<b><i><font color=#990099>Itīs a lovely, romantic country if you love desert, sand and dunes, and specially if you donīt mind changing plans all the way. It is Africa, and so it works.
Time does not exist and silence is possible. But if you are not a quiet and patient person it could become a hell for you.
Travelling with a local guide is absolutely necessary. The desert has its secrets even for very experienced people.
Nowadays itīs a very safe country, though a lot of racial fights occurred in the 80s, based on myths of origin, that were used to reinforce perceptions of social status.
Mauritanian society has not changed in time but a little bit, acording to some reports.
Nowadays it is divided into:
- Maures (muslim): Arab and Berber origins, although many have intermarried among African populations over the centuries (so, there are White Maures and Black Maures, the first belonging to the upper classes: army, and ministries). They are scattered in the areas across West Africa from southern Morocco to Gambia and from Atlantic Ocean to Mali.
Among them, two strata dominate Maure society:
- HASSANI (or warriors)
- ZAWAYA (or religious leader, also MARABOUTS),
- and ZENAGA (descendants of tributary vassals).
Craftsmen and musicians in Maure society are said to be of Semitic (Arab) rather than Berber or African ancestry.
Imraguen fishermen, a caste group living in the vicinity of Nouadibhou, are thought to be descendend from the Bafour, the aboriginal black population who migrated south ahead of the expanding desert.
Small hunting groups are considered to be the remnants of an earlier Saharan people and may be of Berber origin.
- Black people, like Toucouleur, Bambara,Fulbe, Soninké...... tribes coming from Senegal but living in the south of Mauritania, are not muslim. They are the least considered caste in Mauritania. They speak their own languages.</b></font></i>
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