Chad
Les ruines d'Ouara
Photo in the Public Domain
Ouara was the former capital of the kingdom of Ouaddai. Only the ruins of the palace of Sultan Abdel-Kerim Ibn Djamé remain. This brick palace was built in the 16th century by an Egyptian architect. It is within a walled compound with several buildings such as the Sultan's residence, a high watchtower, and housing for his princely wives and concubines. Just outside the walls lie the remains of a mosque.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- Les ruines d'Ouara (ID: 2052)
- Country
- Chad
- Status
-
On tentative list 2005
Site history
History of Les ruines d'Ouara
- 2005: Added to Tentative List
- Added to tentative list
- Criteria
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org
Community Information
- Community Category
- Archaeological site: Civilizations of Sub-Saharan Africa
Travel Information
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Community Reviews
Show full reviewsMy visit to Ouara is more of a story about the journey and not much the destination itself. In Jan 2012, a friend and I convinced the relevant authorities (through some very loose associations with NGO's in the country) that we should be given permits to travel to Abeche, ostensibly to research some future work there.
I don't remember now how we heard about Ouara but it was along the lines of vague rumours of ruins somewhere nearby. Asking around town we were given all sorts of directions and replies until we found an old bedouin mototaxi driver that claimed to have been there once years ago. He recruited another driver nearby to assist as well and in one of the most foolish travel decisions of our lives, at 1pm in 30+C and without any additional preparations we jumped on and headed out of town thinking it would be a quick trip. I can only say with confidence the site is somewhere ~40km north of town somewhere nestled behind a small mountain well off the main dirt road heading north from Abeche. We finally arrived there about 20 minutes before sunset after stopping for directions at every little village we found, a couple flat tires, nap time under a tree and an aborted mutiny by the 2nd driver and finally an off road "short cut" that only ended in success when we found a lone camel herder to get us around the last corner so to speak.
Ouara …
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