Mauritania

The Adventure

You wake with the first rays of sunlight as the Iron Ore Train sways gently along the rails and the desert sand crunches beneath the wheels. You look toward the horizon, where the warm wind stirs up dust in the last wagons. The night was cold and short. You have never seen the night sky as clearly as this. An overnight journey through the largest sand desert in the world. Past nomad tents, wild camel herds, barren landscapes and scattered sand dunes. The final kilometers on the longest and heaviest freight train are almost behind you, as our journey through Mauritania slowly draws to a close.

You look back on a week full of new friendships, overwhelming impressions and an appetite for even more adventure. You have discovered a country that appears on hardly any travel list. You have driven through the desert in a 4×4 jeep and camped at the foot of Mauritania's highest sand dune. You have explored abandoned ruins along medieval caravan routes, swum in green oases in the middle of the desert and off lonely Atlantic beaches. At the end of the trip you visited your first traditional hammam, before heading home with fresh spices from the market.

Our expedition begins and ends in the south of Western Sahara, in Ad-Dakhla. We set off toward the land border with Mauritania, stopping at a lonely sandy beach on the Atlantic coast to cool off. After our first night in Western Sahara we cross the border into Mauritania and follow the Atlantic down to the capital, Nouakchott. Here we dive into the country's vibrant culture: we visit the largest camel market in the country and the colorful fishing harbor. From Nouakchott we head into the desert in 4×4 jeeps. We set up camp at the impressive Azoueiga dunes, where we enjoy dinner at sunset. After a night with an open view of the Milky Way, we continue to Chinguetti, an ancient caravan town and UNESCO World Heritage Site. We explore the town's historic ruins and famous libraries. We spend the night at the Terjit oasis in the desert, the largest oasis in Mauritania, and freshen up in its natural pools. Our journey continues to Choum, where our train ride begins. We charge our camera batteries and make the final preparations. In the afternoon sun we climb onto the legendary Iron Ore Train. The ride takes us day and night through the endless desert to the Atlantic coast. The next morning we reach Nouadhibou, where we recover from the night on the train. We make our way back across the border into Western Sahara. There, after a traditional hammam and one last dinner together, our extraordinary journey comes to an end. We spend the final morning together before everyone departs on their own schedule.