Sandwiched between my month long voyage to East Antarctica and my 2 weeks in Morocco, this overland journey through Mauritania in west Africa was epic. I got to go to the very center of the Richat Structure, also know as the "Eye Of The Sahara" an immense geologic structure that can really only be seen properly from space. I also got to experience a significant (and news making) dust storm (on camelback), and I got to take the most epic train journey on Earth... Riding on top of the iron ore train for 12 hours, the longest and heaviest train in operation, anywhere.

 

There were many other amazing sights to see and below is a day by day account of the trip.

Because of the U.S. war with Iran (at the time of this writing), a lot of flight disruptions have taken place. I was supposed to have flown from Cape Town to Dubai, then onward to Algiers, then Nouakchott. However, the Emirates flight from Dubai to Algiers got cancelled, so I had to make arrangements to fly through Frankfurt instead.

Everything went smoothly and the 12 hour overnight flight to Frankfurt went well. I had a few hours in the airport, before boarded the flight to Algiers. Not too long after takeoff, the pilot turned us around and headed back because we had struck a bird and the plane needed to be inspected. Luckily it happened so soon after we took off. Back at the airport, we landed, and a maintenance crew took a look at the plane. All the passengers stayed on board while they gave us the green light, refueled and changed the flight crew. In total it was about a 2 hour delay or so. Luckily there was a long layover in Algiers.

Once we got back in the air, there were no further problems... Until it was time to board the flight from Algiers to Nouakchott. There were delays, and several gate changes. Eventually I got on the flight and managed to sleep through most of it. It had been a very long 2 days.

After immigration, customs, and the long drive from the airport, I finally made it to the hotel at about 2:30 in the morning.

Today was a rest day. It's always good to add one of these on long journeys. You never know when flights might get delayed or cancelled. It's also helpful for recovery from long international flights and jet lag. Breakfast was at the hotel, then the day was spent reorganizing bags.

Dinner at the Fasq hotel rooftop restaurant was excellent, and there was even a nice sunset.

I checked out of the Fasq hotel, and left 1 bag of unneeded cold weather and fancy clothes there, and took an Uber over to the meet up spot at the nearby Mauicenter Hotel. The group met up with Hadmine (local guide) and Madeline (Untamed Borders rep) in the lobby at noon. We had a brief orientation then went for a walk past the big mosque in town, then we all went up to the balcony of one of the tallest buildings in the city to get a better view. Then we had a nice lunch at an outdoor café, and walked through part of the local market.

It was a warm day. Mostly sunny. The capital city of Nouakchott is chaotic. Dusty streets littered with trash everywhere. The cars are a mixture of nice vehicles and dilapidated wrecks that look like demolition derby losers. At one point a car very intentionally revved its engine and seemed to intentionally try to run us down. The people seemed friendly enough in general though. Tomorrow we regroup and hit the road.

After breakfast we loaded up into 4 Toyota Hilux pickup trucks (probably the most dependable vehicles on Earth) and headed down to the Atlantic coast where the local fishermen launch their boats from the beach. There were so many out on the water, and lined up along the shore with colourful paint jobs. The surf was a bit rough and it was interesting to see them launch their small boats out into it.

One the way out of town, we stopped at the local camel market. It was a huge compound with hundreds and hundreds of camels (dromedaries) for sale. Apparently the going rate for camels is between 800 to 2000 Euros. I was not tempted to buy one.

It was now time to start heading northeast. It was a long day of driving, but we broke it up with a few stops and we ended up under an Acacia tree for lunch, prepared by the cook on the team.

Our main destination today was the Terjit oasis. The road there took us through some amazing landscapes that reminded me of the American desert southwest. Huge buttes of sedimentary rock rose up from the desert as we approached the oasis. Suddenly there was much more green. The plant life that had been absent was now abundant.

The rough dirt track led us up to the entrance of the oasis which is privately owned and situated at the bottom of a steep-sided gorge. We walked along a path through palm trees and other vegetation to the pools of water with small streams & tiny waterfalls. The water itself was nice and warm to wade into.

