21.03.2021
ca. 380 km towards the Northeast into the Sahara Desert
It was nothing new that when I was travelling I was always up really early. And it was not any different today. I had to finish packing for the road trip … That done I sat on the balcony doing some writing and used the WIFI some more. We were off into the Sahara and I was not sure when I would have connection or electricity for that matter again. I had made sure already that all batteries and powerbanks were charged completely.
Breakfast was ordered for 08:00 and I wandered down to the restaurant. I chose the same as yesterday, but went to sit outside by the pool. It was nice in the sun, not too hot yet, actually quite fresh and windy this early in the morning. Ely showed up around 08:15 to remind me that we wanted to leave at 08:30.
I quickly finished breakfast and went up to get my bags from my room. Ely was waiting for me in the lobby. Check out was quick. The hotel was included in my tour. The friendly staff waved me off and wished Bon Voyage!
The staff had brought my bag outside already – the car was waiting. We were going to travel in a Toyota Hilux Double Cab 4×4 – a pick-up legend – the Toyota Hilux was the bestselling pick-up in Mauritania and all over Africa due to its indestructibility. Ely and our driver Sahrawi were already busy securing the gear on the back … it was quite a task … there was a lot … my big backpack went on the back under the tarp as well and everything got tied down with a net and ropes.
At 08:40 we were ready to leave. I got the front seat – the perks of being the only guest. Let the roadtrip begin! Sahar – that was what I called him for short – headed northeast out of the city. There was very little traffic. A lot of donkey carts were on the road, though. They transported everything that needed to be transported. I spotted several with water barrels on the way to residential areas without water supply. According to the Africa Development Bank Group, only 68% of Mauritanians have access to potable water. In the capital city of Nouakchott, people in poverty often purchase water from vendors who hauled the barrels from a water supply several kilometers away.
We stopped several times – still within the city limits – to get organized. They had to get some sort of permit and that involved at least 2 stops. I used the time to clean the windshield in order to get better photos. The Sahara sand was everywhere. But also people and traffic watching was in order. Next to a busy intersection a butcher had set up his stall with eatery. The bread man was going around selling fresh French-style baguette. It was an interesting start to the day.
The last stop we did was at a butcher shop where Ely bought Camel meat for tonight’s dinner. I had to get out of the car to have a closer look. It was not the first time I had see my dinner being bought in local places, but it was the first time for Camel meat. It reminded me of my off the beaten track tour of Bangladesh in 2011 – only then my guide bought the life chicken and we had it for dinner … And yes, I had absolutely no problems with eating it … same as now with the Camel meat …
Now we already had turned onto the main highway – the national route N1 which ran northeast into the Sahara and formed a north-south axis between Nouakchott and the border with Western Sahara in the far north of the country. It was a busy road. Lots of heavy trucks were plying this road. The N1 had traditionally been a somewhat important transport route to the mines of northern Mauritania, connecting the northern Mauritania railway with the capital and was the main supply route for the Adrar region.
We were soon leaving the city limits and traffic thinned out. A long stretch of road was lined with the typical Moorish tents. The Khaïma – meaning tent in Arabic – was the traditional tent used by nomads in the desert and arid areas of the Maghreb and the countries of the Persian Gulf.
The Maghreb – in Arabic the West – also known as Northwest Africa, the Arab Maghreb and historically as the Barbary Coast – was the western part of North Africa and the Arab World. The region included a large portion of the Sahara Desert of Algeria, Libya, Mauritania – which was however also considered part of West Africa – Morocco and Tunisia. Sometimes the region was referred to as the Land of the Atlas – referring to the Atlas Mountains, which were located within it. During the era of Al-Andalus on the Iberian Peninsula – which lasted from 711 to 1492 – the Maghreb’s inhabitants – the Muslim Berbers or Maghrebi – were known by Europeans as the Moors.
The asphalt road was very straight and led through a isolated and mostly relatively flat desert area, mainly consisting of sandy Sahara desert. There were only a few villages along the route, which were far apart. As usual this kind of roadtrip had a rather soporific effect on me … eventhough I was totally exited to be in the Sahara … I had to fight for my eyes to stay open … There were very frequent check points on the highway … actually it was sometimes police, sometimes gendarmerie, sometimes military … everytime Sahar had to stop and show the car documents, travel permit, explain where we were going and hand over a piece of paper with all my details. Ely had come prepared – since I had sent Idoumou my passport details, they had put it all together in a short file with the tour companies details and made a pile of copies. So I did not have to dig out my passport all the time or fill in forms. – Donnez-moi le fichier! Merci! Bon voyage! – was the prefered outcome at those check points.
In Mauritania the desert was like an overbearing mother – never quite letting go. Swathes of sand swept in everywhere … Frequently on our roadtrip we encountered sand eating up the road. The Sahara – in Arabic The Greatest Desert – is a desert with an area of 9.2 mio km² and with that it is the largest hot desert in the world and the 3rd largest desert overall – smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Arctic. The name Sahara is derived from the Arabic word for desert in the feminine irregular form – the singular ṣaḥra’ – plural ṣaḥārā.
