26.03.2021
The last 100 km to Zouérat
By the time the truck was packed around 16:30, the wind had stopped completely, but it was getting more gloomy again. No train had passed anymore. But we had to get going. We were at km 555 of the train line … Zouérat was at km 650 … We got back on the highway which for a long time now followed the train track. Passing a couple of check points … at one of them a couple of minibusses had stopped for afternoon prayer time … I dared to snap a quick photo … but I immediately got told off … Check point! No photo! No photo! …
Shortly after that the road left the train track and turned further west. But Sahar just pulled off the highway and went offroad across the flat desert staying with the tracks. He just grinned … and Ely said – On va chercher le train! … We will look for the train! – if that meant just going across the desert parallel to the tracks … so be it!
We were now at track km 596 and stopped for afternoon prayers. While they did their duty, I walked around some. I put the camera on the km-marker to push the video button in case that train would show up … I stood on the train tracks looking into the horizon in either direction … nothing …
But there was plenty to explore in the desert even without train spotting. A pile of whitewashed animal bones … Ely said later it might have been a camel … must have been there a while since the wind and sand had polished the bones.
And there was this interesting shrub – a Pergularia Tomentosa L. – with a woody base and self-twining branches growing near a support plant – its stems wrapping around those of its host. The little leaves looked heart-shaped with a clear midrib and a pointed tip. It was not flowering, but there were the fruits … with a broad rounded base, tapering to a narrow tip and covered with soft spines. Small flat brown seeds were attached to a tuft of white hairs.
The medicinal plant was native from the Sahara to India and had been exploited in traditional medicine as laxative, warts, depilatory, abortifacient and skin diseases agent. Documented pharmacological activities included antiinflammatory, hepatoprotective, anticancer, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, analgesic, anti-infertility and central nervous system depressant possibilities.
There was no train coming … I had really been hoping it would … here would have been a great place to watch it go past … frankly, it did not really have a schedule … but it regularly left around 15:00 Zouérat at track km 650 … we were at km 596 … that was only 54 km … even if the train was only going 25 km/h … it should be passing any minute now … yet, there was no sign of it on the hazy horizon … so Sahar entertained me by navigating the truck right onto the track and driving along for maybe 500 m or so before getting off again … even though there was no sign of a train …. it was weird … but cool!
A little later we passed something like a switch station. There were a couple of huts and some young men were hanging around there. We stopped so Ely and Sahar could get off and talk to them. They asked them what time the train usually passed here … and maybe they told them about the strange tourist in the car being obsessed with that train … anyway … they came back and said, they had been told yesterday the train only passed around 20:00 … jeeeeezzzzz … that would be a bummer …
Heading on, I nearly gave up believing I would see the full train today … Sahar was already sort of turning back towards the main highway … when all of a sudden something appeared on the horizon … even Ely got excited … C’est là! Il arrive! … It is there! It is coming! … and sure enough the headlights of a diesel engine appeared out of the haze … Aaaahhhhhh … Both Ely and me were enthusiastically gesturing Sahar to turn towards the track … me screeching in German … Ely hollering in Arabic … but Sahar had already swung the truck around and was directly aiming – cross country – for the track … Aller! Aller! … Go! Go! … Vite vite! … Fast! Fast! … When he stopped maybe 100 m before the rail track, I was out of the car like lightning … I had the small camera on the flexible tripod still prepared from before and had it ready to shoot … I placed it on the hood of the car at the same time shouting at Sahar … Arrêtez le moteur! … Stop the engine! It is vibrating too much! … Arrêtez le moteur! … Then I was running towards the track … I wanted to get as close as possible! Ely was well ahead of me …
Luckily, the train was not a speed train … I made it close to the track before the iron monster reached our position … I was soooooo excited! … Those trains running here were among the longest and heaviest in the world … They could be up to 2.5 km long … usually consisting of 2 diesel-electric EMD locomotives and around 200 to 210 wagons each carrying up to 84 tons of iron ore plus 2-3 service cars at the end …
I did not count the wagons … I should have … it was very long … but seemed not as long as the empty train we saw passing earlier, I think … It was sooooo loud! … I loved it! … The SD70ACS – a series of diesel-electric locomotives produced by the US company Electro-Motive Diesel – a 4500 horsepower AC variant for heavy haul freight and used in desert environments looked fierce … I was fascinated …
Here comes the diesel train
With it’s steel refrain,
Hear me knocking.
The diesel’s on its way,
It’s gonna win the day,
Hear me knocking.
Listen to the chatter of the diesel force
Generating twenty seven hundred horse.
Camshaft rolling while the rockers rock,
Hear me knock.
Greaseball in Starlight Express-The Musical
I could not see, if the cars were full … but they must have been, because in southerly direction only the full train would be going. At the end of the train there were several wagons filled with containers, then came flat bed cars with tied up trucks on them and then followed the service cars. In the very end there was the lone passenger car. A passenger car was sometimes attached to the end of the freight trains … as far as I found out, only to the afternoon train. Tickets for this car go for MRU 250 or so …. I was not sure … and it was always packed. I did not plan on riding that one, though! I was going to ride on top of the iron ore!
