"Rosso and Diawling National Park" Rosso by johnsakura

me and some local people

rosso diawling mauritania

Few of Rosso's population would ever suggest that it is a beautiful place. One storey houses, spread out on the red-brown soil, with something that is slightly too wide to be roads in between them. Rosso's only attraction could be the many ethnic groups gathered here, but you will probably work hard to get to the core of just this.

I went to Rosso to head to Senegal not in the Rosso border but to pass inland all the way inside the National PArk and finally pass the border in Djamba. I did not pass because border police didnt alow our 4x4 Nissan Patrol to pass. Senegalese state prohibited cars with more than 5 years to pass borders into their country to prevent garbage cars entering the country and being sold to locals by foreigners. In the park I say javalis, pelicans, iguanas, cows, donkeys, flamingos, lots of unknown birds...

rosso diawling mauritania

After more than ten years of controversy the Diawling National Park was finally established in 1991. It covers about 16,000 ha of former floodplain and is separated only by the Senegal river from the similar sized Djoudj National Park, in existence since 1971 and situated on the left bank in the Republic of Senegal. In fact, a lot of the opposition against the creation of the Diawling Park came from the local inhabitants that thought they would be subjected to a similar experience as their counterparts on the other bank. Most villages on the Mauritanian side have close tribal and family links with groups on the other bank and were perfectly in the know on the successive stages of the establishment of the Djoudj National Park, with the forced removal of villages and repressive measures against grazing and fishing within its boundaries.