Palm trees and other Atar, Mauritania Off The Beaten Path Tips

After the city and heading Choum you have this incredible oasis full of palm trees. This is a very special place where one (people say) a portuguese came on the 15th century and planted the first palm tree. strange for me, portuguese to come here and start listening all this stories. cool.

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I know you're going to be afraid of getting here. Everyone has, I even bet some mauritania also have hehehe, but you have to enters the strees bazars and enjoy a great experience. I bet this places 400 years ago were exactly the same as now. What do you think?

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You have to go into the right shops to get cheap goods. In Atar usualy things are more expensive than in NKT. But there are shops that have imported good even cheaper then in the capital. strange but true. You just have to enter inside the places you think are more hidden. Usualy groceries stores or supermarkets with lots of addvertising are more expensive and are made for tourist to see and stop. Atar has lots of luxury tourism which can be seen for the great hotels they have and where i didnt stay cos i cant afford, even if i could i dint want to so... ha, so conclusion, search for cheap shops and ask prices.

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Desert in Atar is like this. You go out of the place houses are located and you have this looking west and in the other side you have big black mountains. Its good to go for a walk and ocasionaly find a goat or something. great experience.

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*Asphalt about 20km after Atar
Orange sand on the end of the asphalt road for about 100m. Very tough sand. Good for 4x4 tough. be prepared for many rocks under the sand. Be careful for some locals that might be prepared to help you for a bit of money and maybe even want to drive your car and pass the sand: maybe run away with the car, maybe break it and you have to stay there, with them…
Desert tracks all the way.
There are no marks for the road. Supposedly you just have to follow other car tracks and keep in mind there always a big mountain on your right side. Half the way and after the big descend to the Valley where you start to see that specific mountain, there is a lot of sand. You cannot tell its sand almost but the floor cracks and you get inside it due to the weight of you car or even your feet.
The landscape here is impressive. You have lots of palm trees after Atar for some dozen of kms, and after you drive straight until you have a huge descend. From above you can see the huge mountains and the huge desert forming in front of your eyes.

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We got stuck in the sand and after a couple of hours of digging we got some paid help from local people that after asking for money gave us a help from their very old 4x4 Toyota. As soon as we got to Choum, our deal went off and they stay asking for 3 times more the money and threatened with police and violence. If this happens insist also with police. This will calm people and the people you are dealing, as they are also afraid of police. Always when asking for help, write down the price you dealt and make the person sign it. This was the best solution the police man in Choum advised me to do next time. But I some how end up paying only 5 euros more and gave him 2 t-shirts and some pencils to his sons and the story ended.

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Train between Choum and Nouadhibou went off as we were asked a lot of money and had to wait 4 more days until it wrould arrive. For what I understood, if I would pay about 100 euros, they would possibly put it the on the train the day after, but they asked for about 70 euros for a 4 days maybe a week waiting in Choum, plus money for passengers. This is not good price and we didn’t do it. At this point, it wasn’t a matter of money of course. We had the money, but we didn’t want to pay someone 3 times more the normal money to make this trip in a country that the normal monthly salary is about 30 euros maximum 50 euros. After a very warm and strong conversation with the responsible of the train and cars, we end up going up to Bir Moghrein and try to get out of Mauritania, following the way to the North on the forbidden tracks of Bir Moghrein along the Polisario Guerrilla.

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This is a very nice person. He helped us all the way to the border with Western Sahara. Of course nothing on this trip to Mauritania end up going as planed, also with him hehehe, but for sure you can trust him and he will try to do what is necessary to pass you all the tracks to the border. We paid him. I am not going to tell how much because it’s his business and your business. Now, go by me, this is the guy YOU SHOULD TRUST! Remember I also came to Mauritania on a 4x4, and had other guides and other problems, more than once… My trip was not a one time experience but more than 4, and with different vehicles and hiring different guides which were not very good and untruthful. Ripping you off taking money out of you…
He lives in Choum. His house is near the mosque and he says he is the only one that has a “auberge” in town. hehehe, its not a “auberge” but in the future I know it will be. Its his own house, along with his wonderful family.

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If it wasn’t for this guy we wouldn’t make it to Morocco on this part of Tiris-Zemmour. He drove a small Opel Corsa through 9km of dunes after Touajil, help us to get local pick up trucks to my friends and to all our baggage with local price payment (4-6 euros for the whole day of journey looks like it was local price to me). He got us some people to bring us to the Fortress after Bir Moghrein. This is very important help! For my experience, you should trust someone else…as this is a damn good tip. You can print out this picture and ask for him in the Choum. Even if someone tells you he is not there, just go to his family and wait 2 days even. You can stay there for a minimum payment (you will decide after. it depends if you want food, but price goes from 5 to 15 euros…its all up to you.)

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Choum -> Touajil -> Fderik -> Zouerat +-250km

This is a very rough journey. Usually local 4x4 make the shortest and fast way through the train tracks where they hit their tyres against the protective objects that exist on the tracks preventing vehicles to drive there. They still do it and get their tyres flat of course. if you are careful and whenever you see one of this protection you can drive out of the train tracks. Also advisable is to get out when you see a train…hehehe, but maybe fast cos you can get stuck in sand on the way out, this can happen also with 4x4 of course. The train takes 10kms to stop…hehehe, as it’s the biggest train of the world.

On the picture you can see the iron mountains of Fderik.

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