As we left and headed towards the town of Atar, the sun got low and lit up the clouds and the mountains beautifully. We passed through Atar and slightly north to our guest house at Azougui. We checked in, and the guys prepared a dinner of soup, chicken and vegetables which we at outside in the courtyard.

Had breakfast at the Auberge (small hotel), then took a walk into Azougui (pop about 300), looking for the ruins of the old 11th century fort there. We found it, but there wasn't all that much to see, and the gate was only held closed with some twisted wire. The site was pretty basic, but it is listed as an Islamic heritage site and is in the running to be a potential UNESCO world heritage site.

We then drove back into the town of Atar where we wandered around the market. It was crowded, dusty and dirty as expected. One interesting thing was when we passed the school, and one of the teachers invited us into one of the classrooms where he told us the history of the school and asked us questions about ourselves.

In the afternoon we started heading out into the desert, which involved several hours of driving over rocky flats, and sand dunes. We stopped a couple of times, once at a building in the middle of nowhere that was abandoned, and again to gather some firewood.

We eventually stopped at a spot for our campsite & set up a table and tents. The sunset was quite good amongst the dunes, but I didn't sleep well. During dinner (camel meat and couscous) the wind really picked up and it shook the tent. My air mattress had a slow leak in it as well, so sleep was scarce. I eventually gave up and went outside to see that the moon had set, the clouds had cleared, and the Milky Way was really visible. I took some pics and waited for sunrise.

Up early and had breakfast. We packed up camp and drove on for a while then stopped on a vast salt flat. It didn't have the typical white colour that normally salt flats have because the salt here was mainly covered by a crust of dirt. Once you scratched through the crust, the salt was evident beneath.

By lunchtime, we stopped at a interesting spot. It was a valley, sandwiched between some huge beige sand dunes and the scree slope of a giant mesa. We had lunch amongst the impossibly thorny acacia trees .

In the afternoon we continued on to a boulder-strewn area that was home to some ancient rock art. These petroglyphs are 4000-6000 years old and depict animals such as camels, giraffes and more. They were fascinating to see. Close by in El Beyyed, we encountered one of the most remote and unusual museums I've ever seen. It was a single building, filled with prehistoric artifacts from the people that used to live in this area. Stone tools, bracelets, axe heads, fishing weights and more. They had several fulgurites as well (sand fused by lightning strikes). The curator was a charismatic old man named Yeslem and he took great pride in his collection and clearly took care of it all.

We spent the night at the tented camp by the museum, and had veggie stew with rice for dinner. Afterwards, our cook showed us how he baked “sand bread” in the coals of the fire.

At about 5:30 AM I got up and got some shots of the Milky Way with an acacia tree in the foreground. The dark skies out here in the desert are nice, once the bright moon eventually sets. Breakfast was at the tented camp, then we said goodbye to the museum curator and continued on into the desert. Along the way we found some more petroglyphs on some large boulders, then stopped to document some impressive sand dunes.

Our next stop was at an old French colonial fort from the 1910’s (Bir Ziri). We walked around inside for a bit, trying to imagine what life would have been like for the soldiers stationed here, especially in the extreme heat of the summer months.

After lunch we encountered a camel skeleton… One of many we would see today, and even more over the coming week. Its really is unsettling to see these "ships of the desert" that have become "sunken ships of the desert". Even the animals adapted to this environment are not immune to the wrath of time and the desert.

Our next destination was another French fort (El Ghallaouiya). This one looked completely different, like it was straight out of a science fiction film. It had several beehive-looking structures, and an active well nearby, pumping out ground water, presumably for livestock.. Inside the fort, there were odd round windows and we spotted several bats of an unknown species.

It should be noted that we're not driving on proper roads out here. We are doing a lot of off-road driving with no GPS. It is astonishing how the local guide and drivers are able to know their way around in such a vast landscape, often with few landmarks. Some places are very difficult, including a very rocky twisting path which brought us to higher elevations.

Later in the afternoon, we drove past a spot some of the drivers knew about. A cliff side, strewn with boulders that contained the best rock art we've seen so far. Some were way up high on the cliffs, inaccessible. They depict lots of animals like elephants, ostrich, giraffe and more. Very interesting.

