Terjit

3 november 2022

This morning I was the last to leave the camp and walked up the valley of Terjit towards the oasis.

The valley is deserted, the tourist stopping places empty and the river bed dry. At the higher level, you have the climb up rocks to get to the next level of the oasis where there is a small pool. I continued walking through the sandy valley passing a girl camping alone in this peaceful serene landscape. I climbed further up a huge sand dune and onto a plateau leaving piles of cairns to mark my route in case I needed to retrace my steps. I was aiming to loop back via the road and so followed a valley up and over and escarpment in the general direction.

The place was magnificent; barren, empty, impressive, surprising and amazingly secretive in terms of the landscape hidden in valleys unseen from the normal vantage points.

I scrambled over the escarpment at there was the road in front of me! I followed this back to Terjit.

In the village I visited the Auberge de Caravan and met the two women running it. There were no visitors staying - instead a community of children all with mothers working in Atar and Nouakchott. The two ladies were running a child care service for mothers who were not with their husbands anymore and had gone to get work else where. This is a factor of Mauritanian society and one I became increasingly aware of as I travelled. They served tea and dates as we talked.

Back at the camp, I hiked up the mountain next to the valley to see the sun set over the mountains. A beautiful way to end my stay in the peaceful and magical location.