9th story: Mauritania
(08.02.05 - 20.02.05)We
were glad to reach the
Mauritanian check post after 4km
of real sandy paste. Luckily we
could pay for our visa in
Moroccan currency (50 Euros per
person). Right after the border
we met excellent tarmac again.
Just shortly before the junction
to Nouadhibou we crossed the
tracks of “famous” iron
ore train. A few minutes later we
even saw one!
Not very long
again you had to take the train
east in order to hit a real road
to go to Nouakchott. Now they are
building a new road connecting
Nouadhibou and Nouakchott. About
half of the 450km is good tarmac,
the rest still piste.
After the first
26km of good tarmac with strong
headwind we reached the first
stretch of sandy piste. We were
able to actually cycle some
parts, but very often we had to
push our bikes. We were glad when
we reached tarmac again the
following day. Unfortunately the
wind was blowing right into our
faces, which slowed us done quite
a bit. There were so called shops
along the road about every 30 to
50 km so we able to stock up on
food and water. There was no
variety, though, it was pasta
with tomato sauce and tinned
vegetables every day! Worst of
all our cooking stove stopped
working … . Luckily we were
able to buy a gas stove the next
day.
We were very
happy to reach Nouakchott after 6
days: finally a shower and decent
food.
Nouakchott was the real first
town after Dakhla. After the
solitude of the dessert it nearly
a shock to be surrounded by all
these people.
It was another
210 km through the desert to the
border town of Rosso. Here we
took the ferry to cross the
Senegal River and to enter
Senegal.
Though crossing the Sahara was
really hard work, we really
enjoyed it and belive it to be
one of the highlights of this
trip.
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