Our rabies phylogeographic analysis confirms a longstanding presence of this viral lineage in West Africa [28] . The virus appears to have a constant population size for about 150 years during which, extrapolating from the more recent spatial dynamics, diffusion occurs continuously with no particular directionality ( Figure 6A ). These continuous dynamics explain why we can not achieve precise root state location inference based only on samples from the last 20 years. In the light of the constant population dynamics, however, the location of the MRCA may be epidemiologically irrelevant as the location probably does not necessarily represent the ultimate source of the rabies endemic. We note that our analysis does not include all currently available strains originating from Chad, which may add to the weak East-to-West dispersal signal revealed by a recent parsimony analysis [39] . Our analysis confirms the model proposed for dog RABV in general; that is, of a series of spatially distinct clusters that experience relatively little contact among them [28, 39] . By providing a time scale for the seeding of these spatial clusters, we again demonstrate a clear advantage of the Bayesian inference over parsimony analysis. The ability to draw migrations over time also promotes a more precise dissection of local and temporal RABV movement on smaller geographical scales. After migration, the virus appears to establish local populations maintaining the viral lineage for at least a limited amount of time. These dynamics are reminiscent of a metapopulation model with continuous turnover of locally established viral populations. A long-standing rabies presence in West Africa is not surprising; already recognized since the late 60s, the territory plays a major role in the rabiescanid ecological balance [45] . It remains a remarkable feat that an acute and mainly fatal disease achieves prolonged endemicity. Because disease-induced mortality can rapidly deplete the number of susceptibles in a population, one expects epidemic cycles with oscillatory dynamics to occur. Rabies cycles and traveling waves have been well documented in wildlife across Europe and North America, e.g. [46] , and more recently [47] , demonstrate such cycles in African dogs. Because their periodicity is notably shorter than expected from epidemiological models, the authors argue that intervention responses also impact the epidemic cycles [47] . Importantly, there is also a remarkable phase synchrony in rabies outbreaks across southern and eastern Africa, most pronounced for distances up to 1,000 km [47] . For oscillating systems in particular, it is well known that dispersal can generate population synchrony [48] . Because previous studies illustrate that even limited amounts of relatively local dispersal can generate synchrony in cyclical dynamics over large spatial scales [48] , and that the resulting synchrony tends to decline as distance increases and varies through time [49] , [47] argue that dispersal could enforce synchrony in dog rabies epidemics across different countries. Our analysis clearly reveals rabies dispersal as a continuous dynamic process that could indeed be essential in maintaining epidemic cycles. As argued by [39] , however, the rate of dispersal is probably not sufficiently high to explain the short epidemic cycles as suggested by [47] . Nevertheless, we underscore that sustained and coordinated responses across political boundaries are necessary to control domestic dog rabies in Africa.