Lake Maga

Lake Maga was created at the end of the 1970s by building a long earth dyke across a shallow depression on the Logone floodplain in the far north, to store water for rice irrigation, and it has become a large shallow lake of around thirty square kilometres surrounded by rice fields, reedbeds and open water. It draws birds in numbers: pelicans, storks, herons, ducks, waders and, in the northern winter, migrants from Europe and Asia, and it is one of the more significant waterbird sites in the region. Fishing villages work the lake and the surrounding floodplain, which is one of the great seasonal wetlands of the Sahel margin.

History

The Maga dam was built in 1979, south of Lake Chad, and in 1994 a pilot programme began releasing some of its water back into the floodplain. The diversion of water by the dam has harmed communities downstream, and studies link it to the shrinking of Lake Chad (Wikipedia, Maga Dam).

The landscape

• A shallow lake behind a dyke - water stored for rice irrigation.
• Pelicans, storks and waders - the birds the lake concentrates.
• Wintering migrants - birds arriving from Europe and Asia.
• Rice fields and floodplain - the wider wetland around the lake.

When to go

November to February, when migrants are present and the heat is bearable. A day. A telescope helps considerably. From March temperatures here become extreme.

Before you go

There are no hides or visitor facilities. From March onward the heat here becomes punishing. Water levels vary through the year.

Nearby

Maroua is west; the Logone floodplain spreads north.