mauritania

Mauritania

Tuesday 27th November 2007:

At just before 3pm there was movement amongst cars and we were ushered in past the boom only to be pulled over by a very angry looking, fat border official, the one all of us were hoping not to get. He babbled on in French and eventually started demanding 'presents' in a French accent, which Ross and I played dumb to. He got fed up with us and left us alone. We then walked over to the police door and were issued our 3 day Mauritanian visa for €10 each, and it only starts tomorrow!!! What a bonus. From there we were searched for alcohol and cigarettes, but they found nothing. We drove on to the wooden shacks of the police station to have our carnet for the car stamped, and to buy our car insurance and change money. A Dutch biker was with us, he was part of the Amsterdam to Dakar rally and told us to rather wait and get insurance and money at the campsite with the rally bunch. We went on his word.

The whole process took us about 4 hours and we now had our visa and 3 whole days before we needed to extend it. We passed through another 2 full searches, where Ross had to unpack a lot of the car, still they found nothing.

There is a definite difference between Morocco and Mauritania. People carry things on their heads and we saw our first round thatched African house. The women have much more authority and are really beautiful. They wrap their hair in a head dress and wear bright vibrant colours. Most of the men wear light purple/blue toga-like Roman robes with gold embossed designs called dra'as, a Moor symbol as the Moor women wrap themselves with a thin colourful bodylength wraps called malahfas. It's very difficult to take photos of the people as they don't like their photo's being taken.

We were lucky enough to see and film the famous iron-ore train go by. It's a mile long.

We drove in through the chaos of Nouadhibou with people and cars driving everywhere. There are no markings on the road and people use the sand on the road side as 2 or more lanes. Cars have no lights front or back or only some are working. This is definitely why there's the rule 'Never drive at night in Africa!' Mercedes Benz are by far the most common car here and are all moving in various stages of disrepair. We passed a sign for Camping Baie du Levrier (N20 54' 55.9" W17 03' 00.6"), a very small and centrally located campsite with only one other car, and went onto Camping Abba. Raulf and the other Dutch biker were there already and so we popped up the tent and started cooking dinner.

Then some of the Rally cars pulled up and the campsite started hotting up. We would not recommend staying at Camping Abba, but rather that people go to the smaller, more friendly Camping Baie du Levrier(N20 54' 55.9" W17 03' 00.6") instead, which is cleaner and MUCH nicer! Camping Abba has one 'hot' shower, in the dark, basically just above the stinky Arabic loo and the loos really honked! We did manage to change money at the Abba campsite (€1 to Um330), with a much lower rate than at Camping Baie du Levrier (€1 to Um345) and get our car insurance Um2500 for 10days, a discount thanks to the rally guys. The car insurance was cheaper here than at the border.

At the campsite we were constantly being approached by the purple, sheet covered men who kept waltzing into the campsite asking if we'd like to have them as a guide for the Parc Banc d'Arguin, to buy their silver jewellery or exchange money etc. Now we realised why the other campsite had a closed gate - to keep them out and give you peace and quiet! Even just while waiting for a shower, Ross was asked if he wanted to buy a carton of Marlboro cigarettes, asked to visit a restaurant in the corner of the campsite, offered a mobile phone sim card to buy and met a tiny toddler called Mohammed, proudly advertised by his beaming mother. This gives an idea of the "relaxed privacy" you get at Camping Abba.

We passed more big groups of camels roaming freely, with us being true Tommy's stopping along the road to take photos. It's so good to see them and they are so camouflaged in the desert.

Off to bed and thankfully we had had an excellent day getting everything we needed done and getting a visa for 3 full days plus today. Today we were introduced to Africa and to the lesson of patience, a very necessary thing in our months ahead.

Wednesday 28th November 2007: Camping Abba, Mauritania

GPS Info: N20°54'29.6" W17°03'13.0"

Miles Today: 327 Total Miles: 6159

Today was Independence Day in Mauritania, so everything was supposed to be closed. We hoped the road chaos might be less, but luckily we found another coastal road which skirted around the centre which was much easier.

Woke up early to the rally guys revving as they were leaving. We'd decided to do a proper check of Camping Baie before leaving Nouadhibou and heading to Nouakchott and Raulf was off to spend tonight there, so we'd be able to say good-bye. We did a reshuffle and declutter as our wet stuff is now dry and needed to be put away, as we couldn't find stuff again and frustration levels were rising again!