After passing through a rocky valley, the terrain opened up into a dramatic flat field of sand, like a beach that stretched on forever. No huge dunes, just vast sandy nothingness. It took a while to decide on a camp site since the terrain here was mostly open with very little cover. The sunset was nice, especially with the campfire burning. During the night, the weather changed and the winds picked up dramatically. At 3:10 AM I got up and the wind was blowing hard as the moon set on the horizon. The cheap tents didn't fare so well. It was a struggle to keep the tent upright, and sleep was fleeting at best with the windblown material slapping me in the face.

Not much sleep last night due to fighting with the tent in the strong wind. The conditions remained windy and cold through breakfast.

Today is the day that we were set to make it to the Richat Structure.

The Richat Structure, often called the “Eye of the Sahara” is a vast circular feature about 40km wide (25 miles) in the Sahara Desert. From ground level it's surprisingly subtle, but from the air or space its concentric rings stand out with striking clarity, which is why it became a landmark for astronauts orbiting Earth in the International Space Station. Despite its almost artificial symmetry, the Richat Structure is entirely natural. It consists of alternating bands of resistant quartzite ridges and more easily eroded rock layers, creating a bullseye pattern that has been gradually revealed over millions of years by slow erosion.

What it isn't is just as important, and often more misunderstood. It is not an impact crater, despite early theories suggesting a meteorite strike; there's no evidence of shock metamorphism or other telltale signs of such an event. Geologists classify it as a deeply eroded dome, formed when molten rock pushed upward but didn't fully break through the surface. Over time... uplift, fracturing, and relentless erosion by wind and occasional water stripped away the upper layers, exposing the older, ringed structure we see today. The result is not so much a single violent event, but rather a slow geological unmasking. An ancient structure revealed layer by layer by wind and water. Learn more here.

We packed up and started driving across the desert until we eventually reached a high ridge that overlooked the Richat Structure. It is hard to tell from ground level because it is so huge, but we could actually see the layers of rock, sand, and salt flats that make up the concentric rings looming ahead of us. We descended in the trucks and drove right up to the edge of the outermost ring, then skirted around the outside from the east to the south. Along the way we were able to drive through some of the layers, including a spot with orange sand and bluish rocks that looked like the surface of Mars. We encountered some goat herders, a small school (closed) and more camels. There are no proper roads here, but there is a very crude off-road track that cuts north, straight into the eye. Driving north now, we were cutting directly across the layers. It's hard to stress how large this thing is, and it was difficult to get our bearings, but I was able to plot our position on a downloaded GPS map to see where we were.Eventually we climbed a steep hill until there was nowhere else to go...We had reached the centre, at the top of a dome at the highest point. The view was beautiful, with sprawling vistas in every direction. I wasn't sure what to expect, but because we were at a higher elevation that the surrounding terrain, it was a better view than I had anticipated.

I took some pics and gathered some rocks. The exact coordinates for the middle of the eye are: 21.12319° N, 11.40123° W.

I would have liked to have stayed longer, but we had to continue on to Ouadane. The old city of Ouadane is mostly in ruins, but the mosque is still standing. We walked along the “Road of 4 Scholars” and down into the area with the water well. The evening light got really good with the low setting sun casting warm light on the city, which happens to be a UNESCO world heritage site. The architecture of the multiple arches by the mosque were particularly impressive.

After breakfast at the auberge, we went into the new town section of Ouadane. We walked around the dusty streets for a while and I played a bit of spontaneous soccer with a bunch of the kids as I like to do sometimes when travelling.

Then we experienced something I won't soon forget. We went to the local “museum”. It was more like a hoarder house, 3 of them actually. The “curator” of this museum was a charismatic old guy, and he took us around on a tour through all 3 buildings.

The first one was actually labelled as the Ouadane Museum. It was an old stone house with a huge hole at the entrance. Someone could have easily fallen in. Inside was a chaotic mess of rubbish, random items, and ancient antiquities. Totally insane. The courtyard was basically a trash heap. The second building he took us to was just as crazy. We were literally stepping on ancient stone tools, thousands of years old, as we walked around. There were old old hand grenade casings, bullets, fossils, stone tools and other stuff mixed with broken appliances, bits of wire, many teapots and so much more. It was overwhelming. There was just so many random objects and rusty metal that we nicknamed it the "Museum of Tetanus!"

