Mauritania: The Sahara in Its Purest Form
Endless dunes, caravan towns, and nights under the stars: Mauritania offers a rare and authentic desert experience, led by guides who know every trail.
Mauritania is one of the world’s most off-the-beaten-path and exotic destinations. With its vast desert, millennia-old “library cities,” and wild Atlantic coast teeming with millions of migratory birds, for travelers seeking an authentic experience far off the beaten path, it’s the end of the world in the best possible sense.
Chinguetti is one of Islam’s seven holy cities, an ancient caravan town gradually being swallowed up by the desert dunes. Its adobe mosques, its libraries housing centuries-old Islamic manuscripts, its silent alleyways where the sand gently accumulates, Chinguetti is a city that is disappearing, and your local guide will take you to meet the guardians of the manuscripts, the last inhabitants of the old city, and the nomads camping at the edge of the desert.
The Erg de l’Amatlich, one of the wildest ergs in the Mauritanian Sahara, can be crossed by 4x4 or on the back of a dromedary over several days. Your local Tuareg or Moorish guide knows the wells, the passages, and the nights under the stars, hours away from any artificial light. The Mauritanian Sahara is less visited than those of Morocco or Tunisia, and that’s exactly why you should go there.
The Banc d’Arguin National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the world’s most important nesting and wintering grounds for migratory birds, home to millions of shorebirds, flamingos, pelicans, and gulls. And the Imraguen, nomadic fishermen who still catch mullet in partnership with dolphins.
Mauritania is for travelers who crave vast open spaces. Find your So-Guide.