The further we went east the more Camels … ah … Dromedaries were around. Local experts estimated there are approx 3 mio Dromedaries in the country of 4.4 mio people … But Ely assured me they were not wild – they all belonged to somebody. The Dromedary is diurnal – active mainly during daylight. Free-ranging herds feed and roam throughout the day, though they rest during the hottest hours around noon. The Dromedar – Camelus Dromedarius – also called the Arabian Camel – is a large even-toed ungulate and the tallest of the 3 species of camel with distinctive features including its long, curved neck, narrow chest, the single hump – compared with 2 on the Bactrian Camel and Wild Bactrian Camel – and long hairs on the throat, shoulders and hump. The coat is generally a shade of brown.
Roughly 260 km and a good 3.5 hrs into our journey we made a pit stop in the first town we passed – Akjoujt – called Fort Repoux during colonial times in homage to Captain Henri Repoux (1876-1908), who was killed in Mauritania. The town was a former copper and gold mining town. Discovered and put into operation in the 1940s and 1950s, the Akjoujt copper deposit has been known for a long time – archeologists had discovered that as early as 1000 BC copper smelting and mining was occurring in Akjoujt. According to archeologist Nicole N. Lambert, metallurgical traces and discovery sites prove relation between Mauritanian metallurgy and the introduction of Berbers into the western Sahara and the Sahel. The exploitation of the copper mines ceased in 1978, though, but it still was visible on google satellite …
In 1992 the city’s old copper mine was repurposed into a gold mine. The company, Mines d’Or d’Akjoujt MORAK, which was government-subsidized, was using many volatile and dangerous chemicals in the mines and livestock and other animals in the area began to die. The runoff from the mine was stored in a plastic-lined retention pond and was very close to the city’s water supply. Despite warnings that the rainfall in the area could cause the toxic material to spread, the mining continued for 4 years. MORAK, in order to boost support, offered free drinking water and placed fences around the facility, but had little effect on public opinion. The Mauritanian government allegedly suppressed information regarding the mine’s safety issues and MORAK fired employees who reported health problems. The gold mine closed in 1996. Since then the town only survives thanks to the passage of the N1 road to Atar and if we would not have stopped for gas I would have missed it …
Shortly after we left Akjoujt our Sahar turned off the main highway looking for a suitable lunch spot. The desert was very flat here, the sun was scorchingly hot and a sandy wind was blowing. There was absolutely no shade in sight. In the distance Ely spotted buildings and Sahar said he could go there eventhough there was no track … They spoke Arabic with eachother … I did not understand a word … but I was sure Sahar said if he wanted to drive there, he could drive there, no problem … he did not need a track … It turned out to be an abandoned structure which looked like it was once or should have become a hotel or such. It looked like it had never been finished … now the desert was claiming it back …
Ely and Sahar found a suitable room which was not completely covered with sand and garbage and where the wind was not blowing through too much … just in a slight breeze … natural air-conditioning … Sahar backed the car in front of the door and they started to unpack … ??? … Yes, there was everything on that pick-up we could possibly need to survive for a few days in the desert … and they unpacked most of the kitchen stuff. The yellow containers were filled with water for cooking. There were also many boxes of bottled drinking water. Anyway, they set up lunch camp complete with table and chairs and a field kitchen … I was impressed!
While Ely was preparing lunch, Sahar was in charge of making tea. He went around the premises to collect charcoal. Obviously this place was used as shelter often … evidences was clearly there in form of garbage and firewood turned into charcoal. Sahar had a tiny stove, made a fire and set the thing in another room where the wind blew through to accelerate the burning. Then he set the stove in a pile of sand and the tea pot right onto the glowing coal. Making Mauritanian tea was a real ritual very common throughout North Africa.
The tea that was used was typically Chinese green tea. It was brewed over coals and then poured into another pot. It was poured back and forth and then into tea glasses – then again from glass to glass. He also added copious amounts of sugar … Typically this pouring happened from a great height above the pot or glass to aerate the tea and create a frothy foam on top. It looked like true art and probably took quite a bit of practice to get it just right. It was also a slow process … it took a while until the tea was frothy enough for Sahar’s approval … he tasted it numerous times … it was supposed to be also really really sweet …
Lunch was good – Ely had made a salad with potatoes, beetroot, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, olives and canned tuna. It came with fresh bread and was very good and hit the spot in this heat. Desert was very delicious fresh Mango – I love Mango … The tea was very good too. After lunch we all took a little siesta. They had put the mats out as well … the hottest part of the day was for taking a nap …
Around 15:00 they started to pack up … it took some time to get all camp back onto the pick-up and secure it … by 15:30 we were ready to leave. But instead of getting back on the asphalted highway, Sahar just crossed it and went on what Ely said was the proper road … I could hardly make out a track … it was supposedly marked by rocks painted white …
For several hundred thousand years, the Sahara had alternated between desert and savanna grassland in a 20000 year cycle caused by the precession of the Earth’s axis as it rotated around the sun, which changed the location of the North African Monsoon. The area was expected to become green next time in about 15000 years …
Of course we spotted more Dromedaries … They did not know where the track was either and had settled right in the middle of it … This Camel fed on foliage and desert vegetation. Several adaptations – such as the ability to tolerate losing more than 30% of its total water content – allowed them to thrive in this desert habitat. It was probably first domesticated in the Arabian Peninsula about 4000 years ago or in Somalia where there are paintings in Laas Geel that figure it from more than 5000 to 9000 years ago. In the wild, the Dromedary did inhabit arid regions including the Sahara Desert. The domesticated Dromedary was generally found in the semi-arid to arid regions of the Old World – mainly in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula – and a significant feral population occurs in Australia.
