12/16/2023 Bikepacking Mauritania Day 130 : Mauritania Factoids

Today was a shorter ride day so I could spend time preparing for Guinea - two countries away. The visa process is complicated, expensive, and demanding - so I need to do it in advance. I figured I would need a rest day to do it on the Raspberry Pi, but managed to get everything together via my phone.. and it is submitted! 🤞 hope for approval, because the section I may be most excited about for the entire journey is the Guinean Highlands.

Only a few more days of Mauritania, the 14th least densely populated country in the world. Western Sahara (also on this tour) is arguably the least densely populated in the world - and I liked them both. Hmm, does that say something?

Even though Mauritania has a lot of land per person, they are famous for being the last country to end slavery in 1981. Supposedly, it’s actually still going on illegally, though I can’t say I observed that. Only about 1500 people per year came as tourists to Mauritania before COVID, though that number has increased the last few years.

The lack of visitation is partly due to former terrorist activity (some danger still exists just East of where I had been cycling). This may explain the plethora of police checkpoints that I have had to submit my fiche cards to.

Here is a list of the primary National Treasures:

1. Parc National du Banc d’Arguin - home of the monk seal colony (the ones that you didn’t get to see, and neither did I). - Episode 121p1
2. Iron Ore train - which we saw in episode 121p2
3. Chinguetti - A town with historical manuscripts. Today there are five libraries left in Chinguetti containing some 1,300 Quranic manuscripts, as well as civil records including contracts, bills of sale, and legal judgments. On occasion, the crumbling texts are gingerly inspected by scholars who still visit the site to study Islamic Law. Preservationists have attempted to relocate the collections or set up restoration programs locally, but the libraries' private owners resist. UNESCO has awarded Chinguetti and other nearby ancient settlements World Heritage status.
4. Eye of the Sahara. Also known as the Richat Structure - you can see it from space. It was originally thought to be an impact crater, but later determined to be of Earthly origin.
5. Terjit - oasis, which we saw in Episode 123

I have uploaded photos from the internet of #3 and #4, which I did not visit. My reasoning for skipping the Eye of the Sahara is that you can really only appreciate it from the air. And Chinguetti has the reputation of people mobbing tourists with their wares.

The capital is Nouakchott. Now that you know that the “Eye of the Sahara” is in Mauritania, maybe you can remember the capital by thinking « nuke shot » (you know, I like a nuke was shot into the desert). If you think of a better way to remember, let me know.

The latest data I could find had 66 percent of Mauritanians living on less than $5.50 USD per day. I lived on about $13 of food per day. That was eating “expensive” canned food when I could; also buying a good fraction of my water.

Well, that is about all I can relay about Mauritania so far. I think it is 1-3 more days here before Senegal. Hopefully you have been enriched a little learning about a place that maybe you couldn’t have picked out on a map beforehand!