Mauritania: Bicycle Tour Travel Guide
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[An introduction and overview to travel in Africa is available by clicking here. If you are look for a bicycle tour to this country, this link might help you.]
The information below may have been extracted from a more comprehensive "Country Supplement" to the book "Bicycling In Africa". For information on these publications click on the links.
Mauritania has dunes, oases, large and clean beaches, a smattering of historic sites and generally gracious people. The roads are flat and there is very little traffic. The challenge for bicyclists is generally the country is sparsely populated so settlements, services and logistics are w i d e l y s p r e a d and the sparse vegetation creates no shade.
The road from Nouakchott south to the Senegal frontier is paved, flat and has virtually no services.
To the east of Nouakchott, the road is paved to Nema. Generally there is some kind of settlement every 100 to 150 km. You need to carry an adequate supply of water and food and protect yourself from the sun. To the east and near the border with Mali there has been periodic problems with highway banditry.
North of Nouakchott the road is paved to Akjoujt.
Between Mauritania and Morocco is a large disputed area commonly known as the Western Sahara: It is shown on some maps as Morocco's southern desert (starting just south Tarfara). For decades this was a military zone closed to travel. Peace accords have been signed and the region is opening up again for travel. There are thousands of unexploded mines in the Western Sahara and in areas of Mauritania adjacent to the Western Sahara border. Exploding mines are occasionally reported, and they have caused death and injury. Transit to the Western Sahara remains restricted; persons planning to travel in the region may obtain information on clearance requirements from the Moroccan Embassy and Mauritanian Embassy.
If you want a little taste of Mauritania, you can make a loop from Nouakchott, Aleg, Kaedi, then along the south side of the Senegal River (in Senegal), to Rosso and back to Nouakchott.
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