And then … in the middle of nowhere … a lone Camel rider appeared and crossed the track on the way to where ever … There did not seem to be anything really anywhere close … Desert people rely on Camels for their milk, meat and fur – it is also commonly used for riding and as a beast of burden. Known as Ships of the Desert, Camels have been used for transporting goods across deserts for thousands of years. In fact, Camels are the only desert animals that can carry heavy loads of goods and travel for a long period of time without food or water.
Approximately 3/4 of Mauritania is desert or semidesert. As a result of extended, severe drought, the desert had been expanding since the mid-1960s. The plateaus gradually descend toward the northeast to the barren El Djouf or Empty Quarter – a vast region of large sand dunes. To the west, between the ocean and the plateaus, were alternating areas of clayey plains – called regs – and sand dunes – called ergs – some of which shift from place to place, gradually moved by high winds. The dunes generally increase in size and mobility toward the north.
Soon we were reaching those sand dunes. Located south-west of the city of Atar, Erg Amatlich was a vast dune barrier of small dimensions – roughly 130 km by 5-8 km – trapped between the mountains of the Adrar plateau. The erg originated at the cliffs of the Tifoujar Pass and extended to the Akjoujt area where it took the name of Dkhaïna extending to the Atlantic Ocean.
In addition to endless dunes, Erg Amatlich gathered a great variety of Saharan landscapes such as canyons, cliffs, cultivable basins and palm groves like Azoueïga, located on the west side of the erg. First the scenery changed the closer we came to the dunes … there were more and more Acacia trees scattered here. Vachellia Seyal – the Red Acacia – was distributed from Egypt to Kenya and west Senegal. In the Sahara it often grew in damp valleys.
We came by a village at the edge of an oasis … actually a palm grove that stretched along the sand dunes. Houses were made of fieldstones and thatched with palm leaves. The Mosques – the most important part of the village – was a white washed building and visible already from afar. But at the moment the village was abandoned – only during date harvest in July and August it was verily inhabited.
At this time of the year there were only very few people around here. We came across some Donkeys grazing. The Common Donkey – Equus Asinus Asinus – was the domestic form of the African Wild Ass, which was domesticated in the Nile Valley around 3000 BC – probably in Egypt or Mesopotamia – and used very early in history for the transport of individuals and goods. For centuries, the Donkey had been a transport animal and an agricultural tool in the service of men. Apparently there were approx 400000 working donkeys and horses in Mauritania.
The next settlement near the palm grove had round huts – Tikkits … simple huts made of straw, twigs or crippled wood commonly used in the areas of Mauritania influenced by Arabic culture. The often round lodgings are found scattered in the gardens of date palm oases throughout the country’s Sahara region and in larger numbers in the northern Adrar region. Tikkits could take many different forms. They were often cone-shaped round huts with a tree trunk as a central support, the construction of which went back to black African influences. Other huts formed an even round dome. Among other things, date palm leaves or branches of tamarinds were used for construction. The grasses, leaves or pieces of wood were held together with strings made from baobab bark fibers. There were several brick huts as well. But all were deserted except for a couple of them. A few children waved from afar. Some adults were lounging in the shade. Quite a few goats were roaming the village as well.
In the empire of desert, water is the king and shadow is the queen.
Mehmet Murat Ildan
Amazing I found that there were fences … it looked like they circled the palm grove and the village. Maybe they were there so the animals did not roam too far into the desert … At some point Ely and Sahar had to open a barbed wire blocking the track as a sort of gate … of course, they closed it properly again after we had passed …
Leaving that last cluster of huts behind, we reached the Sahara sand dunes! And Sahar seemed to be in his element … going 4×4 in the Sahara desert was a safe experience -if certain rules were followed and Sahar appeared to be a highly experienced driver. The Sahara was the world’s largest low-latitude hot desert. The permanent absence of clouds allowed unhindered light and thermal radiation. The stability of the atmosphere above the desert prevented any convective overturning, thus making rainfall virtually non-existent. As a consequence, the weather tended to be sunny, dry and stable with a minimal chance of rainfall.
One theory for the formation of the Sahara wass that the monsoon in northern Africa was weakened because of glaciation during the Quaternary period, starting 2-3 mio years ago. Another theory was that the monsoon was weakened when the ancient Tethys Sea dried up during the Tortonian period around 7 mio years.
The Sahara comprised several distinct ecoregions. With their variations in temperature, rainfall, elevation and soil, these regions harbored distinct communities of plants and animals. In the West Saharan montane xeric woodlands, several volcanic highlands provided a cooler, moister environment that supported Saharo-Mediterranean woodlands and shrublands. This ecoregion covered 258100 km² mostly in Algeria, with smaller enclaves in Niger, the Dhar Adrar of Mauritania and the Adrar des Iforas of Mali and Algeria.
But the Sahara was mainly rocky hamada – stone plateaus. Erg – sand seas – large areas covered with sand dunes – formed only a minor part, but many of the sand dunes were over 180 m high. Wind or rare rainfall shaped the desert features – sand dunes, dune fields, sand seas, stone plateaus, gravel plains called reg, dry valleys called wadi, dry lakes called oued and salt flats called shatt or chott …
By around 17:30 we were really close to the dunes and for a moment I thought we were lost … Sahar was circling the car around and around again and Ely and him were taking rapidly in Arabic … not alarmed, though … they just seemed to be discussing …
I figured out that they were looking for a suitable spot to make camp for the night! … Alright! … And they found a great spot near Azoueïga. It was a strategically well chosen camp site. Behind us there were bushes and in front of us a fantastic view of the dunes. The late afternoon light was dipping the landscape in this awesome glow.
