Why Mauritania
Imagine a country where the dunes of the Sahara plunge directly into the Atlantic, where medieval libraries preserve eight-century-old manuscripts under adobe vaults, and where nomadic fishermen have been hunting mullet by allying themselves with dolphins for millennia. Mauritania is all of these things at once: a territory twice the size of France, almost entirely desert, which has not yet given up its secrets to mass tourism.
It's not an easy destination. The sandy roads require a 4x4 and a guide, the summer heat is unforgiving, and the comfort is spartan. But for those who accept its terms, Mauritania offers what few countries in the world can still promise: the sincere feeling of being somewhere that few people have seen. The evening light on the dunes of Adrar, the nights listening to the wind play in the palm trees of Terjit, the absolute peace of the old quarters of Chinguetti under the sand... These are memories that are unlike anything else.
Between the three UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Chinguetti, Ouadane, Oualata, Tichitt) and the Banc d'Arguin National Park, Mauritania has an astonishing density of heritage for a country that is so little visited. Travellers who venture there do so with a conviction: some things are not on the beaten track.
