"Off to the sand we go!" a Mauritania Travel Page by slcinva

at midnight on December 18th we left our little town of West Point, VA, our destination Noudhibou, Mauritania. In our party, my husband Magheifry who is from Mauritania, our 15 year old son Andre, 1 year old daughter Malouma and myself. At midnight we left Newport News, VA in a rental car and drove up to New York City. We flew out of JFK on Royal Air Maroc. We stayed the day in Casablanca, Morocco at Atlas Hotel. We weren't near anything of great interest but the hotel was nice. Late into the night of the 19th we flew down to Noukchott, Mauritania. We were met by my husbands brother and friends and we drove the 4 1/2 hour ride to his hometown, Noudhibou, Mauritania.

We were only in Mauritania for two weeks, not long enough when you factor in being sick for a week but long enough to do lots of stuff. We went to the beaches, restaurants, markets, parties, peoples homes, the reserve and more. Everyone we met along the way was very nice and graciously hosted us in their home, restaurant or store.

January 2nd we left Nouadhibou and drove the 4 1/2 hours back to the capital, Noukchott. We stayed in a hotel during the day to rest up. The captial was noticably cleaner but the hotel was quite the opposite. The plane ride back to the states was fine and we got through customs at JFK in about 20 minutes. An amazing feat for the day after New Years!