There were quite a few Camels around … for the sake of simplicity I decided to call them all Camels now … but I know they were Dromedary … after all they were known as Arabian Camel … And a man just appeared from nowhere … Where he came from … I did not know … there must have been a settlement somewhere in the vicinity … it was likely there was water somewhere close … it looked like the edge of a palm grove … it might have been Azoueïga … I would learn later on during this voyage that people were appearing out of nowhere even in the seemingly remotest of places …
While Ely and Sahar – under the supervision of our visitor – started to make camp, I went for a little walk around. N’allez pas trop loin! – Do not go to far! – Ely said … No I would not … Walking in the sand was … hard … But I had a closer look at those impressive Camel footprints all over. Dromedaries have callus-like pads on the soles of their feet. This allows them to move smoothly and silently. Thus they belong to the subordination of the calluses – as well as the Peruvian Vicuñas, Guanacos, Llamas, Alpacas and the Mongolian Camels. Those footprints looked just amazing in the Saharan sand …
I just took a tiny walk to get a better perspective of the dunes and the Camels and the camp site … to stretch my legs after a day in the car … but … hey … I was in the middle of the Sahara Desert … Could I believe it? … No … not yet … I had not really arrived yet … but watching the Camels in the late afternoon sun in front of those massive mounds of golden red-sand … was just … unbelievably beautiful …
Making sure to stay always within visibility of the camp I walked around … somehow I did not want to get lost in the vastness of the desert … Sand dunes were accumulations of windblown sand piled up in mounds or ridges. They formed downwind of copious sources of dry, loose sand and occured when topographic and climatic conditions caused airborne particles to settle. As the wind blew, saltation and creep took place on the windward side of the dune and individual grains of sand moved uphill. When they reached the crest, they cascaded down the far side. The upwind slope typically hasda gradient of 10° to 20° while the lee slope was around 32°, the angle at which loose dry sand would slip. As this wind-induced movement of sand grains took place, the dune moved slowly across the surface of the ground. Dunes were sometimes solitary, but they were more often grouped together in dune fields. When these awereextensive, they were known as sand seas or ergs.
It was not long until Ely and Sahar had finished camp. I had been wondering … they set up 2 of the traditional nomad tents used by nomads in the desert. Between the tents they had put up a regular camping tent … I pondered briefly why … Did they expect me to sleep there? … Ely said I could choose where to sleep … one of the tents – the bigger one – was the kitchen and he would sleep there. I could choose between the camping tent and the other traditional one …
I chose the traditional tent … of course … it was bigger … higher … more airy than the camping tent. The on the outside white tent was decorated inside with a colourful patterned fabric, pyramidal in shape with groundsheets and about 4m x 4 m big. It was hot today … I got my backpack from the truck and set up my bed. I had brought an air mattress … but I could not be bothered of inflating it … I would try the local mattress instead … tomorrow I could always use the fancy air mattress if tonight was not after my liking …
Ely started cooking, Sahar was collecting firewood and I settled in to watch the sunset while jotting down notes in the journal. Quickly night fell … There was absolutely no mobile reception around here. Still the Polarsteps tracker registered the location of our camp … only it could not synchronize so the family at home did not see where I was …
Night comes to the desert all at once, as if someone turned off the light.
Joyce Carol Oates
After sunset prayers they made a bonfire and out of nowhere 3 ladies with big bags appeared … and set up a souvenir shop … I am sure they came to check out the tourist and try to sell some stuff … mostly they had local jewelry … but I just did not need anything … and I did not want anything … I did not even want to get their hopes up by starting to take a closer look … Sahar was making tea again and they at least got a tea and they all chatted away …
Once the ladies were on their way again, Ely prepared dinner. Of course, they had set up our camping table and chairs. The bonfire provided not only warmth – as the sun had gone down it was considerably cooler – but also some light. Dinner was late at 20:30 … I think it might be a leftover of the French colonial times … the French ate very late as well … or it might be just a habit of desert people … to eat in the cooler time of the day … Ely had produced a 3 course dinner … Believe it! … there was some sort of noodle soup first, then a rich stew of camel meat, carrots, potatoes and onions served with bread and followed by canned peaches as dessert. It was surprisingly good. I think it was the first time I ever tried camel meat …
I bid the others good night by 21:30 and retired to my tent. I did close the flap of the tent. In secrecy … feeling like a true alcoholic even though it was the first drink today … I mixed myself a tiny night cap with a dash of my blue hand sanitizer vodka, the raspberry cordial I had brought to give the water some taste and water. I climbed into my sleeping bag and while sipping from the bottle I sorted some photos and stored them to post as soon as there was mobile reception again. Then I slept early.
22.03.2021
ca. 90 km through the Sahara Desert to Oasis Terjit
I slept well. Maybe I would try the air mattress tonight, though … The good thing about the sand, however, was that it could be pushed and shoved and piled to get the most comfortable position.
I woke up early and the first thing I noticed where beetle foot prints all over the sand … in the tent! I had not heard anything … but obviously I had been surrounded by beetles … at least that is what I thought it was … tracks from beetles … to my relief Ely later confirmed that it had been beetles.
