Mauritania is a land of desert and ocean. It is of course no wonder that the main attractions for most tourists are the desert in Adrar and Tagant areas (around Atar), and the ocean in Banc d’Arguin (a natural reserve with dunes ending in the sea, full of millions of birds and protected by UNESCO).
The Mauritanian Adrar is full-on Sahara: endless ergs (dunes) and regs (rocky desert) with tabular small mountains.
Mauritania is the least developed and poorest country in northwest Africa, and extremist groups pose a danger to travelLers.
WARNING: Some governments advise against all non-essential travel to Mauritania and all travel to many parts of Mauritania due to the danger posed by extremist jihadist groups. The remote desert regions along the border with Algeria and especially near the border with Mali are particularly dangerous. The ability of officials to provide consular assistance is extremely limited. (Dec 2016).
Capital: Nouakchott
Currency: Mauritanian ouguiya (MRO), Ouguiya (MRU)
Population: 3.5 million
Country Code: +222
REGIONS
1. COASTAL MAURITANIA (Nouakchott, Dakhlet, Nouadhibou, Inchiri, Trarza)
The narrow coastal strip with a crashing Atlantic coastline and the capital city.
Banc d’Arguin National Park. World Heritage Site. Covers much of the central coastline —home to millions of migrating birds each year.
At Nouamgar, you can watch the unique spectacle of local tribesmen communicating with dolphins to round up teams of fish into shallow waters for them to be netted.
Banc d’Arguin islands (Tidra, Kijji)
NOUADHIBOU (pop 140,000). The second largest city and major commercial centre in Mauritania. It is situated on a 65km peninsula or headland called Ras Nouadhibou or Cap Blanc of which the western side, with the Moroccan city of La Güera, is part of Western Sahara. Nouadhibou is consequently located merely a couple of kilometres from the border between Mauritania and Morocco de facto, Western Sahara de jure. It has a large fishing centre and industrial harbour. Nouadhibou Airport (NDB)
Near the harbour is the terminus of Mauritania’s only railway line, which mainly brings iron ore from the mining areas near Fdérik and Zouérat, which are located up to 704 kilometres (437 mi) inland. The freight trains can be as long as 3 km, reputedly the longest in the world. The railway also carries passengers and calls at Choum.
Processing iron ore forms the largest industry in Nouadhibou, although the overall major economic activity is fishing.
Central Mosque
Round-shaped Mosque
Cap Blanc Lighthouse
Nouadhibou Shipwrecks. The Dark Side. The port of Nouadhibou is the final resting place of over 300 ships and hence the world’s largest ship graveyard. Unlike the arrival en masse of ships at Mallows Bay, here the number of craft has built up over time, as corrupt officials accepted bribes from boat owners to allow them to dump their vessels in the area.
NOUAKCHOTT (pop 1million). The capital, largest city of Mauritania, one of the largest cities in the Sahel and the administrative and economic center of Mauritania.
Nouakchott was a mid-sized village of little importance until 1958, when it was chosen as the capital of the nascent nation of Mauritania. At the time, it was designed and built to accommodate 15,000 people. However, beginning in the 1970s, a vast number of Mauritanians began moving to Nouakchott because environmental conditions in their home villages had become too harsh due to drought and increasing desertification. Many of the newcomers settled in slum areas of the city that were poorly maintained and extremely overcrowded. However, more recently, the living conditions of some of these inhabitants have improved.
The city is the hub of the Mauritanian economy. It is home to a deepwater port and the Nouakchott Airport (NKC). It also hosts the University of Nouakchott and several other more specialized institutions of higher learning.
National Museum of Mauritania
Friday Mosque
Saudi Mosque
Nouakchott Beach
Marche Capitale
ROSSO (pop 50,000). The 3rd largest city and the major city of south-western Mauritania and capital of Trarza region. It is situated on the Senegal River at the head of the river zone allowing year-round navigation. The town is 204 km south of the capital Nouakchott.
Rosso occupies a strategic position at the international ferry-crossing on the main road between Nouakchott and the Senegalese capital of Dakar. Economically the town has benefited, but its fortunes are very dependent on the state of relations between the two countries.
Diawling National Park. In south west Mauritania around the Senegal River delta. During the rainy season, much of the park consists of large lakes. It is known for having over 220 species of identified birds, including pelicans, black storks, and flamingos, and also for its fish. 16,000 hectares, all of which was once a floodplain. The Senegal River acts like a boundary between the park and the Djoudj National Bird Sanctuary in the Republic of Senegal.
Diawling is part of a Trans-Border Biosphere Reserve that is a popular bird nesting site because of the combination of fresh and salt water at the Senegal River delta. The park also has a significant population of primates, wart hogs and wild donkeys.
Some of the region’s worst malaria is found in this area, due to the construction some years ago of a dam built in the area. Bilharzia and invasive plant species have also taken hold.
