Nouakchott

Africa » Mauritania
March 1st 2024

Published: March 1st 2024

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The Curious Cyclist

Sand blasted.

I've arrived in Nouakchott now after a few days cycling from Nouadhibou.

To get out of the peninsula I had to cycle a few hours into the wind, which thankfully had dropped a lot compared to the previous few days.

Then I had a day cycling with strong cross winds, before enjoying 35km/hour and more on a day that looked like something from an apocalypse film. Red haze, visibility about 300m or so and a raging wind. Fortunately the raging wind was behind me, so it was quite exciting.

I did meet two cyclists heading north. They have chosen a tough option.

On the open road, the drivers are pretty good and very considerate. Several stopped to see if I was OK, which is reassuring in such an environment.

Finally, I got a perfect day of blue skies and a lovely tailwind.

A yellow creature scurrying along the road at a fair pace caught my attention. I couldn't work out if it was a scorpion or a spider. It was quite big, four or five centimtres at least. Checking the photos I saw it had eight legs, so it must be a spider. Not knowing

Dune

if it was toxic or how high it could jump, I gave it a wide berth.

Whilst I was stopped a car pulled up. The passenger rolled down the window, reached out a bottle of lovely cold water and as I was saying "Merci", they were already pulling off!

Same day I got a delicious salad lunch and coffee from Michel, who is spending three years exploring Aftica in his campervan. Best French restaurant in the Sahara!

Then just before I stopped for the night I was given a can of Pepsi from two Birmingham lads who had driven here in about two weeks.

The driving on the open road may be fine, but the standard of driving in the city is a different matter. To describe it as chaotic gives it an overstated sense of organisation.

Drivers cut left, right, stop and pull off as if there is no other traffic. To me, it doesn't feel that dangerous, as speeds are low, but you do need to keep your wits about you. After a while, it's almost a game to predict what the car in front is going to do.

It was

camel crossing

a delight to find a colourful fruit stall near the city centre. Very welcome.

In Nouakchott I'm staying at Terjit Vacance, a lovely campsite by the shore. I spent yesterday evening exploring the small scrubby area by the entrance road and quickly added three lifers to my bird list. Beautiful views of a woodcraft shrike enjoying a fine supper of praying mantis as well.

Today's little birding trip was a walk along the shore to the fishing port. It's a busy little port.. Dozens and dozens of beautifully decorated boats.

Crews were busy launching them from the beach, hauling them in, carrying out repairs, or sittingin the shade of their craft.

For me the added interest was watching storm petrels feed along the edge of the shore and surf. I've been privileged to ring hundreds of storm petrels at places like Inistrahull in Donegal. As I watched them I wondered how many of those litte black birds started life in the gaps between the stones of an ancient wall on an Irish or Scottish island.

Oh, nearly forgot. The wee yellow beastie was a species of camel spider, I think. So, an arachnid alright, but