local arts and crafts in the immediate vicinity of the camp. You can also visit the gardens, irrigated by an ingenious system of reed canals. The trail continues to the beach, lined with dunes and palm trees. The waters of the lake are salty and cool, due to the massive evaporation of water vapour, which at the same time releases heat..