2. NORTH – Adrar, Hodh Ech Chargui, Tiris Zemmour
Saharan Mauritania. huge northern desert area which is largely very empty
Adrar Province in southwestern Algeria, named after its capital Adrar. It is the second-largest province, with an area of 424,948 km², roughly the size of the US state of California. It had 402,197 inhabitants (2008)
The Adrar massif in the north is full of stunning desert scenery. Take a 4×4 off-piste across rocky terrain and through narrow canyons to explore the lush, hidden oases which have provided water and refuge to traders crossing the Sahara for centuries.
Adrar (70,000) is the administrative capital of Adrar Province. On an oasis in the Touat region of the Sahara Desert. Adrar is mainly an agricultural town, characterized by its traditional irrigation system, the Foggara.
The Adrar contains two of the country’s magnificent historical cities. Chinguetti was once a trading centre and centre of Islamic scholarship whose architecture remains unchanged in nearly a millennium. Visiting the in
ANCIENT KSOUR of OUADANE, CHINGUETTI, TICHITT AND OUALATA. World Heritage Sites: Founded in the 11th and 12th centuries to serve the caravans crossing the Sahara, these trading and religious centres became focal points of Islamic culture. They have managed to preserve an urban fabric that evolved between the 12th and 16th centuries. Typically, houses with patios crowd along narrow streets around a mosque with a square minaret. They illustrate a traditional way of life centred on the nomadic culture of the people of the western Sahara.
The medieval towns retain a specific safeguarded urban morphology with narrow and winding lanes, houses built around central courtyards and an original decorative stone architecture. The four towns were prosperous centres from which radiated an intense religious and cultural life. These ksour are located on the southern limits of the Saho-Sahelan desert and over time became obligatory stages for the caravan routes linking North Africa and the river regions of western Africa, but also the entire savanna zone.
Warehouses were built to safeguard their goods, and the towns evolved to become the brilliant homes of Islamic culture and thought.
The four towns had preserved their original form and materials to a remarkably high degree, essentially due to gradual deterioration and population migration over a long period when no restoration was undertaken. When restoration work began in the 1980s, the techniques employed were in full conformity with best practices.
Chinguetti. Located on the Adrar Plateau east of Atar, it was founded in the 13th century as the center of several trans-Saharan trade routes, this small city continues to attract a handful of visitors who admire its spare architecture, scenery, and ancient libraries. The city is seriously threatened by the encroaching desert; high sand dunes mark the western boundary and several houses have been abandoned to the sand.
The town is split in two by a wadi. On one side, there is the old sector, and on the other the new one. The indigenous Saharan architecture of older sectors of the city features houses constructed of reddish dry-stone and mud-brick techniques, with flat roofs timbered from palms. Many of the older houses feature hand-hewn doors cut from massive ancient acacia trees, which have long disappeared from the surrounding area. Many homes include courtyards or patios that crowd along narrow streets leading to the central mosque.
For centuries the city was a principal gathering place for pilgrims of the Maghreb to gather on the way to Mecca. It became known as a holy city in its own right, especially for pilgrims unable to make the long journey to the Arab Peninsula.
It also became a center of Islamic religious and scientific scholarship in West Africa. In addition to religious training, the schools of Chinguetti taught students rhetoric, law, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. For many centuries all of Mauritania was popularly known in the Arab world as Bilad Shinqit, “the land of Chinguetti.” Chinguetti is locally said to be the seventh-most holy city of Islam, but there is no recognition of this claim outside of West Africa. The city remains one of the world’s most important historical sites both in terms of the history of Islam and the history of West Africa.
Although largely abandoned to the desert, the city features a series of The area around the Rue des Savants was once famous as a gathering place for scholars to debate the finer points of Islamic law. Today the quiet city still offers the urban and religious architecture of the Moorish empire as it existed in the Middle Ages.
Adventurous tourists “ski” down its sand dunes, visit the libraries, and appreciate the stark beauty of the Sahara.
Notable buildings in the town include a watertower and:
The Friday Mosque of Chinguetti, an ancient structure of dry-stone construction, featuring a square minaret capped with five ostrich egg finials
French Foreign Legion fortress
Hamoni library. The old quarter of Chinguetti has five important medieval manuscript libraries without peer in West Africa with many scientific and Qur’anic texts, with many dating from the later Middle Ages.
PAYSAGE CULTUREL d’AZOUGUI Tentative WHS (14/06/2001) Remains of the Almoravid capital.
Oasis: festivities linked to the annual date season. This palm grove, the oldest in the region, has more than twenty thousand palm trees with traditional system of canalization and exploitation.
The archaeological site of Azougui: First capital of the Almoravids, it is a fortress built in dry stone with a surrounding wall and several concessions. Enlarged over time, perimeter of several kilometres
Almoravid Movement is a very important political formation which was born within the Sanhaja tribes of Lemtouna and Guedala in Mauritanian Adrar, under the authority of a spiritual leader of extraordinary religious rigor, Abdullah Ibn Yassin. This movement was able to unify West Africa, the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula for several centuries, after having invested the Empire of Ghana, the Idrissids and the kingdom of Bourghouata.