Quickly we were back on the main highway now. It was late in the day already and we had to reach Zouérat before nightfall. It was still maybe 50 km or so to go … but the road was good. Sahar stepped on the gas. There were several check points … considerably more check points than we had encountered before. In the small town of F’dérick we left the main road and turned east along a road following the train tracks and skirting Kediet ej Jill – at 915 m the highest peak in Mauritania. The mountain and its surrounding area were rich in iron deposits, thought to have been mined here since the 11th century and commercially exploited on an industrial scale since 1952.
Half way to Zouérat we passed an iron ore loading station. I was fascinated by the huge machinery used here. Beginning in 1958, the first concessions on iron ore extraction were given to Miferma – Société des mines de fer de Mauritanie. At the time it was majority-controlled by European-based mining interests, however, in 1974 Miferma was nationalized by the Mauritanian government.
The reserves here at the SNIM’s Tazadit mine were estimated to be 200 million tonnes of hematite. In 1981 a new iron ore deposit was discovered at Guelb el Rhein, 35 km north of Zouérat. Almost a decade later, another was found in 1990 at Guelb Mhadaouat about 65 km from Zouérat. The loading station looked as if it originated from the very beginning of the operation of the mine … the entire area was covered in a thick layer of fine black iron ore dust …
It was already almost too dark to take photos now, but we were close to the town already. There were a couple more check points as well. The last one at the town entrance had a particularly conscientious officer who eyed me, made me dig out my passport, but would not even talk to me. He was only taking to Sahar in Arabic and then Ely in French …
The fiche with my details Ely handed him, was not good enough for him and he needed to see my passport. I assumed he could read, but still asked for my birthdate and I dared to answer in French … that seemed to annoy him somewhat and he started going on and on about why the DoB was not on the fiche … I asked him to give me the fiche and I would write it … he watched with eagle yes as I did so … then started questioning what that was I had written … Que voulez-vous dire? … What do you mean? … C’est ma date de naissance! … This is my date of birth! … That made him even more agitated … I had not written DoB … I had only written the date … Donnez-moi! … Give me back the paper! … I grabbed it and wrote date de naissance behind the date … Voilà! Est-ce que ça va maintenant? … Is that OK now? … after mumbling more in French, making some dismissing gestures and huffing a string of what seemed to be unfriendly Arabic to Sahar he finally waved us on … WTF … as we had left the check point I turned to Ely … Ça c’était quoi? … What was that? … Ely just laughed shaking his head … Je sais pas! … I do not know! … Peut-être qu’il s’est levé du mauvais pied ce matin … Maybe he got up on the wrong foot this morning …
By 19:00 we reached tonight’s accommodation – we stayed at Appartements Atoumaï. It looked like a relatively new house and our appartment was on the top floor. It was huge and had several rooms. I got a large room with 2 beds and en suite bathroom. Hot water! And there was mobile internet reception!
But first I went to have a look around. There were 2 terraces – one by the entrance and one leading off from the large central room. It was already dusk and still very hazy, but I had a good view of the surrounding quarter and the busy street below … The buildings were mostly only 1 storey, max 2 stories with a flat roof, an inner courtyard and few windows …
Zouérat was with an approx population of 45000 the largest town in northern Mauritania and the capital of Tiris Zemmour region. The town developed from its importance to iron ore mining – it was surrounded by hematite mines. Most of the town’s inhabitants were employed directly or indirectly in the mining industry. A sizeable number of foreign workers from other African countries lived in the town as well.
While I hung out, took a shower, sorted photos and posted some, Ely had also settled in one of the other rooms and then went out to get dinner. There was no kitchen in the apartment … at least I did not see one. But there were numerous small eateries lining the nearby streets I had noticed before. He came back with so much food … There was chicken and french fries again, rice and vegetable curry, mixed salad and bread … He said, I had not been sure what I wanted so he had bought everything … This was all for me? … Man, had I ever been eating this much food in the last few days? Or had I been picky about the food he had cooked? … No! I eat everything … but there was no way I could finish all this food …
During dinner I asked Ely what was the plan for tomorrow … Bien sûr, nous prendrons le train demain! … Of course we will be taking the train tomorrow! … YEAH! I was getting so excited! … I had to pack for the train tonight. Sahar would be leaving with the truck and our luggage in the morning – he would drive all the way to Nouadhibou and of course he had to manage those almost 700 km desert road during daytime hours. From Choum to Nouadhibou it would be only a sandy piste. He had a long way ahead of him, so he would leave early. I did not want to take anything on the train I did not really need. It would be a rough ride, but also a very dirty ride. I had the luxury of the truck transporting my luggage. But of course I would want to take the cameras, warm clothes and the sleeping bag. I had bought special heavy duty garbage bags to protect it all. Preparation was key.
Ely was not sure yet, when the train was going … most probably in the afternoon … but he would know in the morning … we should be prepared in any case … So I prepared my luggage in the evening and made sure all batteries for the cameras were charged and also the powerbanks were loaded … I was so thrilled to go on this train that I was too hyper to sleep early … but finally I did …
Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads.
Dr Emmett Brown in Back to the Future – 1985
27.03.2021
ca. 650 km on the Iron Ore Train from Zouérat to Nouadhibou across the Sahara Desert
Of course I was too excited to sleep long … by 08:00 I was set and ready to go … I went to the terraces to see about the weather today … it looked like the haze at lifted at least for the morning. Sahar had arrived with the truck and I brought down my backpack. Then we had breakfast in the apartment before they finished packing up for him to leave. I trusted him with my laptop bag and some of the camera gadgets I would not need on the train. We wedged it behind the passenger seat so it would not be too visible and not jump around in the car unnecessarily … He promised to have an extra eye on it. By 09:00 we waved Sahar off … À demain! … See you tomorrow!
