Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Reserve
Addax, oryx and gazelle reserve
The stage for the return of the scimitar-horned oryx, declared Extinct in the Wild in 2000 and downlisted to Endangered in 2023 after its reintroduction here.
- Coordinates
- 15.5000° N, 19.5000° E
- Wildlife reserve
- Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Reserve
History
The Ouadi Rimé-Ouadi Achim Faunal Reserve, created in 1969, covers 78,000 km² of Sahelian steppe north of Arada. It holds addax, dama gazelle — Chad's national emblem — dorcas gazelle and red-necked ostrich.
Since 2016 it has been the site of one of the largest wildlife restoration programmes ever undertaken: the reintroduction of the scimitar-horned oryx. Wiped out by motorised hunting, the antelope survived only in captivity. Animals from a managed world herd were acclimatised in enclosures then released, tracked by satellite collar. The first wild births came in 2017; the wild population now exceeds 500, and the IUCN downlisted the species in 2023 — the first time a large mammal has left the Extinct in the Wild category.