OUNIANGA SÉRIR, CHAD
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Ounianga Sérir - Paradise
When I arrived in Ounianga Sérir I felt like at the end of the world. Actually this is the end of the world - or the beginning. The area of Northern Chad is one of the remotest places on earth, without your own transport to come here is one of the hardest journeys ever possible. Huge trucks are traveling the 1000 km through the Bar El Gazal valley up to Faya in about 10 days - driving 20 hours a day. From Faya transport is hardly predictable and normally someone has to wait long for a ride to Ounianga Sérir, another 400 km towards the Lybian border. Therefore the trip takes weeks, if someone ever arrives. Here are no roads, no signs, no cell phones, no news - nothing we are used to, only the sand, the mountains and the endless blue sky for hundreds of kilometres. I climbed upon a unnamed hill from where the huge lake of Ounianga Sérir unfelt. An incredible panorama. This area is considered in any statistic as the poorest region on our planet - statistics made by people who never have been here…
I said what about my eyes?
"Keep them on the road"
I said what about my passion?
"Keep it burning"
I said what about my heart?
"Tell me what you hold inside it?"
I said pain and sorrow
He said: "Stay with it"