New country, new UNESCO site!!!
Sometimes months go by without receiving any postcards from UNESCO sites but these last weeks I've received a few and from some unique places. This is not only my 1st UNESCO card from Chad but also my very 1st card from this African country. Even though Svenja sent it from Germany, I still think this is a good addition to my collection.
The Ennedi Massif, inscribed by UNESCO in 2016, is located in the eastern Sahara, northeast of Chad, and is one of the six mountain ranges of the Sahara.
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The Ennedi Massif first came into being in the Paleozoic era, approximately 500-350 million years ago. It was part of one of the primordial oceans which covered the majority of the Sahara. The ocean dried up. What was left behind were sandstone formations which ever since have been carved and re-shaped by water, wind and sand.
Today the sandstone plateau consists of a rock labyrinth, bizarre rock formations and gorges and valleys up to 200 metres deep, through which narrow rivers and streams still run.
The Sahara was once green and full of life. About 10,000 years ago, heavy monsoon rains had transformed it into a fertile savanna. It reached all the way to the Nile. Wild animals lived here and people on their way through the savanna settled here and there. Reptiles and fish inhabited the lakes and swamps.
Climate change saw the disappearance of the rains from the Sahara - and with it the life. Only by the rivers in the rocky valleys of the Ennedi mountains was life even possible. People, animals and plants found retreat here, with its life-giving water - sheltered for thousands of years from the outside world.
In the course of the Ennedi's formation, wind, sand and water partially hollowed out some of the rocks, forming very large over-hangs. In prehistoric times people used these cave-like niches as their living space. They added scenes of their lives on the walls.
The scenes depict stories of a long ago culture. They show, in their own way, the changing climate and the effects this had on living conditions.
The petroglyphs show people dancing, cows with their herders and hunters with their horses or camels, as well as scores of wild animals - for example, giraffes, rhinoceroses or elephants. - in: https://explore-chad.org
Today the sandstone plateau consists of a rock labyrinth, bizarre rock formations and gorges and valleys up to 200 metres deep, through which narrow rivers and streams still run.
The Sahara was once green and full of life. About 10,000 years ago, heavy monsoon rains had transformed it into a fertile savanna. It reached all the way to the Nile. Wild animals lived here and people on their way through the savanna settled here and there. Reptiles and fish inhabited the lakes and swamps.
Climate change saw the disappearance of the rains from the Sahara - and with it the life. Only by the rivers in the rocky valleys of the Ennedi mountains was life even possible. People, animals and plants found retreat here, with its life-giving water - sheltered for thousands of years from the outside world.
In the course of the Ennedi's formation, wind, sand and water partially hollowed out some of the rocks, forming very large over-hangs. In prehistoric times people used these cave-like niches as their living space. They added scenes of their lives on the walls.
The scenes depict stories of a long ago culture. They show, in their own way, the changing climate and the effects this had on living conditions.
The petroglyphs show people dancing, cows with their herders and hunters with their horses or camels, as well as scores of wild animals - for example, giraffes, rhinoceroses or elephants. - in: https://explore-chad.org
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