By 06:45 I got up. The sun was just about to come up over the dunes … For my morning business I had to use the bush toilet … well … there was no designated ladies bush … so I just went where there were no other foot prints leading and mooned the bush … it was a potty with a view … I brushed my teeth on the way back to camp …
Sunrise was amazing! Sahar was already preparing for his tea ceremony. Ely was busy with breakfast as well. So I went into my tent and got ready … I packed everything up and at 07:15 was ready for breakfast.
Bread and jam and instant coffee … Imoudou had told me to bring salami and cheese for if I had cravings for normal food … so far I wondered why I had brought it … I never bring food on voyages … other than sonme emergency chocolate … but well … so I figured … since I brought it … I might as well have some salami for breakfast. I had to be careful not to contaminate the others’ plates or cutlery … salami had plenty pork in it … They did not seem to be bothered with me eating it, though … They were probably used to the weirdness of international tourists … and well, I was not going to take it back home again … so I had to start eating it …
After breakfast Ely and Sahar started packing up camp. It took a while to put everything back onto the pick-up truck. I could not really help other than bring my bag … Sahar had a very special system so everything would fit on.
Instead I began my quest to identify the creators of these foot prints I had seen so many around … What creatures were these that prowled around me as I curled up asleep in my sleeping bag last night? Ely had the time to point out those beetles that had made the foot prints … I found 2 different ones … there was this little black beetle – most probably Scarab Beetles – active at sunrise and sunset when the temperatures were tolerable. But it could also have been Spiny Desert Darkling Beetles – of the Tenebrionidae family. I could not be sure. In any case … they made cool tracks in the sand ..
There was another beetle … sort of black and white … I could not identify this one at all. It was very fast as well … running around and hard to take a photo of … I was happy that all the beetles I saw were rather small … the foot prints had suggested that as well … having huge beetles crawl around me in the night … oh no … better not think about it …
I also had a closer look at the bushes around us. Most of them looked like Vachellia Tortilis – widely known as Acacia Tortilis – the Umbrella Thorn Acacia. It would grow into a medium to large canopied tree and was native to most of Africa – primarily to the Savanna and Sahel of Africa. I remember them vividly from the Savanna of Uganda a few weeks ago. But maybe they rather were Vachellia Nilotica – more commonly known as Acacia Nilotica – the Arabic Gum Tree, Thorn Mimosa or Egyptian Acacia – native to Africa, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. It could grow to be a tree of 5-20 m height with a dense spheric crown, stems and branches usually dark to black coloured, fissured bark, grey-pinkish slash and exuding a reddish low quality gum. The tree had thin, straight, light, grey spines in axillary pairs, usually in 3-12 pairs, 5-7.5 cm long in young trees – mature trees were commonly without thorns. The leaves were bipinnate, with 3-6 pairs of pinnulae and 10-30 pairs of leaflets each.
There was another bush with lush green leaves and even more red berries. I could not figure out what that was, but it looked pretty in the middle of the desert. I think they might have been Tamarisks – Tamaricaceae are a flowering plant family – the tamarisk family – containing a total of 78 known species. It was a widely spread species in the Sahara often growing on earth banks and was used by nomads as cover from the sun and as windbreaker, because it was thornless.
The guys had finished packing up camp. Sahar had piled bundles of fire wood on top of the anyway already high piled truck. By 08:30 we left our first camp and were off to Oasis Terjit. Ely said, it was not so far, only 80 or 90 km … but the road would not be so good …
There was not really a road … apparently the definition for road was – “A road is a wide way leading from one place to another, typically one with a specially prepared surface which vehicles and bikes can use. Roads consist of 1 or 2 roadways, each with one or more lanes and any associated sidewalks and road verges.” … There was just a track here now … for a while just tire tracks in the Sahara sand … mostly those tracks followed the sand dunes. The sun had quickly climbed high.
Most of the time it was just a rough track … I suppose, it was the main road between the desert villages … for the region it was probably much used … maybe more on summer season when the palm groves were being tended to and the dates harvested … but now, we did not meet any other cars … only tire tracks … terrain changed to more rock as well …
And there were signs of civilization! We passed some sort of village … Between round huts made of field stones with thatched roofs there were always traditional nomad tents as well. Some of the places were not abandoned. We even encountered a small herd of … rather skinny … cows … Historically, cattle herding was Mauritania’s most important economic activity. In the 1980s, with a cattle-to-people ratio of 3 to 1 – the highest in West Africa – herding had provided subsistence for up to 70% of the country’s people. But it had been dramatically affected by chronic drought and the attendant rapid advance of the desert. Although sources disagreed about herd size, it was clear that numbers have fallen since the 1960s. The decline in herd size probably did not reflect a widescale dyingoff of animals so much as an increasingly permanent shift of herds to better watered lands in Senegal and Mali.
Several more Camels were around … and a man was shepherding a large herd of goat along. The drought also had caused shifts in the herding of Camel – traditionally located in the drier north – and of sheep and goats – held by groups all across Mauritania. These changes were less dramatic than those for cattle, however, because camels, sheep and goats are more resistant to drought. Although decreases in sheep, goat and camel herd size in drought years could be significant, recovery was more rapid and sustained. Indeed, the overall size of camel, sheep and goat herds may have risen since the 1960s, as these hardier animals have moved into areas abandoned by cattle herds. This pattern seemed to have been particularly true for the Camel herds.