Ely said I could hang out in the morning or go for a walk, but I should be back by 12:00 midday. We connected on Whatsapp … he said if anything changed he would message me, but most probably the train would not go before 15:00 … but … On va voir … we will see …
I had time to go on a mission! There was one geocache in town and I wanted to see if I could find it. It was not far from our apartment … some 700 m straight down the road by a hotel. The listing and online logs were sketchy … apparently the box had disappeared, but some other cacher had placed a substitute container at reception of the hotel … only I did not want to go inside … so I just took a photo of the location … and logged anyway … who was going to judge?
My next objective was to go to the market to buy a plastic carrying bag to carry everything on the train. Like jacket, jumper, sleeping bag … I had enough garbage bags, but a cheap carry bag would be easier … if I found one … but I had seen them hanging outside shops everywhere …
The layout of the town was very parallel … it was obvious that this was a planned town … not a historically grown one … it was easy to navigate on foot as well. Our apartment was very central. It was really close to the local market.
The city had been built at the foot of the Kedia d’Idjil which rose out of the otherwise flat desert like a big blob in the distance. I followed my instincts and found the market area quickly. It had wide open, parallel streets. There were large market passages as well. All kinds of day to day products were sold.
I like local markets … just walking through them people watching … browsing … often I would find something to buy. Today I had the big camera out and was carrying it openly … I asked often if I could take a photo … sometimes a friendly smile while lifting the camera questioningly did the trick … but most of the time I got the familiar … No photo! No photo! No photo! …
So I made sure I only took photos of market stalls or wide angular scenes from far away or when people had their backs to me. It was still a very interesting visit. Of course, I found a suitable plastic carry bag and haggled for it … a couple of times I walked away because I could not be sure if the seller tried to rip me off or if we just did not understand each other … that problem with the money … did they mean MRU 50 or 500? … In the end I bought a rather large bag for MRU 50 … some US$ 1.50 … and Ely approved of the price when I told him back at the apartment.
Walking around for a good hour … there was so much to see. While people did not want their photo taken, they were still very friendly – waving hello … Bonjour! … smiling … There were so many things for sale … I was as usually fascinated by the market … every day life of the locals … I walked past taylors who had their workshop just by the roadside … donkey carts were everywhere …
Slowly I made my way back to the apartment. It had been a delightful walk. Despite the constant – No photo! No photo! – I had gotten some very nice pictures … and there was much too see on the way back as well … It was very hot today, though. I bought some juice in one of the minimarkets on the way and then went back to my room.
Back at the apartment around 11:00, I thought briefly of putting a chair out on the terrace and sit there for a while, but it was just too hot and no shade … instead I packed all my stuff in the new bag and charged all batteries once more … and just hung and relaxed … it would be an exciting night … I had not heard from Ely so far… so I figured that train was not leaving earlier after all … Since I could still use my room that was no problem …
Ely returned from whatever he had been doing as well … he asked if I had bought a bag and I showed him … he approved … even of the price. Since the bag had a zipper, he asked if he could put his essentials in as well. Of course, no problem! He had everything in another small plastic bag and we stuffed in along with my jacket and sleeping bag for extra protection. By 13:00 we got going. The man from the apartment was evidently our train fixer as well … we got in his truck and he drove us to the station. But first, Ely had another errand to run. We stopped at a mobile phone shop and both of them went in there. In the mean time I did more people watching and dug out my geocaching trackable travelers to take a photo prove that they were in Mauritania. I would not be able to leave then in a secret box around here, but at least they had travelled here.
Next stop was for lunch … I was not hungry … I was too excited … but Ely and Ahmed insisted we had to have lunch to be prepared for the long journey. They took me to a small local eatery and ordered. There was no menu or such … I could not have ordered myself anyway. We each got a big plate of what I think was Tiep – a traditional dish originally from Senegal that was also common in Mauritania. This version of Tiep called Thiéboudiène was prepared with fish, carrots, cabbage, cassava, rice and tomato sauce cooked in one pot. It was actually very good … but I could not finish it, it was too much for me today … Ely had them pack a couple of sandwiches as well … When I looked at him questioningly, he just said – Dinner! …
Then we drove back towards F’derîck … the place where we would board the train was close to there. But first we had to get out of Zouérat … there was still much to see … Our tain fixer – his name was something with A … so I called him Ahmed – took us through the back roads, but to leave the town proper we had to pass the same check point as yesterday … luckily, there was a different officer on duty today and handing him the fiche was enough for him and he waved us off … Ely and I were just chuckling …
The road was going between the train tracks and the mining mountain. We passed a field with the huge discarded truck tires … and I was constantly looking out for the train … Ahmed was just shaking his head at me laughing … étranger fou … crazy foreigner … but he was still delighted when I got totally excited as we overtook part of the train … I was lucky – one engine was towing the service cars and the single passenger car to what they called The Station in preparation for departure.