We were pestered again by 'Parc guides' but had read it's Um1200 (€3.50) each and then you need to hire a boat Um17 000 (about €50) to see the birds. You also need a 4x4 and we need another car to join us in case we get stuck...all not particularly helpful when everyone is heading to Dakar, Senegal. Maybe we'll be able to get back from Nouakchott, once we have our 1 month visas. It seems such a pity to miss Parc Banc d'Arguin as it's a World Heritage Site famous for it's migratory birds. Would be fantastic to have your bird knowledge with us now Clint and Nats.

We drove along the coast of Nouadhibou and were horrified by the number of ship wrecks lying in the sea. Apparently when the wealthy countries want to right off a ship/boat they ram them into the shore here to avoid scrapping costs. It's such a shame as it's ruined the Nouadhibou coastline, which looks like a ship graveyard.

We said our good-byes to Raulf, who was hoping to catch the train to Atar, and after looking around, we would VERY highly recommend Camping Baie du Levrier(N20 54' 55.9" W17 03' 00.6"). We drove for hours on the long, straight rather boring tarred road from Nouadhibou to Nouakchott, through the Parc supposedly, but we have now idea how you enter because there are no tracks that even vaguely resemble roads.

We drove off on piste to a little fishing village called El Mhaijrat and couldn't believe the beauty they were living in. The chief told us the best time to do the drive along the beach would be at 6pm, it was just after 4pm. A truck drove up the opposite way and a bakkie came roaring past. We were SOOOO tempted to just try, but reason stopped us. We couldn't risk our whole trip if we got stuck on our own with the tide coming in especially as we are sand novices and have no idea how wide the beach is further along. The fishermen were getting ready to go fishing for the night and asked Ross to help them push one of their very heavy fishing boats in to the sea. It was such a privilege to just stand and watch how people of different colours, languages and totally different worlds can merge and laugh together so easily.

We pulled over a little later where the GPS showed the sea being closest to the road, hoping to bush camp on the beach. We parked Duzi2 and walked for about half a kilometer to get to the beach. We met an Englishman who was on a group tour and they were beach camping, but had driven up the beach from Nouakchott. Still not an option for us on our own.

With it nearing sunset we approached a police check near Nouakchott. They were demanding every kind of paperwork under the sun. We produced all we had and eventually they let us go, now after sunset! We were also hounded by 2 men who were promoting their campsites for us to stay at.

We drove in to the even more chaotic Nouakchott and looked at 3 possible campsites, Auberge Sahara(N18 06'10.2" W15 59'48.9"), on the main road, Auberge Awkar, Auberge Novelle, which we couldn't find, and Terjit Camping, recommended by Rough Guide West Africa. This last place was miles out of town on the beach road, had the most perfect location being right on the beach and was within walking distance of a fishing village, but was VERY expensive, Um5000 each per night! We settled on Auberge Sahara (Um1500 each/night), which by now was totally full with bikers, cars and 4x4's squashed into the driveway. Luckily one very kind man is leaving early tomorrow morning so he moved and we got a perfect spot to set up the tent.

At Auberge Sahara, the kitchen is open for everyone to use so that means no use of our gas while we're here. The place was full, always a good sign and they have clean loos and showers. They also advertise WIFI, yay. We met a French man who was telling us he'd just been with a Landrover that had broken down in the desert today. It had a problem with the 4x4 and was now only a 2x4 or something. He showed us photos and we saw it was poor Claudio and Laura, www.2africaforlove.com., the Italian couple we'd met in Chefchaouen. He was going to go out, about 100km into the desert towards Atar, with a mechanic tomorrow to see if they could help them. This was a wake up call for us and we both felt so sorry and sad for them.

Thursday 29th November 2007: Auberge Sahara, Mauritania

GPS Info: N18°06'10.2" W15°59'48.9"

Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 6159

We were woken up at about 4am by the shouting mullahs calling to pray and then shortly afterwards by the 8 Spanish rally motorbikes as they got ready to leave. We each had a good shower and breakfast before setting off to the Mauritanian 'police station' to have our visa extended. Sadly it was not the police station just across the block from us, but the Ministere de la Decentralisation(DST) and Management of the Territory (like Home Affairs) across town from the Auberge.

The way you catch a taxi in Nouakchott is to stand next to the road and within seconds many Mercedes will pull over to be your taxi. We'd been told it should cost Um200 so we waited til we got a green official taxi who would go to the DST, near the President's Palais for this price. We got there only to be met by more French...

Lucky for us there was a French girl who was also there to extend her visa. She offered to translate for us. Leaving our passports, 2 passport photo's, a form filled in and Um 5000 each we were told to return at 6.30pm tonight or tomorrow morning to get our visas. Yay that was easy.