The third place was his actual home. The outside and courtyard were as insane as the others, but inside was nice. We all sat down, he fed us some dates, and then he pulled out several old manuscripts. Many of them up to 800 years old, mostly versions of the Koran. It was the most surreal "museum" experience I've ever had.

After all that we drove back out into the desert, gathered some firewood, and found a campsite. The sunset was quite nice, and I got inventive, using a local donkey that happened to be near our campsite to eclipse the setting sun.

I had not been feeling great all day. A stubborn cold I had been suffering with for the whole trip was hitting hard again, but now I was feverish and my stomach was starting to bother me.

Moonlit dinner was a special treat tonight. Our guides had arranged a whole roast goat for us that had been prepared by locals in a village nearby.

Last night had some rough moments. Mainly a serious coughing fit that lasted forever. I eventually got back to sleep, but didn't have the motivation to go out to try to photograph the Milky Way. At about 4:30 AM the call to prayer started up at the village not too far away… And it kept going for about 2 ½ hours! It seemed to be a looped recording...and if we could hear it way out in the desert, how loud was it in the village?

After sunrise, I found some fox tracks & beetle tracks, proving that there's more life in the desert than you might expect. The winds were nice and calm for breakfast, but it was clear... that meant it was going to be a hot day. We walked out of camp to a spot that was filled with tiny, ancient seashells. we've seen lots of them on this trip, proof that there was once an ancient ocean here.

Our destination today was Chinguetti. The town known for its 12 libraries, and another UNESCO world heritage site. We grabbed the trucks and drove through the desert for a while, then reached the auberge (small hotel) in town. We dropped off our stuff, then went to the main library. The curator there told us some stories, and showed us some manuscripts, but never really gave us a lot of information about the library itself. He did get plenty of messages beeping on his smartphone though. A sign of the times, I guess.

After lunch we toured around the old town. The mosque was impressive, and is apparently the longest continuously operating mosque in the Islamic world. We wandered around a few of the other old buildings and afterwards we walked through the market area, but it was mostly quiet because it was a hot day and it was the afternoon siesta time.

We then went out to the edge of town to see where some of the newer construction has been taken over by the sand due to desertification. The one auberge we visited was built in 2000, but was abandoned, and the desert had taken over.

For sunset, we found a spot on top of a sand dune beside an old, unused mosque and Hadmine showed us the technique for making the foamy Mauritanian tea. It is quite complex. We also had some local hot, sweet dough balls, and learned how to play a local game, similar to tic tac toe. It uses 3 sticks and 3 pieces of dung, and the board is drawn in the sand. Simple, but it uses a lot of strategy though. Good fun.

As soon as I stuck my head outside this morning, it was clear that something was up. It seemed cloudy and foggy, but with an orange tint. We were experiencing a dust storm. Hadmine had showed me a video last night of a haboob (another term for dust storm) up near the Algeria/Mauritania border. Well, that storm was actually much bigger than I thought. It had swept across a huge portion of north Africa, from Algeria, all the way to the Canary Islands. This event was triggered by a low pressure system over Algeria which caused Harmattan Winds. These seasonal dry, dust laden winds swept a massive wall of dust stretching roughly 1,500–2,000 km (900–1,200 miles) travelling southwest across Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, and Western Sahara. This wasn't just a local sandstorm, it was a continental-scale atmospheric event, driven by strong winds, visible from space, and large enough to disrupt aviation and air quality across multiple countries.

I had wanted to experience a sandstorm while here, I guess I got my wish.

The plan after breakfast was to walk across town to meet with some local camel wranglers, then ride out to the nearby Entkemkemt oasis. Walking through town was surreal. I wrapped my head up in my new turban to protect myself, and put on my sunglasses. Everything was orange, the sky was dimmed and the sun was a pale dot in the sky, filtered by the dust. I took a lot of pictures of people walking, donkeys, cars… All obscured by the storm. It had a very post-apocalyptic feel.

