Nouakchott - Rosso (MAU) : towards Senegal
N 18°06.164' W 015°59.817' - N 16°30.881' W 015°48.773'
As we rarely pass through the same places on our trip it was a pleasure to 'come home' to the Camp Bab Sahara in Nouakchott. This despite the fact that the town does not have much to offer and our 'room' was more like a failed attempt at an oversized kiddies' tent pitched on the roof and with little more space than for three matresses. The attraction was the good vibe, use of the kitchen and the on-suite terrace for sundowners (only tea of course) and interesting observing of pedestrians, traffic on the national road 100 m away, the ever-changing assortment of vans and 4x4s, the Mercs and their 'businessmen' in Mauretanian dress and cell phones gathering in front of the premises. With not more than a Senegalese visa to organise we relaxed on the roof-top and made a truely fine 500g T-bone steak on the grill. With some delay, although the visa took less than 24 hrs, we headed south and got quite exited about all the trees and villages en route. It was too late to cross the border, but we did get a taste of the Rosso border's bad reputation when looking for a place to crash two unofficial-looking men demanded our passports. With chances grim of finding fairly priced accomodation we back-tracked out of town and accepted the offer to set up our tent next to the police check-point 5 km out of town - free and with 24 hr security. The friendly gesture was in line with the courteous and always correct treatment by police and military in Mauretania. There was even entertainment at 23h00 when we helped push-start an old Peujeot diesel. My head-lamp put more light under the hood than their cell-phone (people forever improvising in Africa). It was quite comical as my fellow pushers were in their traditonal airy robe-like dress and sandals. Once in our sleeping bags Annabella and I pondered about the origin of the dress in Rome at Ceasar's time ...
As we rarely pass through the same places on our trip it was a pleasure to 'come home' to the Camp Bab Sahara in Nouakchott. This despite the fact that the town does not have much to offer and our 'room' was more like a failed attempt at an oversized kiddies' tent pitched on the roof and with little more space than for three matresses. The attraction was the good vibe, use of the kitchen and the on-suite terrace for sundowners (only tea of course) and interesting observing of pedestrians, traffic on the national road 100 m away, the ever-changing assortment of vans and 4x4s, the Mercs and their 'businessmen' in Mauretanian dress and cell phones gathering in front of the premises. With not more than a Senegalese visa to organise we relaxed on the roof-top and made a truely fine 500g T-bone steak on the grill. With some delay, although the visa took less than 24 hrs, we headed south and got quite exited about all the trees and villages en route. It was too late to cross the border, but we did get a taste of the Rosso border's bad reputation when looking for a place to crash two unofficial-looking men demanded our passports. With chances grim of finding fairly priced accomodation we back-tracked out of town and accepted the offer to set up our tent next to the police check-point 5 km out of town - free and with 24 hr security. The friendly gesture was in line with the courteous and always correct treatment by police and military in Mauretania. There was even entertainment at 23h00 when we helped push-start an old Peujeot diesel. My head-lamp put more light under the hood than their cell-phone (people forever improvising in Africa). It was quite comical as my fellow pushers were in their traditonal airy robe-like dress and sandals. Once in our sleeping bags Annabella and I pondered about the origin of the dress in Rome at Ceasar's time ...
posted by Retobados at 5:19 AM
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