Home » Mauritania » Overland Trip To Senagal 2004, Day 10: Road to Nouakchott

09.04.04

Overland Trip To Senagal 2004, Day 10: Road to Nouakchott

Thomas Morgan
2006-04-26 12:13:13

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A day of mixed fortunes to say the least ! Nouakchott beckoned and we awoke early – a combination of overenthusiastic crowing from the seemingly aging cockerel, a donkey in distress, the wind giving our tent a good battering, and in my case, a bunch of souvenirs left by a mosquito who had seemingly taken a nice walk on my left foot before I managed to assassinate it at some point during the night. After the last cold shower we were to take at the Bab Sahara, Justus the owner gave us a lift into town, we paid 1500 ouguiya each for a minibus (read: white van with wooden benches) to Nouakchott, put our bags on the roof, and Bob was our uncle. It was 9.30am, the bus would leave at 10. We spent our last half hour and remaining 200 ouguiya wisely by going to purchase an orange each in what was to be our only food for most of the day. Having sat next to our bus for a while, we heard a cry – “the bus isn’t going ! Take your bags down and give them to me with 1000 ouguiya and you can leave now.” We scrape together 40 ouguiya. After much head scratching and an intervention by the old guy we originally gave our money to, we ended up in some kind of estate can – traditional Mauritanian style with filthy windows, a dodgy boot, and far too many passengers. It also appears to periodically break down for no reason. However we were happy to be leaving having been told that we were facing a day-long wait. From time to time the driver would pull over for no reason whatsoever (it seemed to me anyway), rev the engine while looking at the back of the car, and occasionally lift up the bonnet, messing around and starting again. ‘This is a bad car” said the Mauritanian next to me shaking his head. After about ten of these, 4 toilet stops and 1 prayer stop, we reached halfway house – a typically Mauritanian nothing-town named Akjoujt. Here everyone lounged around for about half an hour, a bowl of “zrig” or camel’s milk was passed around, sweet and ...