We eventually made it to our rendezvous point. A few of the camels were already there, but we had to wait for a while for the rest of them to arrive, so we had some tea and snacks, and eventually we all got up onto our respective camels, and our caravan of 12 started off into the dusty, windy desert. At least it was cool out.

We rode for almost an hour and a half, about 5 km through the sand. If you've ever ridden a camel, you'll know that it is not the smoothest ride. I'd named my camel Max, and while the pace wasn't quick, he was sure-footed. That can't be said about all the other camels...

Hadmine was on his own camel (without a guide) and it seemed to have a problem with one of the other camels in our group. It tried to kick Hadmine's camel, which then bolted and bucked dramatically, throwing Hadmine to the ground. He landed flat on his back. Luckily he was OK, but that could have been extremely bad if he had landed differently or if he happened to not land in soft sand. He was very lucky, but he would be sore for days afterwards, which he tried to hide without much success.

The storm was still blowing when we reached the Oasis. We dismounted our camels and walked along the path lined with vegetation to an area where there was a building where we could sit and eat. There was also a large, circular concrete tank of water that was available to soak in.

We had a nice lunch of pasta salad & bread, then we had some time to just relax and enjoy the surroundings. We remained there until about 4:00 or so, then we decided to take the trucks back to the auberge a bit early. The weather conditions had improved somewhat, but there was still massive amounts of dusts suspended in the air. At the time, I had no idea that this had been a significant storm that was being reported on worldwide.

Breakfast was at the Auberge in Chinguetti, then we hit the road and drove to Fort Saganne. A set built for a French movie of the same name back in the early 1980’s. It was a bit of a surreal spot. They spent a lot of time, effort and money to build this replica fort. The surrounding landscapes were impressive with mountains, plateaus and a large nearby canyon. A residue of dust from yesterday's sandstorm still lingered in the air.

On a cliff side nearby, we spotted some interesting (and huge) boulders at a place called Agrour. I thought would be cool to check out, and as it turns out, that was going to be our next destination.

We worked our way up the hill and met with a local guide who took us in amongst the boulders to show us some more rock art, but these were different from all the other petroglyphs we've seen so far here in Mauritania. These were not etched, but rather painted. We saw figures of an elephant, human, a giraffe, and some kind of horned bull or antelope. The boulders themselves were impressive. Huge, and some were sitting precariously on the edge of the cliff.

There was one area that is suspected to have been used as a ceremonial throne, with grooves carved into the base of a tall pedestal type of rock. Thousands of years old.

The next stop was at the oasis of Mhaïreth. We had lunch at the tented camp there, then went to go check out the water. There was a pond of cool water that was very inviting. The day had started off windy and cool, but by now it was hot, so the temptation to go swimming was irresistible. A bunch of us went into the water, surrounded by sand dunes, stepped rocks and tall grass. We saw dragonflies, lizards, birds and some small fish. It really shows how water = life, especially here in the desert. After a few hours we returned to the camp and had a great dinner of chicken, vegetables and french fries. The full moon appeared as we were briefed about the upcoming ride on the iron ore train... Something I was looking forward to, but also apprehensive about.

The drive from Mhaïreth to Ben Amera took us through some epic landscapes that totally reminded me of the U.S. Desert Southwest with huge mesas and valleys. We continued on to the crossroads town of Atar where we were last week.. The plan was to stop by the same shop to pick up some dry food snacks for the train ride. The beat up vehicles there really give the place a Mad Max feel.

We went north out of Atar then turned west and continued overland towards the monolithic structure of Ben Amera. The geology of the area was fascinating, with sand dunes punctuated by huge mountainous piles of gigantic boulders, polished smooth from years of erosion. We intercepted the train tracks and saw one of the water-carrying trains. Later tonight I would be boarding one of those trains.

In the distance, the giant monolith of Ben Amera loomed. it's the largest monolith in Africa and the second largest in the world, behind Uluru in Australia. It's hard to understand the size and scale without some kind of reference, making photography challenging. We drove up to it, then around it towards Aïsha, another nearby monolith where we found some shade to have lunch. (Ben Amera is historically identified as being male and Ben Aïsha as being female).