SITE ARCHEOLOGIQUE de KUMBI SALEH Tentative WHS (14/06/2001). Capital of the Empire of Ghana. Discovered in 1914 and excavated 1939. The mosque is considered the oldest and the largest mosque in West Africa, remarkably restored by archeology: original epigraphic plaques, an astonishing chain link and rare metal objects. The oldest date on the site dates back to the 4th century, advent of the Almoravid conquest which considerably changed the way of life in Kumbi Saleh; and the scientific influence of the historic cities of Tichitt and Oualata and later Toumbouctou, in addition to the change in the axis of trans-Saharan trade in favor of these cities accelerated the abandonment of the city.
Chegga ‘Triangle’. XL. Chegga is a small settlement in the very northeastern part of Mauritania, close to the borders with Algeria and Mali. It consists of a military fort. It has been a caravan stop for centuries. There are neolithic rock carvings in the oued 500 meters away from the fort.
Hodh Ech Chargui province (east pop 430,668). XL is a large region in eastern Mauritania, with an area of 182,700 km2. Its capital is Néma, but the largest town is Fassala at the extreme southeast of Mauritania, with 65,927. The region borders the Mauritanian regions of Adrar, Tagant and Hodh El Gharbi to the west and Mali to the east and south. The Aoukar basin, which formerly gave name to a greater region, is located in the western part of Hodh Ech Chargui. As of 2008, the literacy rate for people aged 15 years and over was 53.90.
Zouerat (pop 44,649 2013)is the largest town in northern Mauritania. It lies at the eastern end of the Mauritania Railway to Nouadhibou.
The town is surrounded by the hematite iron ore mines of Fderîck, Tazadit and Rouessa. The town houses the regional administration and military for the area. Most of the town’s population are employed directly and indirectly in the mining industry. A sizeable number of foreign workers from other African countries live in the town. Amenities include a medical clinic, social club, pool, school and shop.
Since the mid 2000s, a shanty town has grown around the town. In response authorities have begun construction of a wall, nicknamed locally as the “mur de la honte” (wall of shame), to separate the two areas.
Mining at the mountain was first recorded in the 11th century, but it was not until 1952 that iron ore deposits were first commercially extracted on an industrial scale. It was nationalized by the Mauritanian government. In 1981 a new iron ore deposit was discovered at Guelb el Rhein, 35 km (22 mi) north of Zouérat. Almost a decade later, another was found in 1990 at Guelb Mhadaouat about 65 km (40 mi) from Zouérat.
Zouérat is connected to the port of Nouadhibou by the Mauritania Railway. Freight trains that transport the iron ore to the coast can be as long as 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) in length. The line is also used to bring in all the town’s drinking water from Boulenoir.
Tazadit Airport is served by regular flights from/to Nouadhibou and seasonally from/to Casablanca using Mauritania Airlines International.
Terjit is an oasis (in the proper sense: a desert spring or other water source), 45km by road south of Atar and popular with Mauritania’s few tourists. It nestles in a gorge on the western edge of the Adrar plateau with the palm grove stretching a few hundred metres alongside a stream which emerges from a spring. There is a modest fee to enter and tourists can pay to stay in tents in the palm grove. It is often used for tourism for its charm, fresh water and shade.
Historically, it has been used for religious ceremonies, especially wedding ceremonies, as well as the coronation of a few African princes.
Ain Ben Tili Fort is a small village-fort in northeast Mauritania, on the border with Western Sahara. Built by the French in 1934 as part of a larger scale French military effort to effectively occupy the interior of the Sahara. In 1961, the fort was returned to Mauritania which kept in there a small military garrison. On 20 January 1976, the Polisario Front (a guerrilla movement demanding the independence of Western Sahara) surrounded and attacked the isolated fort killing the few Mauritanians stationed there. During this attack, a Mauritanian soldier was killed and a Moroccan Northrop F-5 fighter aircraft called for support was shot down by the POLISARIO. The latter kept the fort, until the Moroccan army took over it in 1977 only to abandon it two years later since it proved difficult to defend against the POLISARIO’s raids. After the 1991 cease-fire between Morocco and the Polisario Front, the United Nations’ MINURSO has occasionally sheltered some of its personnel at the fort.
Ain Ben Tili is currently occupied by the Mauritanian military who are attempting to secure the border area from al-Qaeda militants based in Mali who “raid” into Northern Mauritania and are connected to the many smugglers who operate in the greater Sahara region.
Ben Amera and Ben Aicha Monoliths and Art Exhibits. Bizzarium
Ben Amera is Africa’s largest monolith rising 633m (2027ft) above the desert floor. It’s the world’s second largest monolith only behind Uluru, in Australia. It lies 4km north of the train track where the famous Iron Ore Train travels between Nouâdibhou and Choûm.