Instead of catching a taxi back again, we walked back to find the Malian embassy where we need to go tomorrow for our Malian visa. We met a very friendly English speaking man who told us if we came tomorrow at 9am with 2 photos and Um 6500 each, we'd have our visa's by 11am.

We bought some delicious looking fruit, eggs and some fresh baguettes for lunch. It was hot and sunny and we've both picked up some colour from walking today. There is fine beach sand everywhere with loads of whole shells which they mix into their cement. We did all our laundry and all by hand on a wooden scrubbing board! Hard work. It was sunny and hot so all our clothes are now clean and dry.

We caught another taxi back to DST and got there at 6.30pm only to wait until 7.55pm until the consul who needed to sign the visa's returned. We walked back in the dark, being passed by a moving car wreck which TopGear would be proud of. It looked like it had rolled a few times, had no vision through any of its windows, no lights and the battery on it's roof and was full of passengers!

We went to Pizza Lina, recommended by Lonely Planet Africa, for a delicious pizza and chocolate mousse dinner and came back to find Raulf at the Auberge, as well as a repeat of last night with the driveway jammed packed and the place buzzing with people. We caught up quickly and then spoke to the Frenchman who had gone out to help Claudio and Laura this morning. He said that the problem wasn't the front prop shaft, but it may now be the axle shaft. So they are in the desert again tonight, but will hopefully come back to the Auberge tomorrow night. He showed us some of the Neolithic arrow heads he'd found in the desert. They were so sharp and small.

It was much warmer and we hoped to sleep through the 4am mullah calls.

Friday 30th November 2007: Auberge Sahara, Mauritania

GPS Info: N18°06'10.2" W15°59'48.9"

Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 6159

Up early again thanks to the shouting mullah near us. We also wanted to get to the Mali embassy as close to 9am, when it opens, as possible. We changed money at the Auberge (€1 to Um340) as the banks(€1 to Um375) aren't open until Monday. Raulf left on his way to Senegal, we probably won't see him again.

We got to the embassy with our passports, 2 photos, Um6500 each and filled in a very detailed form asking for hair, skin and eye colour, height etc. They even copied our passport details page and gave us an extra photocopy. This was all done in 10 minutes and we were told to come back at 11am so we headed along the main road a bit.

At 11am we got our visas and were on our way back to the Auberge with fresh bread and sunshine. We're starting to feel like locals here as we walk around. We enjoyed a quiet day of catching up - typed up the updates, washed a few more things, phoned home, read a bit and just stopped - something we're both not very good at doing. We were both anxiously waiting for Claudio and Laura to pull in, which they did in the early evening. It was their axle shaft that had just snapped off, but they're back safe and sound.

Again the Auberge filled up and by the evening the driveway was full again. We sat chatting and sharing experiences with two young guys who are also travelling south, a Dutch and an American.

Saturday 1st December 2007: Auberge Sahara, Mauritania

GPS Info: N18°06'10.2" W15°59'48.9"

Miles Today: 0 Total Miles: 6159

We are now three days into our malaria tablets, Cyclidox (Doxi-cyclene) and so far so good. They are in a capsule so they don't even have a horrible taste. We do need to be more careful in the sun though as they apparently make our skin sun-sensitive. Every morning with our Berrocca we have our malaria capsule and then every night with supper we have a pro-biotic capsule, which will hopefully help with any side effects of the long term malaria medicine.

Awakened again at 4.45am by the screaming mullah of Nouakchott and his echoing friend who starts just after him! A lovely campsite, except for them who go on at least 8 times a day.!

We slept in a bit and enjoyed a relaxing day. It was another lovely sunny, warm day and we had a fantastic day on Terjit Plage. We caught a taxi from the Auberge to the fish market for Um400. The fish market here is where all the local fishermen come in on their big wooden fishing boats which are full of fresh fish. The men all wait to help pull the boats up on the shore out of the waves. At one stage there was a mix of 25 men and boys all pulling one boat in. The desert-donkey carts wait next to the boats to take the fresh fish up to the market and to off-load the motor and other bits and pieces the fishermen take with them.

We walked through the market amazed at all the fish and some very big ones too. There wasn't even too much of a fishy smell, must be because they're so fresh. We took time to just stop and watch. We would've loved to video the fishermen, but knew it would be wrong. We walked up the beach, past the hotel beach with it's thatch umbrellas and found a quiet spot a little further to stop and within minutes were both fast asleep.

