On not skipping Mauritania

It turns out we are no good at getting places. Yes, we have cycled 10,000km so far and we have seen a lot of stuff already, but we are also extremely good at resting, exploring and just getting distracted. Most of all though, it seems that everywhere we go holds enough fascination for us that we don’t just want to blast through it. In fact, we never intended to take the most direct route through Mauritania but then we (Sam) chickened out of the original plan. After this decision, we were set on a course taken by most who enter Mauritania - a transit down the main highway and in to the countries that lie beyond.

That was at least until we met Issa in Nouakchott. Issa was outside the hotel we decided to stay at as we arrived on our bikes. He lives right next door and immediately came to introduce himself, in English, with a charm and friendliness that we knew we wanted to spend more time around. By the time we leave Nouakchott (tomorrow) we will have spent a long time with Issa, including him kindly organising a trip to the desert for us to sample traditional food, accommodation and transport (along with an equally charismatic Spanish geologist called Gersan).

Such opportunities don’t present themselves every day (though we plan more touring with Issa at a later date), so we are delighted to have delayed our onward journey to experience this. The rub is we continue to edge closer to the rainy season while we are still heading south. We’ll just have to deal with that as it comes.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of our Saharan Experience.