Herds of Dama and Dorca gazelles spotted in Chad

ALLAYING FEARS: Fieldwork in Chad found a number of dama gazelles

No tangible evidence for years

April 2011:Until civil war broke out in the 1980s, Chad's vast Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Game Reserve was a haven for desert antelopes, including several thousand of the now extinct in the wild scimitar-horned oryx. It was also home to a dama gazelle population - before the war began it wasn't unusual to see more than a hundred of the animals a day.

Yet concerns about the species have been mounting, with no tangible evidence of their existence remaining.

Now, thankfully, fieldwork has revealed the population is surviving the unrest.

The first indications are very positive
A spokesman for the Pan Sahara Wildlife Survey, which carried out the study, said: ‘Our initial strategy was to talk to local nomadic herders and we were pleasantly surprised to hear news of recent sightings and some good indications of where the gazelles might be found. 

‘Once in the general area we then started a systematic search, combining long, vehicle-based transects with shorter excursions on foot to optimise chances of picking up tell-tale tracks.

‘It did not take long for our guide, Abdelaziz, to pick up the first spoor and soon enough we finally spotted our first dama gazelle. This was quickly followed by a small group of four, including a youngish animal. It is difficult to say exactly how many gazelles are left but first indications are very positive.'

Apart from dama gazelles, the fieldwork also confirmed the reserve as being almost certainly the best remaining reservoir in the whole of Africa for dorcas gazelles. In all, fieldworkers saw more than 1,500.
Courtesy of the Sahara Conservation Fund