Blogs from Mauritania, Africa - page 2

I am on the back of a Ute high above the roof sitting on some bags. It’s pitch black and I am concentrating so I don’t fall asleep. If I do and fall off no one would know for a while. Only one other guy is up there with me and he is facing the other way - The rest of the passengers are squeezed inside. There is no evidence to suggest that I am in the Sahara. It’s just the sound of the tyres crossing compact sand. It’s cold and we are driving at a fair pace. I thought the toughest part of the trip was over but I was only in the middle. I didn’t know it then but by late afternoon I would be stood up by camel. I heard an irregular sound ... read more

We were excited to hit our second country of the trip – or third official territory! Albeit probably the most dodgy country we would be visiting in terms of current political unrest. The border is notorious for taking a while.... but this time it was the Moroccans who decided to hold us up. We spent about 4-5 hours on the Moroccan side trying to exit, I think Mauritania had us stamped in in about an hour. Ridiculous really being harder to leave a country than enter one!! I think the most interesting aspect of our border experience was the no man’s land – always a place I find surreal. This particular no man’s land was a cross between a car graveyard, an abandoned fridge graveyard and random locals trying to solicit random business. It was desolate ... read more

Met a german with dreads and a van to give us a 700km lift south into Mauritania. slept in the dessert on the way, dodged camels, and traversed landmine infested terrain. border was a bit of a deal. took 5 hours to cross due to paper work and double checks.. looking at our passports again and again. inbetween mauritania and morocco theres 5 km of no mans land. with no road, local nomades offer to guide you through for 10 euros. if you go solo without their help it can be risky: fake tracks in the sand, with traps just over the hill, once you get stuck sudenly they want 100 euros to pull you out. anyway.. aparently the german knew what he was doing more or less and we made it through by following a ... read more

Moroccan Sahara days sit at a perfect 33 degrees Celsius with barely a cloud in the sky, and the nights are cool with thousands of stars visible above. The small towns of Zagora and M’Hamid are the last towns on the southbound road in eastern Morocco and are heavily marketed to tourists as the “gateways to the Sahara”, but thankfully tourism has only had the effect of opening a few colorful souvenir shops, and so you don’t have to go far to see that the traditional Berber lifestyle still dominates. Spending an afternoon trekking south towards the Algerian border on camels belonging to a friend of Aziz quickly explained how easy it is to get lost in the desert; orientation is nearly impossible because of the lack of any type of trail or notable landmarks (unless ... read more

Last night was spent at Camping Abba in Nouadibou, hit the town for a Chinese and a beer , returned home and snuggled up to the cockroaches and set myself for an early start.Well before dawn I awoke, don't know if it was excitement or apprehension, either way as soon as first light broke I was on the road. Got to the border post and filtered past the trucks, thought it was 24hr obviously not. Just as I got to the barrier a guard nodded and lifted it, I was first in, through the myriad of douane/police/customs/moneychangers and I was into no mans land, this is the 5km stretch of bare desert that is mined east and west, not so daunting this time but still difficult as first in and no tracks in the sand to ... read more