Nouadhibou to Nouakchott, Mauritania
200 miles / 320 km
Wx: Clear skies, mild.
Yaaaaawn. Surprisingly the infested slab of foam on the floor of our ‘cell’ wasn’t as comfortable as you might think. It was a cold and uncomfortable sleep interrupted too soon by music blarring from some Mosque nearby. But seriously where else would you want to be?
Today is the no shit serious desert bit. Mauritania is essentially all desert, the big ‘Laurence of Arabia, sweeping sand dunes’ type desert that the word Sahara conjures up. The plan for today is to leave Nouadhibou and head for Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. It sounds pretty straight forward but there are a couple of catches.
Firstly, we can’t make the distance on a single tank of gas and nobody is really sure if we will be able to find any reliable petrol between here and there. There is a petrol station halfway between, but as we have found out that is no guarantee there is any petrol
Secondly, this is supposedly the most dangerous part of the trip. There are apparently roaming gangs of bandits in Mauritania which doesn’t sound like too much fun. In fact the 2008 Dakar rally was cancelled altogether due to safety concerns around the Mauritania sections. Screw it, let’s go!
As we head out of town we stop off to see the bay, which is infamous for holding the largest ships graveyard in the world. There are over 100 ships that have been abandoned to rust in this graveyard. In the early morning light and stillness the place appears quite eerie.
The Ship Graveyard
Then we gas up and head back out of town for our journey south to Nouakchott. As we are leaving town we spot the ore train heading in the opposite direction. Since it is the longest train in the world we all stop to have a look this morning.
Once we get away from the town we are treated to some spectacular sweeping desert landscapes with wavy sand dunes stretching to the horizon in every direction. These views are only broken by the ever increasing number of military checkpoints. What they are checking for out in the middle of nowhere is anybody’s guess.
Sand As Far As The Eye Can See
However, it seems we have broken the code on how to get through the checkpoints quickly (finally). Since most of the guards only speak broken English, if any at all, when they ask for something like your papers you simply start rambling quickly in English on some completely unrelated topic. They seem to get frustrated quickly and rather than trying to make themselves understood they will wave you straight through. Genius.
As we push south in small groups a couple of us come upon a very dodgy looking petrol station, but having leaned the lesson to never pass up an opportunity we pull in. Some of the others press on ahead to the unconfirmed station halfway along that we have heard rumours about. Matt, Dave, Rick and I decide to give this one a go. You know what they say ‘a bird in the hand is worth two dying of thirst in the middle of the stinking hot desert’.
We ask the fine young men manning the station if the have any unleaded petrol, although all we see are diesel pumps, which Dave has so generously demonstrated are not good for you. ‘Yes’ they exclaim and proceed to pull out a couple of seriously suspect looking plastic jugs which, they assure us, contain unleaded. What the hell it is supposed to be an adventure right? So we barter a price and they remove the rag from the top of the jug and begin siphoning the petrol into our bikes.
So Very Dodgy
To my genuine surprise our bikes actually start up and we are away. We continue on for another hour or so and sure enough the fabled petrol station of rumour emerges from the shimmering heat of the road. The others are already waiting there. It is a perfect place to have some lunch and take a break for a while.
We finish lunch and are relaxing, in no great hurry to move on. Dave takes the opportunity to get some sand riding lessons from Jack, the driver of the support vehicle. As Dave missed a few days of the off-road riding on his bug out to Marrakech, he is feeling a bit less confident in the soft stuff than the rest of us.
So Jack takes him across the road to a large expanse of sand and the base of a huge dune to give him some of the finer points. They let some air out of his tyres to give him a bit more grip in the loose sand. Unfortunately, neither of them tweak to the fact that he has tubeless tyres and he ends up popping the bead and sending the tyre flat. Well, he may have a flat tyre, but at least it is in the middle of the Sahara desert under the blazing mid-day sun. LOL. The legend of Disaster Dave continues!
After all transgressions are righted we saddle up for the rest of the ride into Nouakchott. More stretches of open desert. It really is a beautiful sight. I pull away and ride by myself for a while just for a little alone time. I come upon a flock of camels and stop to take a picture. But the camels prove to be a bit shy when you approach them head on, so I pull up a bit and let them cross behind me while a take a picture in my rear view mirror. It turns out to be my favorite shot of the trip.
Shy Camels
As we approach the capital we are amazed by the amount of rubbish everywhere. Trucks are just driving out of the city and dumping it by the side of the road before heading back into town for another load. Odd.
We eventually find our accommodation for the night, dump our stuff, shower and head out to find something to eat for dinner. We happen upon a café and order some food and are entertained by a local who regales us with tales of Mauritania.
On the walk back we are treated to another surreal sight in the street. A Toyota pickup drives past us, and just as it does a huge head swings out of the back towards us. Startled we turn around to see the back of the pick up receding away and in the bed under a large cargo net is a huge camel along for the ride. Hilarious. I love this trip. Can’t wait for tomorrow.