Nearby, a lesser monolith, Aïsha lies a 20-minute drive to the west of Ben Amera. “In 1999, a dozen artists of international fame celebrated the millennium by carving into the boulders at the base of Aïsha. They etched deep into the stone creating animal shapes as well as abstract. Some of the artworks are installation pieces that go beyond the boulder’s surface and use multiple stones in specific configurations to create their effect.”
Both of these monoliths are worth a visit.
A 4×4 vehicle and an experienced desert driver is required to handle the deep, sandy track out to Ben Amera, as there is no paving once you leave the road that runs from Atar to Chinguetti. Drivers can be hired in Atar if you don’t have your own vehicle. The rough path runs parallel to the tracks for the Iron Ore Train before crossing it at Km 395. As of December 2018, there was a small encampment near the tracks and a security checkpoint. Whereas at one point in time fiches were required for foreign travelers at these types of checkpoints, now, a simple photocopy of the traveler’s passport usually suffices.
Get all of the food and water you’ll think you need in Atar, whether for a day trip, or if you plan to camp overnight because there are no facilities anywhere near Ben Amera or Aïsha. Also make sure your vehicle is in top shape and that you have your repair kit on board. The path is rough and challenging and lightly traveled. If you get stuck, it may be a while before someone comes along that can help.
3. SOUTH – Assaba, Brakna, Gorgol, Guidimaka, Gharbi, Tagant
SAHELIAN MAURITANIA. Semi arid region in the south including the patchily lush Senegal River valley – Assaba, Brakna, Gorgol, Guidimaka, Gharbi, Tagant
Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata. World Heritage Sites: In the southeast, the oasis city of Oualata was the southern end of most trans-Sahara trading routes in the 13th & 14th centuries. The city has colourful buildings, many of which feature intricate geometric designs. The city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and also boasts a manuscript museum with examples of ancient scrolls in fine calligraphy.
Site archéologique de Tegdaoust Tentative WHS: (14/06/2001) is a former Berber town and was an important oasis town at the southern end of a trans-Saharan caravan route. The ruins at Tegdaoust are the remains of the medieval town.
By the 13th century the oasis town of Oualata situated 360 km (220 mi) to the east had replaced Aoudaghost as the southern terminus of the major trans-Saharan caravan route.
The archaeological site of Tegdaoust forms an artificial mound or tell extending for 12 hectares. It lies south of the Hodh depression and 34 km (21 mi) northeast of the small town of Tamchakett. The earliest layers date from the 7-9th centuries with the first mud-brick structures in the late 9th to early 10th centuries. Some stone buildings were constructed in the 11th century. The town appears to have been partly abandoned at the end of the 12th century and was completely abandoned by the 15th although there was some resettlement two centuries later.
Boghe (Bogue) is a town on the border with Senegal. Population 40,341. About 244 mm (9.61 in) of precipitation falls annually.
Kaedi. Largest city of the Gorgol Region of Southern Mauritania, located on the border with Senegal. 435 km from Nouakchott. The city sits on the north bank of the River Senegal where it connects with the Gorgol River. This region is one of the few areas of settled agriculture in the country. Culturally, the city is among the most diverse in Mauritania, consisting of ethnic “White Moors” and “Black Moors”, as well as Pulaar, and Soninke communities.
It has a market, a medical centre, and a centre for local farmers. The market reflects the sub-Saharan culture of neighboring Senegal somewhat more than the Moorish-Arabic culture found further north in the country.
Most of the architecture consists of brown, flat-roofed buildings, surrounded by “dutch brick” enclosures. The Kaédi Regional Hospital (1989) features multiple beehive-style domes. Like many cities along the Senegal River, was deeply affected by ethnic strife in 1989, and has yet to fully recover economically.
Kiffa is a large town in the far south 600 kilometres (370 mi) from the coast and at the western end of the Aoukar sand sea of southern Mauritania. Kiffa Airport About two thirds of the population are settled Berber pastoralists with an extensive livestock trade based on bush forage grazing, mixed with limited millet-based agrarian activity.
A large produce market.
Kiffa beads. Famous now-antique Kiffa beads, made exclusively by women from secret recipes involving powdered glass. The last of the traditionally trained bead makers died in the 1970s, so it is a lost art”.
The Affolle mountains near Kiffa covers more than 6,500 km2 (2,500 sq mi). The mountains are populated in tiny agrarian settlements that are usually centred on a spring emerging from the foot of a high escarpment. The Affolle mountains are steep-sided massifs of dense Devonian sandstone, with relatively flat plateaus at their summits. The Affolle also has steppe and desert canyon bottoms, and several large wetland areas. The mountains have more rain than the surrounding plain.
Adel Bagrou is a town and commune in the Hodh Ech Chargui Region of south-eastern Mauritania. It is located near the border with Mali. Pop (2013) 47,829.
