I recently mentioned in a newsletter that we’ve struggled to fill our Mauritania tours in seasons past. This is unfortunate. It’s one of our favorite trips, to one of the only countries where you can safely travel deep into the Sahara. As our friend Sean wrote¹, “in a circuit of just over a week you can take in the crumbling ancient cities of Chinguetti and Ouadane, the paradisiacal oases at Terjit and Mhaïreth, the staggering dunes of Azoueiga and the world’s second-largest monolith at Ben Amer.”

On our tour, we fall asleep stargazing next to Ben Amer, which is, in addition to being the second-largest monolith in the world, the largest monolith in Africa. We should sell this trip. Just what exactly is our marketing team doing?

Well, the marketing team is Matt and I, and maybe we need to be talking about Mauritania more often. When we do talk about Mauritania, it’s often about the aforementioned big ticket items. But there are a few reasons to visit the country that might not be on your radar. I shared some of these in our instagram stories a week ago, but those vanish after 24hrs. Anyway, I would prefer they not live on Mark Zuckerberg’s property.

1. Lounging

If you’ve recently had the feeling that your brain could use some time to stretch out and relax and go for a wander without falling straight into the woodchipper that most of us carry around in our pockets, you should come to Mauritania, where they have lounging down to a science (and importantly, do not have countrywide internet coverage). 

Sometimes it’s an afternoon siesta in an oasis, staring up at a canopy of date palms until you slip into that luxurious pre-nap twilight zone. Sometimes it’s sprawling out in a family’s salon after a home cooked meal — talking, reading, and playing games in between rounds of tea.

Whatever form it takes, you are “doing nothing,” a cardinal sin in much of the West, but a fixture of daily life in Mauritania. These moments of relaxation are restorative and reinvigorating. They sharpen your senses and allow for a deeper appreciation of the sights and activities on the trip (as well as, your life in general?).

2. Games, Jokes, horsing around

Somewhat related to #1, but worth talking about on its own. Mauritanians love playing games and they love to joke around. There are games like Sig which involve luck (and a bit of dexterity):

and then there are mental puzzles like this one which you play with dried out camel dung:

I am uncomfortable with generalizations, but if you used the term “happy-go-lucky” to describe Mauritanians, I would not object.

You will laugh a lot on this trip. I am still laughing about a few things from a trip that happened in 2024.

3. Wildlife

Nothing lives in the desert, right? Wrongggg. Jackals, lizards, some really awesome birds – like this white crowned wheatear! – the solitary dung beetle pushing a camel turd up a sand dune, and of course camels (everywhere!). The desert is somehow teeming with life. And let’s not forget, Mauritania has over 750 kilometers of coastline. The country is home to the world’s largest breeding colony of Mediterranean monk seals (critically endangered and considered the rarest pinniped on earth). Banc d’Arguin National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, sees over 2 million migratory birds every winter. And yes, there are indeed desert crocodiles!

4. Larger than life characters 

There are certain people you come across in life, who, upon meeting them — within the first several minutes — you know that you will be telling stories about them 10 years later. I guarantee you will meet at least one person like this in Mauritania. At least one. Probably more. The drivers and local guides that we were work with are all good candidates to start with.

How wonderful it is to meet someone that you will never forget.

Next time I see Ahmed Cherif, that bear hug is going to be strong enough to break a few ribs.

5. Tea

Tea in Mauritania is a daily ritual that rivals prayer. The tea itself — concentrated gunpowder green tea heavily dosed with sugar and occasionally some fresh mint — is rocket fuel. It will provide a certain giddiness, an almost ecstatic sense of wonder, as you look out over the endless dunes of the Sahara and realize that 50 million years ago this incredible vastness was a seafloor.

But tea in Mauritania is also a social practice. There are three rounds of brewing (“death, life, love“). The time it takes to steep the tea, and to pour that perfect frothy head, leaves plenty of room for a relaxed, meandering conversation.

You might think that this ritual is confined to a certain setting. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our local drivers and guides always have a box the size of a small carry-on suitcase in their possession. This thing is like the nuclear “football” that accompanies US Presidents. Except instead of the codes to launch a nuclear missile, it contains all the materials needed to brew a pot of tea, including a small gas burner.

You will drink tea everywhere. On a dhow in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Banc d’Arguin National Park, on the ridge overlooking the Eye of Africa with a howling wind coming up from the desert floor, and in the soothing shade of any number of oases.

Does any or all of this sound good to you?

Join us on a trip! We are going back to Mauritania in November. It is perhaps our favorite time of year to visit the country. The temperature has come down but the wind hasn’t picked up yet. In November, you can add spectacular visibility to the above list. Of course, there are plenty of other reasons to visit Mauritania. Many of them can be found on our trip page.

Footnotes

¹ Sean also recently wrote the first Bradt Guide to Mauritania, which we highly recommend.