We did stop briefly near the place where the train was supposed to stop, but were too early … Ahmed made a couple phone calls and then assured me … there was still time … no need to stay here and wait. There were several train tracks here. The train got more or less loaded and for sure assembled within the vicinity here … full and empty trains probably passed here as well …
But we … for now … continued to F’derîck … Ahmed had an errand to run and well … it was not far and we had time … F’derîck was located near the border with Western Sahara. It was as typical desert town … constructed in the late 1950s around the former French Fort Gouraud to exploit the area’s iron deposits and probably inhabited mostly by families of the workers from the iron ore mines.
I waited in the truck while the 2 of them went into some house. It was a quiet desert town … well, it was the hottest time of the day … no people were around … but a herd of goats came marching down the road … They sure were on a mission … because they were so quick in running down the road and disappearing around the next corner …
Ely and Ahmed were only a few minutes and I had only a small notion of missing that train … Ne vous en faites pas! … Do not worry! … In no time we were back on the road heading to The Station. Ahead of us I had a good view of the mining mountain Kediet ej Jill.
Repeatedly I had told Ely during our tour that I was extremely worried about not being able to get on those iron ore freight cars … I had really watched several youtube videos and read traveler’s accounts … but I had not been able to find out how high the first rung of the ladder was … if I did not get my foot on that first rung … I was finished … But Ely had repeatedly assured me … Ne vous en faites pas! … Do not worry! If it is to high we just back the truck up to the train and you climb on …
So now while we waited and the empty train was there, I asked Ahmed if I could have a closer look and try to climb up to ease my nerves … or would the railway guards come running to arrest me? … No, they would not! On y va! … Let’s go and try! … And what can I tell you … I was absolutely delighted … the ladder reached considerably low and I had no problem to get on! Yeah! … Quickly I had a look into the empty car … Yeah, I was definitely better off riding the full train to the coast instead of the empty train into the desert … I could imagine the empty train being very loud and also … I would have to stand the entire time to see the desert … sitting in the empty car there was no view … And I was not here to save money or time by riding for free in a freight train … I came here for the adventure to ride the full train … while the ride was free, I had paid for company … and I was already happy about it.
The actual Mauritanian Railway was 704 km long and somewhere between Zouérat at km 650 and F’derîck at km 625 was The Station for passengers to get on … either in the passenger car or to hop on the freight cars … For now we waited … a quick potty break was in order … a very complicated venture as there were no suitable bushes … and behind rocky piles the road was leading … oh well … I had to chance it and be quick …
And as I had finished and stood on top of the pile I had been hiding behind … the full train was arriving … already Ahmed was looking around for me and waved … but still the empty train was between us and the full one … it was supposed to leave first … They had told me it was just there, because further on the track was only one track again and this was the place to do the switch …
Oh my gosh … this adventure was about to start! I could hardly believe it … I was going to get on that iron or train in a few minutes … for 18 hrs … to ride across the Sahara desert to the Atlantic coast … The empty train started moving and Ahmed gestured me to hurry up and get down … we dropped my bag next to the track … we had to wait for the empty cars to pass, but then they ushered me to hurry it up. There was one other guy near us and we were going to get on together with him. He had placed his bags between the tracks and was already loading up while we still had to wait …
The other guy – Ely said his name was Sidi – which was also a masculine title of respect – meaning My Master in Western Arabic language equivalent to modern popular usage of the English Mister – immediately took charge of our adventure. He stationed himself half way up the ladder of the freight car and we handed him all our bags – Ely had brought a whole box of water bottles as well. Then Sidi made sure I climbed on OK … Mettez vous pied ici! Et ici! … Put your foot here! And here! … then he pushed me over the edge onto the iron ore … and we waved Ahmed farewell …
All the cars were piled high with super-fine iron ore … 3 piles on each car … I really did not have an idea before what to expect of the iron ore … some reports stated it to be soft … others told about hard, large chunks … Possibly it depended on the mine of origin … I would not know. We were lucky and it was soft iron ore today … that would make for a smoother ride, I guessed … but it would probably also produce even more dirt … Far ahead people loaded an entire truck load of bags and boxes on the iron ore … passage was free when riding on the freight cars … even for cargo … as long as it fit on and as long as it could be quickly loaded and offloaded … the train would not wait …
Sidi obviously rode the train often – it turned out he was a master iron ore train traveler! He immediately got on it and prepared camp – with a makeshift shovel … a piece of thin plywood … he flattened down the first of the piles and leveled it just to the rim of the car. Ely and I watched in amazement … he was very fast and the entire time he chatted in Arabic … Then he pulled blankets out of his huge bags and put them out … Et voilà! … camp was ready!
He seemed to have half of his household with him … a big water container, all the makings and utensils for tea, a cooking pot, charcoal, more blankets … We all settled in. Sidi helped me tie my turban – the wind was strong and it would also protect from the sun and more even the iron ore dust and the Sahara sand! My facemasks came in handy here as well! And suddenly the train started josseling into action … Loud, high-pitch squeals came from the rail tracks beneath … the entire train jolted forward and then got knocked backwards … slamming our car into the endless chain of heavy freight cars ahead of us … the train slowly began rolling …
“Alex! You’re walking away from history! History!
Did Chris Columbus say he wanted to stay home? No!”
Alex Rogan answered “Listen, Centauri.
I’m not any of those guys, I’m a kid from a trailer park.”