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HISTORY
Southwestern Mauritania was once home to the Ghana Empire, one of the earliest urbanised civilisations to emerge in western Africa, with its capital at Koumbi Saleh.
Mauritania is an Islamic Republic. Don’t be irrationally afraid of this political status – most Mauritanians are not extremists, even if the majority of the people in the North are very conservative and quite reserved. However, for people from outside the Maghreb there is a risk of kidnapping, especially in the more remote northern and eastern parts.
The southern part of the country is filled with friendly people, and they are very welcoming, if a little unused to tourists.
Travelling to Mauritania is becoming easier, with charter flights from France to Atar through the winter. Guides and tourist agencies are quite easy to find.
Climate. The climate is characterized by extremes in temperature and by meagre and irregular rainfall. Annual temperature variations are small, although diurnal variations can be extreme. The harmattan, a hot, dry and often dust-laden wind, blows from the Sahara throughout the long dry season and is the prevailing wind, except along the narrow coastal strip, which is influenced by oceanic trade winds. Most rain falls during the short rainy season (hivernage), Jul-Sep, and average annual precipitation varies from 500 to 600 millimetres in the far south to less than 100mm in the northern two-thirds of the country.
People. Haratin, sometimes referred to as Black Moors, are the largest single ethnic group in Mauritania, constituting 40% of the population, and are descendants of former slaves. About 30% of the population are Bidhan, also called Moors. The rest of the population mostly consists of members of peoples who also live in neighboring Sahelian countries such as Senegal and Mali, including the Fula, Soninke, Bambara and Wolof.
GET IN
Visas
Citizens of all Western nations need a visa to enter. Holders of West African passports do not require a visa.
30-day visas are available on arrival at the border with Western Sahara and the international airports in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou. They cost €55 or US$60 (as of Dec 2018). No additional documentation is required.
Overland travellers can also arrange them in Rabat, where a single entry visa fee is 1,000 dirham. A double entry visa is also available for 1,100 dirham. Two passport-size photos are required, as well as a copy of the information pages of your passport. Visas are available on the same day in the afternoon if applied for in the morning for people of most nationalities.
For most people there are no vaccinations required in Mauritania. Only ones coming from yellow fever endemic zones are required to present a vaccination certificate.
By plane.
Nouakchott–Oumtounsy International Airport (NKC) is the base for Mauritanian Airlines, which flies to Bamako, Dakar, Abidjan and Nouadhibou. It also receives flights from Algiers on Air Algérie and from Paris on Air France. Tunisair has flights to Tunis, Senegul airlines has flights to Dakar, Turkish airlines has flights to Istanbul, Royal Air Maroc has flights to Casablanca, CanaryFly have flights to Gran Canaria.
Nouadhibou International Airport (NDB) receives flights from Gran Canaria with Mauritanian Airlines.
By train. No trains run between Mauritania and its neighbours.
By car. Mauritania has open road borders with Western Sahara, Mali and Senegal. These borders are open to crossing by private motor vehicle or bicycle but the first two are extremely dangerous.
The road from the Western Sahara/Morocco enters the country near Nouadhibou. The road is paved all the way to the Moroccan border post in Fort Guerguarat, where one has to traverse about 7 km of twisting, stony, but straightforward pistes to reach the Mauritanian border, where the tarred road begins again. Although the driving is simple, care should be taken not to leave the well-worn pistes between the two border posts, because the area is a mine field. This danger is still present once you reach the tar on the Mauritanian side, and the area is not considered mine-free until you pass the railway line.
The crossing formalities are straightforward. Transit visas – valid for 3 days – can no longer be bought at the border, although this may change again. There is a bureau de change at the border, and a vehicle insurance office and numerous hopeful guides for making the old desert crossing down to the capital.
There are numerous pistes running across the Mauritanian border from Mali. These used to be the de facto route between the two countries, however there now exists a new tar road connecting Nara in Mali to Ayoun al Atrous in Mauritania. The border formalities in Mali are completed at various buildings around Nara town (local children will lead you to the police or customs for a small present). The Mauritanian formalities are conducted at a string of road-blocks along the border road.
An alternative land route which goes direct from Mauritania to Timbuktu, Mali is to travel the road Southeast from Néma, which is at the end of a good tarred road from Nouakchott. This dirt road continues to Bassekounou before crossing the border near Léré, Mali, where it improves to a good dirt road to Niafunké and on to Timbuktu.
By bus/bush taxi.
From Morocco: Supratours runs a bus to the border at Guerguerat. It departs from the Dakhla waterfront at 08:00 and arrives at the frontier at 13:00 for 160 dirham, 15:00 from the frontier to Dakhla at 20:30. Access is available by hitching with overlanders from Dakhla (most can be picked up from Camping Moussafir just north of Dakhla) or from the Mauritanian embassy in Rabat, or by paying for passage with Mauritanian traders. These can be found opposite the first police checkpoint north of Dakhla, the going rate is 250-380 dirham (negotiable) the ride should be started rather early and takes most of the day and border crossing is closed overnight. Cars with experienced drivers can be organized from Hotel Sahara (the budget one). This costs around 250 dirham per person.