The going was slow. We had time and even for the 4×4 it was rough going. The terrain alternated between sand and rocks … and rocks and sand … Another village appeared as well … there were even a bunch of people around here … For a moment we got lost there … well, not really … but Sahar took a wrong turn and we ended up in the sort of court yard of an at the moment abandoned family dwelling and had to turn around to find the way out of the settlement … there were not road signs around … but also no security check points ….
Erg Amatlich was also a very beautiful gathering of a wide variety of Saharan landscapes. In addition to its beautiful golden dunes, there were verdant palm groves like Azoueïga where we had passed yesterday, bizarre looking rocky areas and also cultivable pits. Now we were leaving the dunes behind, though and the track wound through rocky stretches. We still kept meeting random people wandering along … obviously they knew where they were going as well … there were not many … but every now and then they appeared out of nowhere … and they had always Camels walking with them …
Camels … or rather Dromedaries … were plenty around here all the time. I suppose there was a village somewhere close by. Africa has more than 80% of the world’s total Dromedary population – it occurs in almost every desert zone in the northern part of the continent. The Sahel marks the southern extreme of its range. The main attraction of the Dromedary for nomadic desert-dwellers was the wide variety of resources they provide, which are crucial for their survival. The strength and docility of the Dromedary make it so popular, because they can be used for a wide variety of purposes – riding, transport, ploughing and trading and as a source of milk, meat, wool and leather.
The track was climbing into some rocky hills now. The going got harder even though there was a well trodden track … but we still did not meet any other cars … However, it was evident that this might have been the only track leading through those rocky hills and over a plateau … at times it was even marked with rocks so as not to get lost … but even in our comfortable Toyota Hillux the ride was wild … Sahar was driving very slow of course, but still it was a bit like a rodeo …
A desert is a place without expectation.
Nadine Gordimer
And the “road” was indeed leading to something spectacular … well … the Sahara itself was spectacular … but all of a sudden Sahar stopped on top of a sandy slope … Ely and Sahar were discussing in Arabic … I just looked around in awe … We had reached Passe de Tifoujar – Tifoujar Pass – a mountain pass on the Adrar plateau. The pass – entirely sandy – dominated an eponymous gorge which ended with the Wadi el Abiod or Vallée Blanche which lay before us down below …
The tracks leading through the sand were barely visible … I tried to see the track on google earth … there it was not detectable at all … Expertly Sahar navigated the steep decline in deep sand … It was absolutely amazing! I had the camera in one hand and held on with the one hand for dear life … it was so steep going down … and this was not a proper road … the car was swimming in Sahara sand …
When we reached the bottom of Wadi el Abiod we stopped for some photos and Sahar checked if everything on the truck was still tied up properly. Wadi was the Arabic term traditionally referring to an arid valley in the desert areas of North Africa, the Middle East and partly in Spain and Cyprus. In some instances, it may refer to a dry – ephemeral – riverbed that contained water only when heavy rain occurs.
From here the decline did not look as steep as it had felt coming down. Numerous tire tracks marked the way down – from this perspective they were clearly noticable. Obviously we were not the only car passing this way … there might be some more tourists around … and locals as well … of course … If we did not see them, it did not mean there were none …
Wadis could be impassable rocky valleys just a few meters wide or flat river beds several kilometers broad. They could have permanent water as well as arid areas that were only flooded over a large area during extremely rare storms. Another characteristic was that wadis often appeared dry but were not. The water flowed in the porous sedimentary or karst rock underground and came to the surface in different places depending on the amount of water carried. Trees, bushes and palm trees could be indicators of such underground rivers.
Wadi el Abiod was a majestic sandy boulevard dominated by imposing dark sandstone cliffs. This Saharan Champs-Elysées – as some avid traveller had called it – was a reminder that water flowed here over 6000 years ago … It was very impressive … monumental! … not just the cliffs, but also the seemingly endless valley as we drove on …
I don’t see the desert as barren at all;
I see it as full and ripe.
It doesn’t need to be flattered with rain.
It certainly needs rain,
but it does with what it has,
and creates amazing beauty.
Joy Harjo
It was a long valley … a long sandy valley … But it was framed by high cliffs. And suddenly the golden sand ended and we reached rocky terrain once more … and with it a large village came in sight. It was located in a wide open space right in front of a huge escarpment … yet another new type of landscape the Sahara desert had to offer …
The village was large and seemed to be a permanent if very widespread settlement. A small house near the track seemed to be the village shop. It was later morning by now and the hottest time of the day was approaching, so people were lounging in the shade. Still a lot of children were around. They sure had fun waving and laughing as we passed.
Shortly after we had passed the village the track neared the main highway N1 … but we turned east around the escarpment which was almost 600 m above sea level … however I could see a mobile phone mast in the distance … There was mobile net! … but damn … no internet …
I had the phone plucked in to the charger of the car and what can I say … the phone rang just when I spotted that mast … My phone is always on silent, though … but since it was there on the charger I could see the display light up … WTF … The staff department was calling! … For months there had been no sign other than an occasional e-mail and constantly postponed zoom meetings … and now … NOW! … the boss was calling in the very minute I had mobile reception in days … Unbelievable!
