Nouadhibou

28 October 2022

I had booked a bus ticket last night from the Supra@tours office on the promenade. The bus was due to leave at 08:00 heading towards the Moroccan border town of Guerguerat.

The hotel prepared a picnic breakfast for me of mini pizzas and roti. I took this with me as I made my way to the office. Waiting for the bus to arrive, I watched the sunrise on Moroccan land for the last time - a beautiful send off.

The bus ride to the border was incredible - across sandy deserts and past isolated settlements. I sat next to an army officer who had been located to the border area. His family live in Fez.

We stopped at one of the travellers stops on route - these are important stopping points for traveller and for the communities within these areas.

At the border, we exited the bus and queued up with everyone else to get stamped out of Morocco. There was a line of trucks waiting too - bringing vegetables and fruits into the drier areas of Mauritania. We waited for the passport officers to finish their lunch and to return to their desks at 15:00.

I got waved forwards to the passport office and left my passport in a pile by the window hatch - its important to try to get it near the top of the pile - the locals will help to keep it there!

I was eventually stamped out of Morocco and my rucksack was quickly checked. Then began the haggling to get in a taxi through the no-mans land between Morocco and Mauritania to the next border. It's a bit of a fiasco and with very little choice of driver, I went with one along with two Russian travellers. He agreed to take us across to the next border and into Nouadhibou for 100DM each.

We drove across the no-man's land in a clapped out taxi joined by a couple of other locals on route. Then the session at the Mauritanian border began. First we had to queue for two hours + whilst other people seemed to keep jumping in ahead. The key is to keep calm and smile; eventually I was taken into a room to have my photo and finger prints taken. I handed over 55 euros and the visa was issued. Next stop the police officer, who stamped me into Mauritania and then we were off.

We ended up driving around Nouadhibou for a while, visiting a Russian business man who works in the fishing industry, changing money and getting a local SIM card. The hotel Aljazira was the base for the evening and bazaarly, a Spanish restaurant for dinner - a reminder of the proximity and connect with Spain and the number of Spanish/Portuguese working in the shipping industry in this town.