To Morocco: Cars with drivers can be arranged to cross the minefield from Mauritania to Western Sahara from Hotels in Nouadhibou.
From Senegal: Bush taxis can be taken from Dakar (6,000 CFA francs) and St Louis (2,000 CFA francs) (amongst others) to Rosso, where a ferry makes the trip across the Senegal river, and further bush taxis can be taken to Nouakchott (about 200 ouguiya). Be careful of bush taxis offering deals that seem too good to be true. They may be illegal taxis and could prove to be a dangerous means of transport. There will most likely be a number of drivers waiting. Ask around and find out the going rate. Other crossing points from Senegal include the Diama dam just north of St Louis, public transport also operates on this route.
From Mali: Pickup trucks leave Kayes for Selibaby daily. It is also possible to enter at Nema, and across the southern border at several points.
GET AROUND
Make sure to have plenty of passport copies for travelling between towns. It’s not uncommon to give away up to 5-10 passport copies a day to police at checkpoints.
By train. There is only one train line in Mauritania, linking Nouadhibou, Choum and Zouerat, but it’s a tourist attraction itself. It’s used to carry iron ore from the Zouerat mine to Nouadhibou harbour.
The train departs daily from Nouadhibou at around 15:00 and arrives in Choum (for Atar) at around 02:00 the next morning. Check departure times on arrival.
In Mauritania there is only one passenger car, but travel in iron ore hopper is also possible (and advisable, as the passenger car is usually overcrowded and tickets are required). There is also first-class accommodation – first-class seats are limited, but they allow access to a smaller room with bunk beds. It does not necessarily ensure more comfort, though. Ticket price is 300 ouguiya (2018) for second class in the passenger car and travel in the hopper is free of charge. Remember to have a scarf to cover your face, as there is a lot of dust.
From Choum it’s possible to get to Atar with a bush taxi. The journey could take up to eight hours if the vehicle has a breakdown.
Language. Arabic is the official language. Hassaniya Arabic is the language of the Moor majority, while other languages are spoken by black Africans in the south including Pulaar, Wolof, and Soninke (especially in the Guidimakha region around Selibaby). French is still spoken by many. This is especially true near towns. In the countryside, individuals may often speak several languages but not French.
It is considered polite to say Salaam aleikum when entering a taxi, office or when greeting someone. It is the first greeting for most of the dialects spoken in the region.
The country’s currency is the Mauritanian ouguiya, denoted by the symbol “UM” (MRU).
Mauritania is poorly connected to the international banking system. Many ATMs in Nouakchott now accept international Visa cards, but otherwise, credit cards are accepted almost nowhere. It is easy to change euros, dollars and CFA francs in Nouakchott. There are few Mastercard and Visa card ATMs in Nouadhibou.
Shopping. Souvenirs can be bought at Marché Capital or Marché Sixième in Nouakchott, or at tourist shops in the Adrar. Fabric will be sold in boutiques all over the country, but Kaedi is famous for its tie-dying.
When buying anything in Mauritania, be sure to bargain. Sometimes the starting price will be three times the actual price. Stay friendly, but don’t worry about insulting anyone by asking for a lower price.
CUISINE
There is a decent variety of restaurants in Nouakchott with dishes costing from UM100 to 250. Most restaurants in the capital offer much the same menu – simple pizzas, hamburgers, sandwiches and salads. There is a string of restaurants on the road from the Stade Olympique to the French Embassy. Good ones include Pizza Lina, Café Liban and Le Petit Café. The Sahara Café, on the other side of the stadium, is also a good place for pizza, sandwiches or Lebanese dishes, and has some of the best reasonably-priced food in town. Near Marche Capitale, there is a street of sandwich shops that offer near-identical menus, the best of which is the Prince (which taxi drivers know by name).
Outside of Nouakchott, it is possible to find a hamburger in Atar. Otherwise, the choice is local dishes: fish and rice (chebujin) in the south and rice and meat or couscous in the north. Hole-in-the-wall restaurants can be found everywhere and serve meals from UM 20-50. Mechui, or grilled sheep, is also delicious if a little more expensive. Look for carcasses hanging by the side of the road. Some fruit can be found in most regional capitals. Note that most restaurants outside of Nouakchott do not have very high standards of cleanliness. Since most small restaurants go under within a few years of opening, your best bet in trying to find one in a regional capital is to just ask locals for directions to whatever is nearby. Another alternative, in the absence of a restaurant, is paying a family to prepare food for you, which should be relatively inexpensive (no more than UM 150), even if it takes a while (up to a couple hours to buy the food and prepare it).
Bottled water can be bought for UM 20 and is a good idea for anyone not accustomed to Africa.