After lunch, we circled around Aïsha to look at some modern stone carving art found there. In 2000 a group of artists carved various patterns and animals in the stones around Aïsha. Interesting, and very different from the ancient rock art we've been seeing all trip.

The plan was to continue driving to Choum, but with a detour. We had time, as the iron ore train wasn't expected to be in Choum until after midnight. Not far outside of Choum, we went to go see an old, decommissioned train tunnel. Built in 1962, it cut the corner through the mountainside near where Mauritania meets Western Sahara, but they stopped using it in the 1990’s. It was nice and cool inside, a welcome break from the heat. The tracks had been removed a long time ago, and the walls of the tunnel had been taken over by hundreds of what looked like some kind of wasp’s nests. As much as I wanted to, we didn't walk all the way through to the other side, 2 km away.

We were SO close to the border with Western Sahara… And the local paved road cuts the corner right through it, that we couldn't resist. We drove northeast along the road and entered Western Sahara. It is totally legal, with no immigration or border control here. Our group stopped at about the halfway point, right in the middle of that section of road, then got out for some celebrations of another country visited, along with some photo ops.

Choum, like many of the other small towns we've seen here is a dusty, half-abandoned, run down place. It seems to exist only because of the railroad. We went to Hadmine’s guest house, a nice place he has set up to help tourists to take the train. It was as nice as any of the other guest houses we stayed at, and each hut had its own shower & toilet. We had time to kill, so there was a nice fish dinner, then I turned in to get at least an hour sleep before the big train journey. Things were looking good… The train was behind schedule, but it looked like it would still arrive with enough time for us to hop on between 12:30 and 1:30. All I could do was wait, so I lay down for a brief nap.

Riding on top of the Mauritania iron ore train is known as one of the more extreme things that can be done here. It is often hyped as "The most dangerous train ride in the world"... I guess it was my turn to find out.

I had set my alarm for 11:00 PM. Plenty of time to get ready, even if the train was early. It was still & quiet, so I found a spot in the courtyard to lay down some more and wait. The mosquitoes were bad here, the first time they had been a concern on this trip. As midnight approached, we all slowly assembled. In total there were 6 of us who were going to brave the train ride. We were filled with nervous excitement as we got dressed and double checked our packs. Then the word came. It was time to go.

We all piled into 2 vehicles. One was one of our Hilux pickups, and the other was an old, beat-up Mercedes. The driver tried to convince one of the others to sit on roof, which made no sense. He was quite insistent about it. She gave up on that idea and went to the other vehicle. He later grumbled that his car was “very good safe car, can fit 13 people”. Uh, I thought the train was supposed to be the dangerous part.

This is when things got really sketchy. The drivers turned off their headlights as we approached the train in darkness, trying not to be spotted. Once parked beside one of the ore carts, we quickly climbed up one by one, scrambling up the metal steps. We had to try to remain unseen and one of the riders was scolded for turning on her headlamp. A couple of the others who were not riding the train came along to see us off and one of them was taking flash photos. I reached out to stop her, gruffly telling her ”No flash, no light”! Everyone seemed quite concerned about security stopping us.

It was not an easy task to climb up. there's only a partial ladder, and it was dark, other than the nearly full moon. Once I peeked over the edge I was pleased to see that this train was filled with the chunky ore instead of the powdery kind. That meant less comfort, but also much less dust.

Once on top, our new helper, Sidi, used a shovel to try and flatten out one of the mounds, then he rolled out a big woven mat. The stop was shockingly brief, and before we knew it, the train lurched forward. There was no turning back now.

The full moon made it easy to see what was going on, both on the train car and in the surrounding desert. It wasn't as cold as I was expecting it to be, the desert is notorious for being baking hot while the sun is out, but that heat is quickly lost once the sun sets. I did layer up and eventually broke out my sleeping bag as the temperature did dip in the middle of the night. We all settled into our personal areas and got ready for the long haul. I tried to sleep, but the iron ore was uncomfortable, plus the movement of the train made that a difficult task.