“If that’s what you think,
then that’s all you’ll ever be!”
countered Centauri
The Last Starfighter – 1984
I was in my element … watching the great Saharan landscape fly by riding a train and taking tons of photos. I love riding trains … any kind of trains … I am a regular train buff … be it the highest train across Tibet or the TransZip in winter or old steam trains through Cuba or Germany … that Iron Ore train adventure was right along my kind of adventure … Sidi had meanwhile set up his kitchen was making tea …
Mauritanian tea drinking culture was camaraderie and hospitality. It was a sign of friendship that brings laughter and harmony. Different age groups come together and drink tea for fun and relaxation as it was the closest thing to alcohol many Muslims in the country get – Sidi said – Le whisky de Mauritanie! … The whisky of Mauritania! … It helps to amplify discussions while bonding – not that we could discuss very much … the train was very noisy and the wind did the rest … But tea could be prepared anywhere people come together … even on top of the iron ore train … Dried loose gunpowder tea leaves shaped like pellets – mostly imported from China – were used and brewed in a small teapot, then poured in small glass cups.
The wind was really strong and I could see why people rather hop on the freight cars further up front … the fine dust was being blown off and the further back the more dust there was … without the turban, facemask and sunglasses it would have been impossible to see. But it was not too bad yet …
I did not dig out my specially bought ski goggles yet … But the dust went everywhere! My hands and arms were already black and we had only been on the train an hour … Was I bothered by it? … No, of course not!
Then the train halted in the middle of the desert at a switch station. The railway line was single track. To allow for two-way traffic, there were 9 such sidings distributed along the line to allow trains to pass. It stopped for quite a long time … Sidi said it was waiting for the empty train to pass. Since there were not many of those places were trains could pass, so sometimes the wait was long. I could see the people from the passenger car all getting off and stretch their legs … it must be quite stuffy in that car. I definitely preferred our place … Sidi got off as well … I briefly thought about it … but since it was not sure how long the train would stop … Ely would not let me off anyway … No no no! Vous restez ici! … You stay here! … So instead I draped the geocaching trackables in the iron ore to take a proof photo that they came on this adventure …
When the other train appeared on the horizon I moved to the side of our wagon and sat on the edge … but Sidi got all agitated gesturing me to get down … Asseyez-vous là! … You sit there! … he pointed to the iron ore … Quand le train bouge – Vous tombez! … When the train moves – you fall! … OK OK! … I did as I was told and it was for the better of it. The other train passed slowly and I counted the cars … there were 130! … I think when the end had passed our locomotives, then our train started moving … and I felt it! It was a very sudden that the train jolted into action … good thing I sat in the iron ore …
The Mauritania Railway is the national railway of Mauritania. Construction of the line began in 1960 – with it opening in 1963 – linking the iron mining centre of Zouérat with the port of Nouadhibou via F’derik and Choum. The state agency Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière SNIM controls the railway line. Trains on the railway could be up to 2.5 km in length – making them among the longest and heaviest in the world. They usually consisted of 2 to 4 diesel-electric EMD locomotives, 200 to 210 cars each carrying up to 84 tons of iron ore and 2 to 3 service cars. Passenger cars were sometimes attached to the freight trains, but more often passengers simply rode atop the ore hopper cars freely. Passengers included locals, merchants and rarely some crazy tourists like me. So far I had not seen any other tourists on the train today. There were only some other passengers way up front who I had seen loading all those bags before.
Of course I needed some more photos of me to proof I was here … as if I had not taken enough selfies yet … well … there would never be enough … and not in such a cool location … I was not a very photogenic person, but that never stopped me from taking numerous selfies … This time Ely volunteered as photographer and Sidi – as the iron ore train pro that he was – knew the perfect poses … I am sure it was not the first time he did this …
Not long we passed around track km 596 … I did not see the sign, but I spotted our pick up tire tracks from yesterday and recognized the place. Our tracks were still there despite the wind … which was still very strong and getting fresher the lower the sun dipped … Today we did pass this spot earlier than the train had passed it yesterday. Maybe we made better time than the train had made the previous days …
Certainly on the vast windy plain,
there was plenty of nothing to be looked at.
Larry McMurtry in The Last Kind Words Saloon
I did dare to take my big camera out to take a few photos … the GoPro seemed to be no problem, because it was in a water and dust proof casing … but the big camera was a completely different matter …I did not want to ruin it, so I left it in the bag which in turn I had put in the heavy duty garbage bag. I made sure to twist close the bag properly … still the iron ore dust went everywhere. I took most photos with the small pocket camera … but already after a few hours I could feel that it would not last after this adventure …
I did not forget to take a souvenir … I put a couple of handfuls of the iron or dust in a ziplock bag to take home … I had already taken a Sahara sand souvenir … but that bagful was not nearly as heavy as the iron ore … Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted – usually rich in iron oxides and found in Mauritania in the form of Magnetite – Fe3O4 – and Hematite – Fe2O3.
Currently, SNIM’s Hematite was mainly mined at Kedia d’Idjill – the mountainous massif extending over approximately 30 km around Zouérat – and at M’Haoudat – a 14 km ridge located 60 km from Zouérat. Magnetite was mined at Guelb El Rhein – a deposit that contained several hundred million tons of proven reserves. The average iron content of SNIM Magnetite was approx 37% – this was enriched by dry magnetic separation to give a concentrate containing close to 66% Fe.