If none of this sounds good, keep in mind that boutiques everywhere sell bread, cakes, biscuits and drinks if nothing else.
Tea is usually served after a meal, but it is not included with the meal at restaurants. If you are offered tea in someone’s home, it is impolite to leave until at least the second (of three) glasses. The whole process takes about an hour.
Drink. Despite being an Islamic country there are a few fun bars in the capital. Drinking can be expensive, with a beer costing up to US$6. There is a nightclub inside the French Embassy compound. For the non-French, try the Salamander or the trashy (but open late) Club VIP. Next door to VIP is the Casablanca, a more low-key bar with live music on the weekends. It is illegal to import alcohol beyond 0.5 litres, which must be declared.
ACCOMMODATION
All ranges of accommodation are available, with the highest class hotels available only in Nouakchott and Atar. “Auberges” and Campsites can rent beds/mattresses for as little as UM 150 in the Adrar and Nouadhibou.
There is usually at least one hotel in the regional capitals in the rest of the country, although they can be expensive for what you are getting. If possible, make friends with a local and try to get invited to stay with their family. As long as you don’t mind sleeping on the ground on a foam mat, sleeping/eating near animals or using a latrine, you will probably end up having a pleasant and memorable stay.
STAY SAFE
The area near the Western Sahara is heavily mined and travel through this area is highly inadvisable. Border areas lining Algeria and Mali are notorious for banditry. The single paved road coming from Morocco is especially dangerous, having been the site of Al Qaida kidnappings. If you must travel on this path, it is best to do so in a tight caravan. In other areas, one should avoid flaunting wealth or expensive wares. Daunting though it may seem, a bit of research and common sense will ensure a pleasant trip in Mauritania.
Check your embassy or consulate travel advisories carefully. Due to increasing numbers of attacks on Westerners in the past several years, most Western nations advise great caution. Resident expatriates travel between cities by day, in groups and on major routes.
Health. For the majority of Westerners, the local water in any part of the country (including Nouakchott) is not safe to drink. Visitors should drink only bottled water if they don’t have access to some type of water purifying or filtration system. The Sahara is a very dry climate. You may become dehydrated quite easily, and not be aware of it. The best rule of thumb is to be sure that you have urinated three times each day, at reasonable intervals. In the hottest part of the year, this might mean drinking several litres of water each day.
Malaria is endemic in the southern part of the country, and visitors should always use a mosquito net there. Mosquitoes are less common in the dry desert in the north of the country, but exist year-round in the south, if a bit less prevalent during the dry season (December-May).
RESPECT
Learn Salaam alaykum and use it when greeting people. If you are a man, don’t try to shake hands with a woman, and vice versa (note that some African women will not have a problem with shaking a man’s hand, but it is best to not try to initiate contact, just follow their lead). You can, however, say hello and touch your hand over your heart.
Be careful to eat with your right hand, especially outside of Nouakchott where you may not be offered silverware. Like other places in the Arab world, the left hand is reserved for the bathroom. If you’re left-handed… try hard.
Covering your head isn’t required, but it is polite. It may cut down on the Madame, ou bien Mademoiselle? (Mrs. or Miss?) question, but Westerners, especially women, will be the target of unwanted attention and minor harassment everywhere in the country. Be aware though, that many Mauritanians, both male and female, think that a direct gaze is a sexual invitation. There is even a phrase in Hassiniya, ayna m’tina, meaning strong eyes, to describe what many people feel is an aggressive act. This doesn’t mean however, that the men have carte blanche to be jerks, though. Calling them on their bad behaviour, or pointing it out to the ever present bystanders, can often work. If you give respect, you can demand it also. The Moors respect women who stand up for themselves, even while they push you to see how far they can get.
If you are travelling with someone of the opposite sex, avoid touching in public. It’s actually much more common to see two men holding hands than a woman and a man. As far as dress, the more skin you show, the more negative attention you will receive. In Nouakchott, women can wear trousers, but avoid tank tops and to-the-knee skirts. Long skirts are the best choice for women. It is a good idea to cover your arms also. Trousers display the crotch area and thus are also disturbing, especially to people in the countryside who aren’t as used to seeing this as the city folk. Most people will be very polite, and you will not know what they are thinking.
If you are a female, there is no non-sexual reason, ever, to go off in private with a man. If they ask you to step into an office, or back of a shop or anywhere; don’t. The men are aware that that is an unreasonable request, and no one would ask you for a private chat if they meant well. If you allow yourself to be alone with a man, for however brief a time, everyone will assume you had sex, and will judge you accordingly. As a weakling, not as dissolute.
If you are a LGBT visitor, do not try to be open about your sexuality to any Mauritanian. They will act very harshly to this. Also do not make any acts in public that would imply the fact that you are LGBT: Mauritania imposes the death sentence for homosexuality.
