From Nouakchott to Nema

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We took a mercedes grand-taxi from Nouakchott to Nema, 1000km away near the Malian border. The trip took 25 hours through rain storms, lightning storms, sunshine and darkness. At one stage we were crawling through a flood in the very middle of a thunder and lightning storm, with water around our feet from the flood around us and coming through the roof from the rain. For a while we lost the road but eventually found it again.

Our taxi driver was an absolute legend - in those 25 hours he drove for 23 and slept for 2 - and he kept the car ticking over, bending the radiheater pump upwards when we were driving through deep floods to create a sort of snorkle for the engine. At times floods were too deep and we had to push the car through, then wait for the engine to drip-dry for a while. He only had one tape of off-key Mauritanian folk music, which kept slowing to a halt, but would be rewound and played again and again. By the end of the journey, I had gained huge respect for german car manufacturers and Mauritanian taxi drivers!

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Photos

Pushing through a flood
Nearer to Nema

Flooding
Some of the floods we encountered along the way