Sunset was slowly approaching. But it was all hazy today again … this strange yellow light we had encountered the last few days was persistent. Never mind, it was time for more tea. Sidi put on the kettle … more Mauritanian whisky was coming … due to the wind he could not perfectionate the foaming procedure – pouring the first glass from high above and then pouring that glass of tea at the same height into the next glass and then the next and so on creating a frothy head in each glass. But he managed a bit. The motive behind the methodical pouring of tea from glass to glass was to aerate it, generate a flavorful foam and blend the ingredients – especially the sugar. But though, the pervasiveness of the ritual might lead to the assumption that the Saharawis had been drinking tea this way for millennia … it was apparently a relatively recent tradition. Chinese tea first arrived in North Africa only in 1854 when British ships en route to Baltic ports were forced to dock in Tangier/Morocco because of the Crimean War. There were amazing sales people on those ships who convinced the Moroccans to add tea to their herbal mint infusions …
I was thoroughly enjoying this train right. I took so many photos … I had to make the most of the daylight hours … most of the journey would be during the night … night was going to fall soon … and then it would be pitch black dark in the desert … but it was not time yet … so more photos … The wind blew from the southwest and across the train. so most of the dust went away from us to the side and did not hit us directly in the face …
See me hustle,
Feel my muscle,
Pumping Iron.
Scretching my pullworker,
I’m heaving on my weights.
See me flex my delts and percs – I’m
Pumping Iron.
I’m a diesel engine,
Hey, I’m knocking, you know I’m knocking,
said I’m knocking hey –
Greaseball in Starlight Express – The Musical
The train would jostle and shake constantly … frequently, when the train slowed a bit and then gain speed once more, our car would slam into the car before it and then ricochet backwards. Though, by now I had gotten used to this surprisingly predictable rhythm. I had even brought a secret sundowner – of course in disguise … We were almost 4 hrs into our journey and I was getting dirtier by the minute … I had also pulled out my jumper … with the lowering sun it got noticeably cooler …
Around sunset we also passed our lunch stop spot from yesterday. It was around 19:00 now … we could have waited for that train forever yesterday … The sun was just about setting … but it was not a too spectacular sunset … the air was thick with haze … but everything was glowing even more golden …
When the sun is setting,
leave whatever you are doing and watch it.
Mehmet Murat Ildan
Night fell quickly now. Taking photos was literally impossible with the moving train. The rail line was a success and provided a major portion of Mauritania’s GDP – as a result the line was nationalized in 1974. Following Mauritania’s annexation of southern Western Sahara in 1976, the line came under constant attack by Polisario militia, effectively putting the line out of use and thereby crippling Mauritania’s economy. This played a major role in prompting the army to overthrow Mauritanian president Moktar Ould Daddah in 1978, followed by a withdrawal from Western Sahara the following year.
With the line then secure, repairs were conducted and trains started using it once again in the early 1980s. The original route – using the Choum tunnel – was abandoned and the railway was rerouted in 1978 – according to other sources, the rerouting took place between 1995 and 2005. The track was now passing for 5 km across the territory of Western Sahara parallel to the new highway – while the original route ran entirely on Mauritanian territory.
It was a full moon night! The moon looked huge in the desert sky and it lit up the surroundings dipping the landscape into strange light. It was not cold yet, but very windy still. We were just lounging around. The guys were chatting away endlessly … the wind and the rhythmic clickity clack of the train swallowing most of their conversation. I dug out my snacks to munch on something … there was not much else to do …
We reached Choum around 21:00. I remembered there was mobile internet reception and quickly I sent off a couple of photo messages to the family and made sure the Polarsteps tracker synchronized. It was only a quick 10 min stop in Choum – but a main station for passengers to hop on. It was so dark … only a few lights around … I could not see anything. But since the train stopped, the wind had stopped as well and Sidi and Ely called for dinner. Sidi had cooked noodles with chicken in his pressure cooker on the hot coals on the iron ore … Allez! Mangez! … Go on! Eat! … I must have looked a bit lost … there was no spoon … Mangez avec la main! … Eat with your hand! … Oookkaayy … a look at my black hands had me digging for the wet wipes I had somewhere in my gadget bag … Well, even after the second wipe my hand was not remotely clean … Allez! Mangez! … Go on! Eat! … Well … It was so dark, I could not even see what I was supposed to eat … and picked in the pot with 2 fingers … Sidi just grinned … Prenez une grosse poignée, utilisez toute la main! Allez! … Take a big handful! Use the whole hand! Allez! … and dug in himself … Ahh … what the heck … I stuck my hand in the pot and stopped overthinking … The food was surprisingly good … for the place and circumstances downright delicious … Ely had pulled out the sandwiches as well … but we left them and gave them to Sidi the next morning …
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
Leonardo Da Vinci
From Choum the tracks now turned sharp west towards the Atlantic coast and the train was going very fast now! It was literally speeding along … much faster than before … now it was getting cold … I had by now pulled out the ski goggles … the best € 9.99 investment I had made for this journey! It even fit over my regular glasses … and it kept the iron ore dust out of my eyes considerably.