If you are white, Nasrani, Toubac and Toubab refers to you. Little kids, and sometimes rude adults, will refer to you by this name. Nasrani actually means a person from Nazareth. Since Christians follow Christ’s teachings, and Christ is from Nazareth, then Christians are all honorary Nazarenes.
Beware of people who may try to take advantage of your politeness in order to try to make a sale. Be aware that in market areas, almost everyone who tries to befriend you is trying to sell you something at an inflated price. They will try many tricks to get you to buy items from them (including “giving them to you as a gift”), and a few might even accuse you of not liking Africans if you decline to look at their souvenir shop. If someone is going beyond the normal limits to bother you, it is not impolite to tell them, without question, that you are not interested. If they ask for something that you own, just say that you need it now, and can give it to them in a month or so.
CONNECT
There are three operators of GSM networks: Mattel (excellent English website), Mauritel Mobiles and Chinguitel. Prepaid plans are available for three of them. Further Information regarding Coverage and Roaming are available from GSM-World.
For tours into the desert where no GSM-Network is available satellite phones are a good solution. Service providers include Thuraya, Iridium and Inmarsat. Thuraya tends to be the cheapest and the easiest to use. The equipment is also available for rent.
Internet cafés with DSL internet can be found in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou for MRO200-300/h. Slower connections plague “cybercafés” elsewhere in the country, but it’s possible to check emails.
Experiences:
Taste Thieboudienne (Tiep or thieb) is a traditional dish from the Sahel, especially from Senegal and Mauritania, and it is a staple in Senegal. The version of tiep called thieboudienne or chebu jen is prepared with fish, rice and tomato sauce cooked in one pot, and it is considered the national dish. There are also tiep yappa (with meat) and tiep ganaar (with chicken). Additional ingredients often include onions, carrots, cabbage, cassava, hot pepper, lime and peanut oil, and Maggi cubes. These ingredients are common in the country.
Historically, it is served on large trays with the rice on the bottom and the fish, usually White grouper (Epinephelus aeneus), and the vegetables, many of them whole placed in the center. Traditionally it is eaten in a large communal dish with the hand. It is also the symbol of the Senegalese Terranga (hospitality): Family, visiting friends, and/or guests gather around a single dish (called a bolus) in which everyone is using a spoon (couddou Pulaar) or a piece of bread.
Mauritania – Nouakchott, Dakhlet Nouadhibou, Inchiri, Trarza
NOMAD MANIA Mauritania – Nouakchott, Dakhlet Nouadhibou, Inchiri, Trarza
World Heritage Sites: Banc d’Arguin National Park
Islands
Banc d’Arguin islands (Tidra, Kijji)
Borders
Mauritania (sea border/port)
Mauritania-Morocco (official land border north of Nouadhibou)
Mauritania-Senegal
XL: Extreme Southwest (Diawling NP.)
African Cities
NOUADHIBOU
Airports: Nouadhibou (NDB)
Religious Temples
Central Mosque
Round-shaped Mosque
Lighthouses: Cap Blanc Lighthouse
The Dark Side: Nouadhibou Shipwrecks
NOUAKCHOTT World Capitals World Cities and Popular Towns
Airports: Nouakchott (NKC)
Museums: National Museum of Mauritania
Religious Temples
Friday Mosque
Saudi Mosque
Beaches: Nouakchott Beach
Markets: Nouakchott: Marche Capitale
ROSSO
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars: Mauritania Railway (Nouadhibou-Zouerat)
World of Nature
Banc d’Arguin
Diawling
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Mauritania – North – Adrar, Hodh Ech Chargui, Tiris Zemmour
NOMAD MANIA Mauritania – North – Adrar, Hodh Ech Chargui, Tiris Zemmour
World Heritage Sites: Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata
Tentative WHS
Paysage culturel d’Azougui (14/06/2001)
Site archéologique de Kumbi Saleh (14/06/2001)
Borders
Algeria-Mauritania
Mali-Mauritania
Mauritania-Western Sahara (Sahrawi controlled areas)
XL
Chegga ‘Triangle’
Hodh Ech Chargui province (east)
African Cities
ADEL BAGROU
ZOUÉRAT
Villages and Small Towns
Terjit
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars: Mauritania Railway (Nouadhibou-Zouerat)
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Ain Ben Tili: Ain Ben Tili Fort
Religious Temples: Chinguetti: Chinguetti Mosque
Experiences: Taste Thieboudienne
Bizzarium: Ben Amera and Ben Aicha Monoliths and Art Exhibits
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Mauritania – South – Assaba, Brakna, Gorgol, Guidimaka, Gharbi, Tagant
NOMAD MANIA Mauritania – South – Assaba, Brakna, Gorgol, Guidimaka, Gharbi, Tagant
World Heritage Sites: Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata
Tentative WHS: Site archéologique de Tegdaoust (14/06/2001)
Borders
Mali-Mauritania
Mauritania-Senegal
African Cities
BOGHE (Bogue)
KAÉDI
KIFFA
