Nutty Nouakchott

Highlights of the city include the Marche Cinqueme on the outskirts of town, the city museum, and the beach. But the best thing to do is just to wander around the city and take in the atmosphere of daily life and watch the goats wander through the city streets every day challenging death at the hands of manic drivers. When the sun gets too much - and it got to 35C in Feb. - stop in to the Pateserrie du Prince for a real cafe au lait and a chocolate torte or find a shady bench and catch up on a bit of reading while munching on a baguette as good as many in Paris.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

Best way of getting around town seems to be by foot. The city is small enough to be managable by this mode of transport, though a taxi is necessary to get to the beach.

We chose the Hotel Oasis as a step up from the budget camping accomodation we''d been staying in for nearly a month in honour of Valentine''s Day.

Unfortunately, the experience was slightly disappointing. Although manned by friendly staff, the hotel as an air of having fallen on hard times and is slightly gloomy and lacking in character. A local resident we met aptly described it as ''very sad'' and we had to agree. The air conditioning only cooled to 20C and although it was cooler outside, you couldn''t open the windows for lack of a mosquito net.

Overall, we went back to budget camping at Auberge Nomade happy to be back ''roughing it'' and feeling like we had needlessly wasted a bit of our funds.

The camping facilities offered at the Auberge Nomade are very central, service friendly, with a large nomad tent set up in the yard to relax under when the sun''s heat gets too much. And probably the cheapest accomodation going in Nouakchott. Approx. 3 pounds per person for camping - hot showers included. They also have hostel-style rooms for approx. 6 pounds a head, international telephone facilities, a laundry service, and close to a strip of fine fast food eateries. Very satisfied!

Snak Irak is a very friendly little roadside eatery serving up a very fine falafel with a smile from the Algerian owner. Other favourites on the list include chwarma - or doner kebab - and hamburgers, omelettes, or rotiserrie chicken. Also conveniently located right across the road from the Auberge Nomade & Campsite.

We visited the Casablanca as part of our romantic Valentine's Day festivities after a gruelling 8 hours on a bus from Atar. Thought we'd splurge a little. Although located in the city centre on the Rough Guide map, the restaurant is actually quite a hike if you don't have a vechicle, but the fine Italian food & grill section is very good and a welcome break from the bread and cheese of the modern day traveler. The helpings are plentiful, the staff friendly, and they serve alcohol - beer at about 4 dollars a can - in this legally 'dry' nation. One draw back - cash only!! And the bill soon mounts up.

Ali Baba lies on a strip of fast food eateries and is probably the cheapest of the bunch by about 50 ouguiyas per sandwich - about 20 pence. They also offer a drive up service if you have a vechicle, with a worker coming up to your car with a menu, taking your order, and bring it all to your door. Just Beep! Given the other alternatives, however, the Le Prince on the opposite side of the street at the end of the road has the edge on the chwarmas!

Another eatery on the same street as Snak Irak and Ali Baba, and probably the writer's favourite. The best chwarma of the three and an especially good sauce combination. There's also a large sitting area in the back for larger groups. Fare is the standard: burgers, falafel, rotiserrie chicken, and chwarma.

Getting credit card advances on your Visa or Mastercard is difficult at the best of times in Mauritania. We tried and failed in Nouadhibou, but some advice for travelers visiting Nouakchott... The travel agency SECUTOR mentioned in the last Rough Guide, West Africa, is a middle man for another agency RANDONNESS TOURS and takes a cut of your exchange. You'll get a better rate if you go to RANDONNESS directly: BP 4992, Rue Charles de Gaulle, a block north of Hotel Oasis and on the same side of the road. Mobile No. 630 3043 Tel No. 222 5259535

The twice-weekly military convoy from Morocco to Mauritania is no more. Overlanders are now free to make their own way directly to the border as of start of Feb. 2002 with no formalities being necessary in Dakhla. We found out the hard way, arriving the day after the last convoy and trying to hitch a lift.

The obvious repercussion is that drivers no longer need to make the 50km diversion down to Dakhla and may go direct, making hitching lifts down all that more difficult.

Camping Mousstaffa is still the best place in Dakhla to find a ride, but be wary of Mauritanians trying to scam you with tall tales and high prices to get you there. They're on the scent, but lifts are still possible as we found out.