We started getting our makeshift beds ready. Sidi and Ely had dug out somewhat of a hollow on either side next to the rim of the car and rolled into their blankets protected from the wind which blew across the train … Sidi had a tarp and was hiding completely under it. I did not want to be completely below … so when I had climbed into my sleeping bag … I had brought the oldest one I owned … bought in 1995 in Kathmandu/Nepal for trekking to Everest Base Camp the first time … well-travelled since then … it was surprisingly windproof … I settled on the slope of the iron ore pile with my feet in the hollow … moving my bags around my head to keep the wind off a bit … Sidi had even given me a pillow!
Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.
Margo Channing in All About Eve – 1950
I wiggled and twisted in my sleeping bag to get the most comfortable spot. Sleeping on the iron ore seemed to be similar to sleeping on the Sahara sand … it was hard but smooth and once I had formed it in the perfect shape … I was quite comfortable … My sleeping bag closed like a mummy sleeping bag … I could pull the strings and nothing but my nose – of course covered in turban and facemask – was sticking out to breath … I had my cameras and mobile phone plus powerbank inside with me … making sure that the blue bag covering my camera rucksack was well secured – I was basically laying on the twisted ends of it – I did settle in to muse over this adventure ….
Having gotten even a little bit of sleep in, I was wide awake when the train stopped the next time around midnight … suddenly the rhythmic rattling of the train stopped … I knew there would be another short stop … and I had been hoping for it … in the middle of nowhere was an Earth Cache marker … I would not be able to visit the site, but … hey … if I was in the vicinity I could always take a photo and make up the answers …
I opened the sleeping bag and sat up to have a look. It was indeed a sort of station … apparently as of December 2018, there was a small encampment near the tracks … Tmeimichat was the name of the tiny settlement … and a security checkpoint. It was all lit up … but no people were around … at least not near our car … I estimated our train to have as well around 130 to 150 cars …
Ben Amera was Africa’s largest monolith rising 633m above the desert floor – I could clearly make it out in the distance … . It was the world’s 2nd largest monolith only behind Uluru in Australia. Locals would tell that geologists think it might be even larger than Uluru if the rock that lies beneath the Saharan sands were be included in the measure of its size … Ben Amera was located near the border with Western Sahara and 4km north of the train track. I could see the rock in the distance lit up by the full moon … that was close enough for the photolog … the required answers I would make up when I was back home …
Soon the train started moving again … a train had passed … there were at least 2 trains passing that night … that might have made 4 trains in total going empty … different sources stated that there were indeed up to 4 trains in either direction each day … the length depending on demand …
The wind was cold and strong as soon as the train gained speed. I burrowed in my sleeping bag again and tried to sleep. The iron ore dust was creeping into every crack and cranny whenever I moved … I did get some sleep in … with my eyes closed the iron or dust and sand hitting the outside of my sleeping bag sounded like rain … I stuck my hand out to feel it … because I was not sure … but it was indeed only the dust and sand hitting the shell.
The train was going fast through the night along a very straight track. The monotonous clickety clack was reminding me of my fabulous TransZip adventure … the sound was the same and the bunks in 2nd class had been as hard as the iron ore …
The difference between an adventure and an ordeal is attitude.
Bob Bitchin
28.03.2021
On the iron or train to Nouadhibou
I did sleep most of the night surprisingly well considering the circumstances … waking up to the first light around 06:30. Still very windy and cold, it seemed to be foggy as well … The others were still rolled up in their blankets, but I sat up and dug out the cameras and selfie stick …
Looking like an alien with my fancy ski goggles … but they fit very well and they were not tinted for the sun … I was able to see clearly … they protected perfectly against the fine iron ore dust which was still being blown around. I sure had fun going into a selfie frenzy again … This epic adventure had to be documented well!
Still being stuck inside the sleeping bag – it insulated very well from the cold wind – I briefly thought about a potty break … by now I had been 16 hrs on that pile of iron ore … no, we had not agreed on a designated ladies’ corner … the need had not come up … even though I had been drinking plenty water … but I was a master in meditating away the need … the need to pee … it worked very well and if I looked at the surrounding desert … I would think that we were close to our destination … I could hold it …
Slowly it got lighter and the fog lifted … or maybe we had passed the foggy depression … the sky showed a beautiful blue up ahead and behind us … directly over the end of the train … slowly the sun rose … and with it came the warmth …
And then in the desert,
when the sun comes up,
I couldn’t tell where heaven stopped
and the earth began.
It’s so beautiful.
Forest Gump – 1994
Suddenly the train started to wake up … well … not the train … but the passengers … obviously during the stops in Choum and Ben Amera quite a few people had climbed on the iron ore cars … I spotted several other people that had not been there before sunset yesterday … There were 2 men 2 cars behind us doing their morning prayers … several cars were occupied ahead of us as well …
I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.
I travel for travel’s sake.
The great affair is to move.
Robert Louis Stevenson
The train had reached the fringe of civilization already early in the morning … the track was paralleling the N2 – Route Nationale 2 – which formed a north-south connection along the west coast of Mauritania from the port city of Nouadhibou via the capital Nouakchott to the border with Senegal.
If happiness is the goal – and it should be,
then adventures should be top priority.