I contemplated picking up the phone … but what would I say? … and he was calling on the German number … that meant € 3 per minute if I picked up … for what? … Germany was still in some sort of lockdown … Europe was still in some sort of lockdown … there was no work on the horizon … Everybody was just waiting until after Easter holidays … I would be long back by then …
So I let it ring and then send him a text message that I was not available until after April 8 … That was when I could test myself out of quarantine after returning back to Germany … I hoped the text went through … a minute later the reception was gone again …
Soon we reached the paved Route d’Aoujeft – some 45 km long and only built a decade ago or so. Aoujeft was a settlement approx 6000 inhabitants and from there an actual tarmac road was connecting to Tidjikja – some 260 km to the southeast as the crow flew and with a population of around 11000 people the capital of the Tagant region of central Mauritania, lying on the Tagant plateau – but over years the sand had completely swallowed the road, the desert had claimed it back and now only experienced 4×4 drivers should attempt this 8-10 hrs drive. Our Sahar would have made it for sure, but we were not going that far. We turned off after 10 km to Oasis Terjit.
At the turn-off there was – for a fleeting 3 minutes – mobile reception again and a text message from the boss arrived, that it was nothing urgent and he would call in the beginning of April … Well, that was no surprise … In the meantime we drove maybe 2 km up a bumpy track to the very end of a deep canyon to the Oasis Terjit. At the end of the road Sahar parked the car and while Ely got the lunch stuff out, I looked around. There was a souvenir seller … Non merci, je n’ai besoin de rien! … No thank you, I do not need anything! … but he kept talking … then he waved a bunch of postcards at me … Ah! Postcards! Yeah, I like postcards! … He had only 2 different motives, though and for 11 postcards he wanted MRU 1200!!! – QUOI? WHAT? … US$ 36??? … Vous vous moquez de moi! … You got to be kidding me! There were not even the stamps included! … I haggled a lot … in English and in French … walked away … he followed me … more haggling … Ely and Sahar were just grinning … no help from there … but I did not give up and in the end I gave him MRU 500 … US$ 15 … Now I just had to find a post office … Ely shook his head and shrugged his shoulders – Nouakchott! … Peut-être! … Maybe! … then he gestured to follow him into the palm grove …
It was noon by now and so we walked through the palm grove … it was nice and cool in the shade and there was a little brook. Terjit was an oasis – in the proper sense a desert spring or other water source – and was apparently popular with Mauritania’s few tourists … there were no other foreigners around today, though … The oasis nestled in a gorge on the western edge of the Adrar plateau with a palm grove stretching a few hundred metres alongside a stream which emerged from a spring. There was a modest fee to enter and Ely also probably paid for us to stay in one of the tents in the palm grove.
The Oasis Terjit was known to the locals as paradise in hell – for hundreds of years it had been a place of rest, enjoyment and deliverance – albeit briefly – from the sweltering heat and hot winds for endless caravans travelling along the trans-Saharan route and for insanely brave lone wayfarers who decided to travel through the vast desert. Here they could plunge into a pond filled with clear cold water from artesian sources, replenish drinking water before continuing their journey and treat themselves with fresh fruits from the palm grove. Historically, it had apparently been used for religious ceremonies, especially wedding ceremonies as well as the coronation of a few African princes. Nowadays, the Oasis Terjit was also a place of repose for wealthy residents of the nearby towns who came here for weekend getaways to enjoy the coolness in the shade of the palm trees and the fresh air.
I took it … it was siesta time! So I just hung around and sorted some photos … there was no mobile reception this deep between the huge red cliffs that narrowed into this canyon. Date palms were filling the entire space. Ely warmed up last night’s leftovers and Sahar made tea using the fire of some other people lounging in the shade close by. They all chatted along … I just took in the atmosphere … it was special … an oasis … an important place surrounded by such a harsh environment like the Sahara desert … I could see the difference it would have made between life and death for the caravan travellers of ancient times …
After lunch there was more siesta … slowly I figured out the rhythm of desert life … the hottest time of the day was always for siesta … I took a nap, but after a while I was thinking if I should take a walk or something … I was the only female around here and I was still not sure if I could … or wanted to … just walk off … in the middle of the desert … but then I think Ely figured I was bored and told Sahar to walk with me … or Sahar just took pity on me … and he gestured me to follow him …
As usual when going for a walk, I took my gadget bag .. and off we were up the stream. It was just a trail following the brook up the canyon and there we passed the pool that so many travellers had bathed in … it did not look very inviting and there sure was nobody in it … and it did not look as if somebody had been in there in a long time …
The narrow trail lead up into the gorge … it was getting hard walking … I did not want to end up in the stream … but Sahar motioned me on … at some point I decided to leave my bag behind … I hung the camera around my neck and stuffed the water bottle and everything else in the pockets of my cargo pants … and off we were again … it was just the thought of being in such a remote place … if I slipped and fell and broke my leg … mind you … I had never broken a bone in my life before … but you never knew … what the heck … I ended up more or less climbing up … and later down again … on all fours … Who cared?