The train stopped for a while at a spot that I recognized. It was Ben Amera, in the exact spot where we had been the day before. In the moonlight, I could make out the immense monolith in the distance. There was another train on parallel tracks here, and we had to wait for it to carry on ahead of us before we proceeded. I was worried that we might be stuck here for hours, but it was only about 30 minutes or so. I've heard horror stories of people stuck on top for hours and hours. The trains here do not run on a Japanese schedule, yet we eventually got moving again, paralleling the border with Western Sahara.

As the sun came up, the light got really good so we took turns getting sunrise photos of each other. It also became clear that we were not alone on the train. A few cars ahead of us was a local guy with 3 or 4 goats, which was hilarious. Some were in baskets, some were roaming free. There was also a couple of people ahead of him that seemed to be film makers. One of them was bouncing around from car to car, filming. At one point he even joined goat man for a while. He filmed us from a distance, but never worked his way back to our car.

The temperature remained comfortable for a while, but as the sun got higher, it got much hotter, and there's no shade on the train, so I was covered from head to toe. Unfortunately, my ski goggles had been pretty much destroyed at some point, probably from somebody’s suitcase getting tossed onto it in the Hilux. They were barely held together but did the job, not that I had much ability to go shopping for a new pair.

The hours passed more slowly as we baked in the heat. It was unclear when we would be getting off, or if the train would be making more stops. It was conceivable that it could just park itself for hours as we roasted on the pile of iron ore. After what felt like an eternity, we started slowly approaching our destination of Nouadhibou. At the edge of town, a bunch of crazy taxi drivers started to drive right beside the train, perilously close. They seemed desperate to convince us that we needed a taxi ride. It was insane, like a bunch of stunt drivers. The end was in sight, and once the train stopped, 2 vehicles were waiting for us. Omar from Hilux #2 and a Toyota minivan. We descended from the train car, took a few quick photos of ourselves, filthy from iron ore dust, then we were swept away to a local home where there were some snacks, a toilet, and showers waiting for us, as well as sets of clean clothes that we had arranged to be sent ahead. It felt SO good to get cleaned up. We had done it. We had ridden the infamous Sahara Desert iron ore train. We had boarded just after 1 AM and we finally got off the train at about 1:30 this afternoon.

What an experience. It felt more like a dragon than a train. Once we were aboard, we were at the mercy of the machine. it's movement, its timing, schedule, and behaviour were all completely out of our control. I liken it to riding one of the sand worm from Dune. Even the noises it made seemed organic There was a constant rumble, then the sound of the wheels clacking, the percussive heartbeat of the metal pieces hitting each other. The air venting from the pneumatics sounded just like the beast breathing, and every now and then the train cars would suddenly lunge forwards or backwards… Sometimes violently. A reminder from the train about who was in charge.

Getting off the train was far from the end of our transportation drama though. It was another 6 ½ hours to get from Nouadhibou back to Nouakchott. I rode in the mini van, and got myself settled in for the long drive. Along the way there were about a half dozen police checkpoints to go through. The officers checking our car’s paperwork at each stop. Things have been made more complicated by the U.S./Israeli war with Iran. There was a fuel crisis, so the government has been cracking down and have imposed a no driving curfew from midnight to 6AM. They've also been searching vehicles for jerry cans. Carrying any more than one could land you in trouble.

It was one of those drives that seemed to go on forever, as if the day hadn't been long enough already. Our driver had a bit of a lead foot, and he managed to get himself a speeding ticket. There was also an incident where we thought we had a flat driver’s side front tire. Luckily, it was only a piece of rope-like debris stuck in the tire. I was finally dropped off at the Fasq hotel back in Nouakchott at about 9:30PM, exhausted.

Today was a rest, recovery and re-pack day. Some of the others took a 2:30 AM flight last night after riding the train and the long drive back. That seemed like such a bad idea.

This marks the end of the Mauritania journey. Early tomorrow morning (2:40 AM) it's off to catch my flight to Casablanca for the Morocco portion of this epic trip.