We walked back while the sun was lowering and the market was teaming with fish, sellers and buyers. We were stopped by two sets of people on our way back, who just wanted to chat. One guy, Lammin, a Gambian who plays music here in a hotel, had been working in Dorchester for a bit so he even had 'innit' in his vocabulary. He even offered us some fresh fish to try which they were cooking, singeing, on the fire, but we declined. Another guy was Mauritanian and spoke really good English, he wants to visit South Africa sometime in the future. When they heard we were South African they were even more chuffed and wished us a wonderful time in Mauritania. Todays experiences and meetings will be something we'll never forget.

Caught a taxi home and had a vegetable chilli con carne. We read up about Senegal, somewhere Claudio and Laura have asked us why we're not visiting. Interesting question to which we didn't have an answer to. We both don't need visas on German, British or South African passports so after reading, we've decided to head off there tomorrow to St Louis, a small French town with amazing beaches, just 20km into Senegal. There are also 2 bird nature reserves close by and a bigger mammal reserve further South, so hopefully we'll be able to see what we missed in Banc d'Arguin. We're going to cross into Senegal at Diamma because Rosso is a definite no no! So tomorrow we're off to Senegal to travel for a bit with Claudio and Laura.

Some of the Amsterdam Dakar rally cars were parked into the crammed driveway here and amazingly they, normal 2x4 cars had done the beach drive, with the help of a Dutch couple in their Toyota Landcruiser. This couple, Berry and Esther (www.berryenesther.waarbenjij.nu), are also driving down to Cape Town over the next year. Wonders never cease! We stayed up late chatting to a very interesting and friendly Dutch rally guy called Mike.

Sunday 2nd December 2007: Auberge Sahara, Mauritania

GPS Info: N18°06'10.2" W15°59'48.9"

Miles Today: Total Miles: 6159

HAPPY 70th BIRTHDAY MOM! We hope you have a fantastic day today and enjoy your special lunch at the Hilton. Sorry we didn't get to chat to you this morning, but we'll be thinking of you all day. We'll toast to you tonight with our Italian friends on the beach in Senegal.

We left the Auberge Sahara and weaved our way out of Nouakchott eventually finding the road out towards Rosso. Today was VERY hot, but a beautiful days driving. We really felt we were in Africa and Duzi2 was doing made she/he was born for. We drove into Rosso because we couldn't find the road off to Diamma, but very quickly turned around and got out. A man came over to Ross and said, "This place is not good", which we already knew.

We noticed a big difference with the Mauritanian police checks today. They all asked for 'cadeau' (present) as if we have something packed for every man and his dog in our landy! They were very pushy and insistent and we had to be very firm. The road from Rosso to Diama is a dirt track with some pretty big holes and it didn't feel like 90km but more like 160km, so took a lot longer than we expected. It is a beautiful drive following alongside the Senegal River, the border between Mauritania and Senegal. We were stopped many times and were asked for our insurance, passports, 'fiche' etc. We were asked each time in French and we, being South African, pretended to be clueless, until they eventually let us go out of sheer frustration, without venturing on to ask us to pay.

The vegetation changed and became much greener with red dunes and ivory palm trees around areas that probably are oasis, when there's water. There were lots of different animals feeding on the greener leaves of the tree-tops as there's still no grass around- camels, goats standing on their back legs or on each other to reach.

Along our drive to Diama, we unknowingly entered into the Parc National des Oiseaux du Djoudj and were so spoilt to see hundreds of cormorants, pink and orange flamingos, pelicans, sand pipers, herons, egrets, sea gulls, big predator birds, duck cross goose cross swan like black birds, many other birds which we have no clue what they were. It was so lovely to just stop alongside the water and listen to all the flamingos and other birds as they made their loud feeding sounds while they scooped through the sand feeding. We thought of you so much today, Clint and Nat, because you would've loved it and been able to teach us so much about what we were seeing. We even saw a green bee-eater close to the road. To add humour to our trip we also saw two families of warthog and a big lone male.

We eventually got to Diamma as it approached sunset, only to meet a herd / caravan of about 100 camels crossing the border ahead of us. We got our carnet (for the car) stamped and had to pay €10 for tax (think this may have been a scam, but we did get an offical receipt and had no option). Then to exit Mauritania we had our passports stamped by two further uniformed men, who tried to intimidate us into paying another €10. We refused to pay as we couldn't think of a reason why we should. They even closed the door to try and intimidate us further. After playing dumb for about 20 minutes, they eventually opened the door and let us go, without us paying anything. From there we VERY stupidly bought car insurance (€25) for 1 month (of which we discovered later we were only given 15 days) covering Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso etc, on the Mauritanian side of the border. DO NOT DO THIS!!! Only buy the insurance for a country once you have crossed over into that country.

Finally we were free to cross over into Senegal.