We did not go all the way up up on the top of the cliffs … maybe half … it was still too hot … The view was good and we were above the palm trees and the sun was scorching today … We had seen some donkey around further up, but where we were there was just a dried up carcass of a donkey … however it had died … maybe it had fallen from the cliff … the desert had claimed it …
The way down was not as complicated as expected and I also found my bag again … then it was more siesta for everybody … By 15:45 I decided to go for a walk down the village … I thought, maybe I would make it down to the junction where there had been some mobile reception for a minute or 2 … Ely looked at me skeptically … but waved me off … Prenez de l’eau avec vous! … Take some water with you! … Je l’ai! … I have some! … Showing him the bottle in my pocket I was off … it fit could not be that hard … there was only one way out of the oasis …
Coming out of the oasis proper I had to pass the souvenir man once more … of course he waved me in … Viens ici! Viens! … Come come, take a look! … But I do not need anything! … Just look! … I did have a look, but there was nothing I wanted to have … in the end he gifted me a simple bracelet and waved me Bon voyage! … Waving back I wandered along the track … the valley widened quickly … there were only a few houses and most of them looked very much abandoned … The camps had seen better days … but the ancient flow of tourists had dried up … the high time of overland travel had passed … gone were the days of endless camel trains trading goods and throngs of people driving rusty cars down from Europe all the way across the Sahara …
I found a blooming Vachellia Nilotica – the Arabic Gum Tree, Thorn Mimosa or Egyptian Acacia. It flowered in globulous heads 1.2-1.5 cm in diameter of a bright golden-yellow color – set up either axillary or whorly on peduncles 2-3 cm long located at the end of the branches. Acacia Nilotica is native from Egypt across the Maghreb and Sahel, south to Mozambique and South Africa, east through the Arabian Peninsula to the Indian Subcontinent and Burma.
It was not long until I heard the car approaching behind me, though … it could only be our car … there had not been another car around … at least I had not seen one … I think Ely might have been worried about me walking off into the desert … so they had packed up quickly and now picked me up less than 500 m down the track … then we drove out of the valley back to Route d’Aoujeft and turned south.
ca. 20 km from Oasis Terjit to Camp 2 in the Sahara Desert
The road was climbing up to the plateau now. We were in the Taoudenni Basin – a huge sedimentary basin in West Africa which covered more than 2 mio km² that had existed since the end of the Mesoproterozoic period. It was characterized by an extremely homogeneous, continental to shallow marine, predominantly siliciclastic sediment sequence and was named by Villemur in 1967 after the Taoudenni salt mine in northern Mali. This sedimentary basin – occupying the main part of central and eastern Mauritania and stretching across northern Mali to southwest Algeria – elongated in the northeast direction with a geographical dimension of some 1500 x 1000 km – was the largest basin in Africa.
The basin could be subdivided into several sub-basins – but only 3 of them were of greater importance – one of them being the Adrar Basin which we had reached. The road sort of led between 2 huge cliffs … the Atar Cliffs were made up of quartzite-bearing sandstones as well as red clayey sandstones with dolomitic interconnections. The Oujeft-Plateaux consisted mainly of red sandstones, which were initially of continental origin and then took on a marine character. We stopped for some photos and the vistas were just breathtaking …
Approx 10 km up the road we turned off onto a gravel track in northerly direction … only some 5 km more and it was off-road once more … Sahar just turned into the desert. It was approaching 17:00 and they were obviously looking for a suitable camp site. We even passed another tented camp … we were not alone in the desert …
After the coolness of the oasis … here it was hot … a scorcher of a day still … I even dug out my sun hat … it was so hot … Ely kept reminding me to drink enough water. I think he might have worried that I did not … but I did! They had several boxes of bottled drinking water still the truck and I drank 3 to 4 bottles each day! Good thing I had brought that raspberry cordial … it improved the taste … not that the water tasted other than water … I just did not like the taste of water … so I always bring something to disguise it …
The camp was set up quickly again … today directly without the camping tent. 2 men appeared from somewhere … probably they came from the other camp … I guess it was custom … or just curiosity … that made the locals go and check out the new arrivals in the vicinity … I sat in the shade and typed some notes for the journal into the laptop …
Night fell very quickly once more … there was not a cloud in the sky now and there the sunset was not as spectacular but still had amazing colours. Sahar had set up a bonfire as well. He was making arbood bread – the traditional unleavened bread of the desert. The ingredients were simple – only a bit of wheat flour, water and salt. In the past, it was the primary food source of the nomad shepherds, desert dwellers and travelers staying in the Sahara. Nowadays few people still knew and practice this ancient technique, dating back to the Aramaic civilization of the Fertile Crescent ca. 2000 BC. Some still prepared it in the family, on special occasions, but the knowledge of the preparation technique was decreasing and it was now often used as a tourist attraction.
Next to the bonfire Sahar created a small pit and filled it with a sufficient quantity of embers and ashes from the bonfire … then he placed the round bread on top of it and covered it with hot ashes.
While the bread cooked, dinner was served … Today it was noodle soup followed by boilt vegetables and rice … vegetarian night … well, I guess we finished the meat and since the truck did not have a fridge … it was for the better … It was good in anycase.
Every now and then Sahar went and turned the bread with the help of a stick – so it cooked evenly on both sides … and after about 30 min or so it was ready … he decided. During all this, he did not forget to make tea … he used the same hot embers …
Soon after dinner I retreated to my tent. Today I had actually pumped up my air mattress. However, it was not very comfortable … I think I might have put too much air in … it was too hard, to be honest … Nevertheless, I did not change and would see how I slept tonight … There was still no mobile net … but I could sort through some photos of today before I slept around 21:30 …
The true call of the desert,
of the mountains, or the sea,
is their silence
– free of the networks of dead speech.
Freya Stark
