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Africa: North to South, Part 1

Africa: North to South, Part 1, Morocco and Mauritania

Simon and Jennifer
2006-04-26 10:13:00

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three nights in total in the Mauritanian desert and by midday on day two it was with some relief we reached the coast for the first time. Reluctantly we headed inland once more, sticking to the route we had planned, and by midday on day three we were watching the birds in the national park on the coast of Mauritania, the hot hours spent digging in the sand forgotten as we watched in fascination as the most enormous sea birds fished.

The journey was not yet over however, the next stretch was 170km down the beach at low tide (we kid you not, this is the most used road to Nouakchotte!) We picked up a local fisherman who was looking for a lift which was good for us since he knew the tides! He will be for ever known as The Captain because we couldn't pronounce his real name. We had to wait half way for the tide to recede before continuing on the second part of the beach leg in the dark, not the way we would choose to do the journey again, but we made it to Nouakchotte safe and sound none the less. When we arrived, we turned inland between the fishing boats and buildings in deep churned sand "vite, vite, vite" was the advice we were given, "plus de force". It was good to see that we were not the only people to struggle in the deep sand, from the camp sight we saw many local vehicles get stuck as the approached the city.

The next stretch of the Sahara was to be on good tar road, giving us a chance to take in the changing scenery of the Sahara, sometimes dunes, sometimes sand with tall green grass, but never really boring despite the long distance. The only hindrance at first on this stretch of the "Road of Hope" as it is known was the checkpoints on the entrance and exit of each village, from this point on referred to as cadeaux points since the officials were interested only in exerting a "cadeaux for the post".

The good tar didn't last long, soon the "Road of Hope" turned into the "Road of everlasting potholes", with more potholes than tar we almost wished we were back in sand, at least that didn't damage the vehicle.

We checked out of Mauritania at Nema, following the sand track opposite the police "cadeaux point" at the entrance to the town heading to the frontier (border) with Mali. We camped at a spot just short of the border town, continuing into Mali the next day.