Mauritania

Mauritania: Bridge Between the Sahara and Sahel

Where the Sahara meets the Atlantic, an ancient trading empire, and one of the most genuinely remote travel destinations in West Africa.

Mauritania is a large, mostly desert country in northwestern Africa, bordered by Morocco and the Western Sahara to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mali to the east and southeast, and Senegal to the south, with the Atlantic Ocean to the west. It is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, with a population of around four million people spread across a territory larger than France and Spain combined.

Mauritania is the heartland of some of the most important ancient empires in West African history. The ancient Ghana Empire, which controlled trans-Saharan gold and salt trade from roughly the 6th to 13th centuries, centered on territory in what is now southern Mauritania and Mali. The Almoravid Empire, which spread from Mauritania to conquer Morocco, Spain, and much of West Africa in the 11th century, originated among the Sanhaja Berber confederacy of the western Sahara. The legacy of these empires shaped the political and cultural landscape of West Africa for centuries.

Chinguetti and the Ancient Desert Cities

Chinguetti, Ouadane, Tichitt, and Oualata are four ancient desert cities inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognized as former caravan centers and cities of Islamic learning that were once among the most important in the western Sahara.

Chinguetti, often described as the seventh holiest city in Islam, was a major staging post for West African Muslims making the pilgrimage to Mecca. Entire caravans of pilgrims from across West Africa gathered here before crossing the Sahara northward. At its peak in the medieval period, the city was an important center of Islamic scholarship with libraries holding thousands of manuscripts covering theology, astronomy, mathematics, and law.

Today Chinguetti is a haunting place. The old quarter of stone houses with elaborately carved wooden doors sits partially buried under advancing sand dunes, a slow-motion surrender to the desert. Ancient libraries still hold tens of thousands of manuscripts, some over 700 years old, preserved by the dry desert air. The atmosphere of a civilization slowly being reclaimed by sand gives Chinguetti one of the most powerful atmospheres of any city in Africa.

Ouadane, even more remote than Chinguetti, sits on a rocky plateau above a desert valley. Its old town of stone houses and narrow alleys is even more dramatically abandoned, with parts of the ancient city returning to rubble while a small community maintains life in its margins.

The Ship Graveyard at Nouadhibou

The coastline around Nouadhibou in the northwest is one of the most extraordinary ship graveyard sites in the world. Dozens of rusting cargo ships, tankers, and fishing vessels lie beached or partially submerged in the shallow waters of the bay, abandoned over decades by owners who found it cheaper to leave them than to decommission them properly. For photographers and industrial history enthusiasts, the scale and variety of the wrecks, stretching for kilometers along the coast, is genuinely unlike anywhere else on earth.

Banc d’Arguin National Park

The Banc d’Arguin National Park on the Atlantic coast is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important seabird and migratory bird sanctuaries in the world. The shallow waters and sandbanks of the park support millions of birds during the northern winter, including enormous concentrations of flamingos, pelicans, waders, and terns. The Imraguen fishing communities who live within the park maintain a traditional fishing culture using hand-sewn cotton sails and cooperating with dolphins to drive fish into their nets, a practice that has continued for generations.

The Atlantic Coast

The Mauritanian Atlantic coast has long stretches of beach backed by sand dunes that reach the sea in places. The town of Nouadhibou is the entry point for the famous iron ore train, one of the longest and heaviest trains in the world, which crosses the Sahara from the mines at Zouerat to the coast. Adventurous travelers have traditionally ridden on top of the iron ore wagons, a rough but memorable journey across some of the most remote desert terrain on earth.

Nouakchott and Everyday Life

Nouakchott, the capital, is one of the fastest-growing cities in Africa, having expanded from a small administrative center at independence in 1960 to a city of over one million people today. The city has a lively fish market at the Port de Peche where fishing pirogues bring in their catch directly onto the beach, and the sight of the boats coming in and the market activity around them is one of the most energetic daily scenes in Mauritania.

Travel Tips for Mauritania

Most nationalities can get a visa on arrival at Nouakchott-Oumtounsy International Airport. Arabic and French are official languages, with Hassaniya Arabic widely spoken. The Mauritanian ouguiya is the currency. The best time to visit is November to February when temperatures are more manageable. Malaria prevention is recommended in the south. Security conditions in parts of the interior require monitoring before travel to remote areas.