Richard Branson
Sitting on top of the iron ore this morning enjoying the last kilometers of this awesome journey I had to think about a long-established tradition in the US – Train hopping – which was particularly popular in the Great Depression when the jobless took to the rails to find work. Train hopping, sometimes referred to as freight hopping, was against the law in the US and most everywhere in the world. Jack London, author of Sea-Wolf, The Call of the Wild and White Fang, famously ended up serving 30 days in jail for vagrancy after train hopping his way to Niagara Falls in the 1890s.
In the US, it became a common means of transportation following the American Civil War as the railroads began pushing westward, especially among migrant workers who became known as Hobos. Hobos, tramps and bums were generally regarded as related, but were distinct – A Hobo traveled and was willing to work – a tramp traveled, but avoided work if possible – and a bum neither traveled nor worked.
Train hopping continued to be widely used by those unable to afford other transportation. For a variety of reasons the practice was less common today, although a community of freight-train riders still exists. In the 1900 to 1920 – in the days of wood frame freight car construction – steel truss rods were used to support the underside of the car in order to provide it with the strength to carry heavy loads. There could be 4 or more of these truss rods under the car floor running the length of the car and Hobos would “Ride the Rods”. Hopping trains still happens all over the world and most probably the iron ore train of Mauritania might be the only train that was legal to hop!
The train tracks had turned sharply to the south already … down Ras Nouadhibou – formerly the Portuguese Cabo Branco and French Cap Blanc – a narrow, approximately 40km long peninsula – about half of which was national territory of Mauritania and the other half was Western Sahara. The border ran through the peninsula to the cape from north to south and was defined in this form in 1912 between the colonial powers of Spain and France. Today the western part belongs to Western Sahara, the eastern part to Mauritania. The train tracks stretched on the Mautitania side all the way to the port facilities where the iron ore got further processed and then shipped.
I was marveling in the moment and the view of the seemingly endless chain of iron ore wagons snaking through the desert ahead of me … the wind blew strong from the west … it was awesome! … and then … all of a sudden … we arrived … a lone white building in the middle of the desert but next to the highway and surrounded by numerous car appeared ahead … La Gare! … The Station! … Quoi? … What? … Already? … Noooo! It was only 09:00! I want to keep riding this train a while longer! … This was a bit of an anticlimax … but we were arriving in Nouadhibou …
Sidi ushered me to pack … OK! … quickly I gathered my few belongings … the train slowed and we saw Sahar with our truck as well already … our wagon had already passed the relatively small station building of La Gare des Voyageurs … it was far behind us … I think the train stopped with the passenger car next to the station building … Luckily we had Sahar chasing the train and picking us up …
There was just enough time to quickly take a farewell photo of my train hopping buddies – Sidi was a a professional train hopper – he did it for 13 years already … for business … he transported good for people from Zouérat to Nouadhibou or return … this time we had been his business … he had been booked to accompany us on this grand adventure. It had been Ely’s first time riding the iron ore as well. I think Sidi had done a fab job!
Our wagon stopped maybe 500 m past the station building. Quickly we handed down all our bags and I climbed down. Sahar stuffed all our dirty belongings in the cab of the truck … he did not want to open the packed and tied up bed of the truck … Sidi waved us off … he was packing up all blankets and pillows … he would be riding back on the empty train later in the day. I gifted him my old sleeping bag … It was too dirty to take home and too good to throw away … hopefully he could and would used it on his train trips …
I may not be a hobo but I am certainly starting to look like one.
Shawn – a train hopper
In no time I was hurried to get in the car and off we were … I was a bit sad! It was a very abrupt end to this epic adventure … too quickly it had come to an end … it had been something truly unique … I was no happy I had done it … that I had pulled up the courage to do this voyage … I have to say … if the world had not stood still last year and this year finding travel destinations was more or less a matter of – Which country was open, had what requirements and what restrictions applied? – so more off the beaten track destinations were actually easier to reach than mainstream places of interest, I might not even have thought about coming here. Experiences like this were hard to come by in a world dominated by social media and Nat Geo … I had to go and do it when the opportunity arose … Best decision ever!
Without new experiences,
something inside us sleeps.
The sleeper must awaken.
Frank Herbert
We had to drive back to the train station building and pass the check point. The entire area had been fenced in … this was the only way out … what were Mauritania without the checkpoints … but it was fun to see the hustle and bustle around the passenger car. There were so many taxis and pick-ups and minibusses and people … Had there been that many people in that single passenger car?
The luggage and goods wagon had been attached at the end behind the passenger car. It was being unloaded now. There were considerably many women around … apparently local women were forbidden from riding on the iron ore and must take the passenger car … foreign women were obviously a rarity on top of the train, but did not seem to cause any issues … nobody had checked during the journey … or before …
We cleared the check point and- another fiche handed over and an unbelieving look and headshake by the officer later we hit the highway. The Gare des Voyageurs was located approx 10 km outside of the city center and the terminus of the train was probably some 20-25 km away at the tip of the peninsula. The train was just offloading the passengers here and would continue to the port facilities shortly …
What an epic voyage that had been! I was as excited as I was before it started … 18 hrs I had been riding the longest train in the world … 650 km on top of a pile of iron ore through the Sahara desert … It had been fantastic! Awesome! Spectacular! Adventurous! … and I was FILTHY … I probably had never been as filthy in my life as I was after this train hopping adventure … but I was soooo ecstatic I had done it! … Damn … this had been so cool! … I would do it again in a blink!
I travel because I become uncomfortable being too comfortable.
Carew Papritz
