After our desert excitement there was still a lot more of the arid, dusty, rural interior of Mauritania to explore. We rested, washed and regrouped for a couple of days in the city of Atar, before heading out into the sticks again.
I’ve decided to try a couple of simple photo galleries to cover the rest of our time in Mauritania.
We filled up as we left Choum for Atar. There’s no way of knowing what the quality of diesel is like in some places, but thankfully Ivy will drink anything…
There were loads of large camel herds on the way to Atar.
After the salt spray of the Atlantic and the dust of the desert, Ivy needed a thorough wash. We asked at this carpet cleaning place in Atar and they obliged with their pressure hose. The guy insisted that I relax in the ‘waiting room’.
The garbage problem in Mauritania was at times shockingly bad. People are living among piles of rubbish (like in this backstreet in Atar) and it blows around everywhere. Goats, dogs and cats snuffle around looking for something to eat.
We left the city and headed out towards the ancient trading town (ksour) of Chinguetti, over the spectacular Ebnou pass. The mere thought of it gave Jeremy the collywobbles, but the road was good and the view even better.
The road to Chinguetti concluded with a stretch of fairly relentless washboard. Looks pretty, eh? Just don’t expect to be able to chat or nap.
Arriving in tranquil Chinguetti was like slipping through a wormhole into the past. The medieval oasis town was established in the 8th century, and went on to become a thriving trading centre on the trans-Saharan caravan route, and a key stop for pilgrims heading to Mecca.
As the people passing through Chinguetti also traded manuscripts and studies from across the Arab world, it evolved into a key hub of scientific, religious and mathematical learning. At its height, this small town had more than 30 libraries. Our host Cheikh (below) showed us around the old town and took us to one of the few remaining libraries - a simple room housing cabinets of ancient Quranic and scientific texts. Custodians look after the manuscripts. Many more still remain in the hands of private families.
Old town, Chinguetti
Shoppers, Chinguetti
Chinguetti
“Modern laundry”, Chinguetti.
Travelling in Mauritania was challenging in some ways. We’ve talked a lot about how to put a finger on why. One minor factor is that there’s comparatively little feeling of a social life on the streets, and this can create a restrained, almost oppressively quiet, vibe. Outside of the large cities there were surprisingly few tea houses, cafes, restaurants or people cooking simple street food. What existed was often closed.
Shopping for fresh food was often a bit of a search. Some of the shops were, frankly, depressingly dire (I would never photograph such places). Dark caves with piles of rotting vegetables behind a chicken wire barrier. Dairy food languished in fridges that were rarely on (yet we ate those un-chilled yoghurts and fermented milks without issues). We preferred to find people selling fruit, veg and bread outside, like these women in Chinguetti. The condition of the meat we saw meant that, for us, buying it was out of the question.
One of the main streets in Chinguetti ‘new town’.
‘Camping’ often involves parking in a walled yard that’s adjoined to a guesthouse or place offering simple cabins. In Chinguetti, not for the first or last time, we slept next to the goat pen.
The sand dunes on the edge of Chinguetti were the most pristine and beautiful we’ve seen. The patterns were like works of modern art. The light at dusk was phenomenal. But they are also threatening the very existence of the town.
Some houses on the edge of Chinguetti have already been claimed by desertification. It’s forecast that the encroaching sands will soon swallow the town – a place that holds so much history.
We’d already been shaken and stirred quite a lot, but decided to drive a further 130km on mostly washboard to the ancient city of Ouadane. At times the noise built to such a cacophony of rattles that we actually stopped to just let the frustration out with a yell! But what’s a few hours of discomfort when you have the chance to see such rare sights? Much of this region (Adrar) was deemed to be off limits until relatively recently, for safety reasons.
Mauritania has a lot of police checks on the roads. Most travellers bring pre-printed ‘fiches’ containing all the information they need about us and the vehicle. It saves hours to be able to hand over these sheets of paper. When we reached Ouadane the police were napping so we drove on. When visiting the town later on foot they insisted we go back to the truck and get the fiches. We’re fairly sure they end up in a bin or dusty file, never to be read.
Another significant medieval trans-Saharan trading post, Ouadane had a fascinating old town with narrow sloping streets and an outer wall. We only saw two or three other tourists there. Ouadane also has 'libraries' housing ancient texts, but in the example we saw there seemed to be few facilities for preserving them.
The only place to fill up for this journey was a hole-in-the-wall diesel ‘station’ in Ouadane. Good luck if your vehicle runs on petrol.
Leaving Ouadane.
We retraced our steps via Atar then went south to the oasis of Terjit. We crossed a dry riverbed to a guesthouse/camping where we could park. The track was gnarly and the one flat space a bit tight, but the setting was fabulous.
VIDEO [SOUND UP]: Again we were sleeping next to the goat pen. One of the goats was thoroughly unhinged, terrorised the others relentlessly and shouted for half the night, sounding like a demented half-human. Apart from that it was lovely and peaceful!
Terjit oasis, Mauritania
After so much time in the desert, much as we loved that, it felt like a sort of physical and mental release to be around greenery and abundant natural water again. And breathe.. We soaked in the springs under the shade of giant palm trees. The campsite even had a little pool filled with spring water.
The tourism infrastructure is often basic but does the job. This is the entrance to the swimming hole: ‘Oasis Touristique de Terjit’. Tariff - 200 Ouguiya (€4.80).’
Walking to the natural swimming hole in Terjit.
Accessing a good phone signal, and therefore internet data, was often very difficult. It was also impossible to hotspot from my phone to the laptop for our entire time in the country. In Terjit, zero phone signal reached the valley. It might look like Jeremy is trying to take a selfie here, but in fact he’s standing on a hill trying to email a work report. During this few seconds of connection we got the news from home that that our nephew Callum was engaged to his partner Beth!
Mauritania has lots of shops like this one in Terjit, selling dried goods, tins, sugary drinks and biscuits.
As we exited the rocky track out of the campspot to set off on the 400km drive towards the capital, Nouakchott, there was a worrying metallic crunching sound followed by a strong pull to the left, and we stopped at the side of the road to investigate. Looked like it was going to be another one of those days where the ‘plan’ would need some tweaking.
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Great stuff,Happy new year.Keep on trucking.👍
Sooo enjoying reading all this. Happy New Year!