Ubuntu Times Two

Mauritania: Sand, sea and Al Queda

Mauritania is possibly the coolest place either of us has ever been.

Where else can you spend days wandering through the vast expanses of the Sahara with a train of camels, then explore shipwrecks and seal colonies off the coast of the Atlantic, all the while fearing for your safety and the presence of Al Queda?!

We didn’t plan on spending long in Mauritania, in fact, the day we arrived in Nouakchott we almost decided to leave immediately. You see, Mauritania has suffered the unfortunate fate of having been labelled home to some rather unfriendly Al Queda sympathizers. Since 2007 they’ve been blamed for several murders in the country, notably of four French tourists in 2007, and on the day of our arrival, of a American teacher based in the capital. This murder, attributed to Al Queda, and the subsequent flow of media reports on how risky the country was had us both rather terrified. Suddenly curious looks from passerbyes turned menacing, friendly conversation was perceived as attempts to track our movements, etc. We were literally scared. Evidently, for little reason given overall crime, including against foreigners, is almost non-existant in the country, but the thought that foreigners were being specifically targeted was enough to have us seriously weigh the option of leaving.

Luckily we didn’t.

Many however have chosen to steer well clear of the country. Most government travel advisories state cleary you shouldn’t set foot in the country. As a result, tourism in the country, the primary industry outside of fishing and iron ore mining, has dropped 60% since those deaths in 2007. Our host in Nouakchott, Saif, noted that while pre-2007 he could expect to have 75% occupancy in his small guesthouse, since then he’s lucky to have one or two visitors a month. Everywhere we went we were met with deserted hotels, closed down tourist boutiques, and a lot of conversations about former-guides, etc, having been forced to find something new to do in order to eek out a living.

What a pity.

The country is home to some of the most beautiful scenery we’ve seen on this trip – empty seas of red, yellow and white sand dunes with almost surreal apparitions of camel trains and lonely desert nomads crossing them. 75% of the country is covered by sand, even the capital Nouakchott is essentially paved over desert – the sea shells and sand from the sea are evident throughout the city. And the coast is replete with gorgeous, deserted beaches from where you can spot the schools of fish and accompanying predators in the worlds most fertile fishing grounds.

 Literally at the crossroads of African and Arab culture, Mauritanians proved to be the most welcoming and hospitable people we’ve met. Several times we were invited into peoples home for tea and meals, offered accomodation in their homes, and on almost every journey been urged to join them in drinking their warm, oily, greasy, watered-down fresh goat milk and countless glasses of scalding mint tea. Our last night was spent with our new friend Mohamed, and his welcoming family, eating roast camel and drinking mint tea while watching arab pop music videos. We had met him on our journey from Atar to Choum, a small village on the imaginary border between safe and non-safe Mauritania, from where we planned to catch a 15 hour train across the desert to Nouadhibou. Unfortunately the train was late… by about 12 hours… and so luckily Mohamed rescued us and found a place to wait out the delay, provided us with food, and made sure we had a comfortable spot on the sand to sleep at night. This was one of several nights we slept in the desert in Mauritania, nice on the budget but less so on our backs! 

Our time here was unforgettable and a very fitting way to end the adventurous portion of our travels through Africa that began 4.5 months ago. After almost two weeks in Mauritania we crossed a 4km no-mans-land into Morocco and the occupied Western Sahara. For the two of us, this marks the end of our African adventure. Morocco, and all of North Africa, share little more than a landmass with the countries and cultures south of it. So with that in mind, we’re taking a little break after Morocco and heading home to refuel. 

See you soon. DH and Meg.

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