Pilgrimage Through a Diverse Mauritania

The Amatlich dune massif
TheAmatlich erg is a small-scale dune massif (130 km x 5 to 8 km) that stretches from NW to SE, from the El Gleitat palm grove to the Damane spillage zone where it takes the name Dkhaïna.
Despite its relatively limited surface area (if one thinks of the Akchar, the Makhteir or the Warane, for example), its variety is great with regard to the vast interdunes and rocky zones that frame it.
This erg, furthermore, was "sculpted" by waters during the "humid" period, 7,000 years ago. Thus, it was very regularly crossed by a wadi at the level of Foum Tizigui and both to the West (towards Akjoujt) and in the wide interdunes that are the Ifizouitne and Amlil Bou kerch, vast spillage zones and wadis are numerous.
Should a "good" rain occur and the former hydrographic network will come back to life for a few days, a few weeks. Thus, Damane to the South and Graret el Fras (the cultivable depression of the mare—which testifies to the past presence of horses—) are among other (of lesser importance) places of regular subsistence crops.
In the distant past, Neolithic man settled all along the Amatlich, his presence was widespread. Neolithic sites are very numerous, some of which have been well studied such as Khatt Lemaiteg (Vernet, 1985) in the vicinity of Damane and Medinet Cbat (Nicole Lambert, 1970) near the El Guechriyé well. The proximity of rock, in the form of various guelbs (peaks) or that of the Ibi noir massif (Ibi el Akhdar) means that the flora and fauna at the edge of the erg are very varied.

We will meet with the women of Azoueïga. Organized in a cooperative, they perpetuate basketry techniques and weaving of mats in plant fibers.

The village of Toungad has remained very traditional. We will meet its inhabitants, who are sedentary oasis dwellers.

The ancient city of Chinguetti
Chinguetti was founded by the Ida Ouali around 1525, upstream from Abweyr, which has now disappeared, itself created in 1261.
The probable etymology of the toponym shingitî would be:

• well of the horse, from Soninké: si: well + n: of + gede: horse.

Chinguetti was the most active commercial center and the most important city in the Western Sahara. It was considered by Mauritanians as the 7th holy city of Islam with its 11 mosques, its 100 wells and its circle of scholars.
In 1675, a massacre perpetrated by part of the Ida-ou-Ali led to the breaking up of the group, whose survivors founded another ksar in the Tagant, Tidjikja.
Today only a single mosque remains and the memory of prosperous periods…
The main tribes that make up its population are the Ida-ou-Ali, the Laghlal and the Oulad Gheilan.

With their narrow and winding streets, their numerous dead ends, their low and dark houses made of local materials, their virtual absence of squares and communal spaces, Chinguetti and Wadâne have the structure of old ksour densely huddled around their mosques.

The semi-nomadic camp of El Kheouiya is established there during major droughts. The camp has been organizing itself over the past few years: development of goat and camelid breeding (from 2 camels in 1993, now a herd of over 70 animals), creation of a school in 1994, establishment of a small palm grove associated with gardens in 1999 and, now, some permanent structures.
«But we, we remain under the tent» Atfeil, the camp chief, assures us…
The bonds we maintain with the different families of the camp are close and greatly friendly.

The ksar of Wadâne, (Ouadâne) which was founded, it is said, the same year as Tichîtt (1141), would derive its name from the Arabic word meaning "two riverbeds" (wadân). The details according to which these two wadis would be the wadi of dates and the wadi of sciences are entirely to the credit of the city.
The ancient city is mentioned in writing in the middle of the 15th century in a Portuguese travel report but it remains difficult to form a precise idea of the city's beginnings despite its position on the western axis of trans-Saharan caravan trade.
Wadâne is a dense urban center, of the ksar type, formerly surrounded by a very secure fortified enclosure that resisted all foreign forces until the arrival of the French.
The dominant tribes are the Kounta, the Ida ou El Hadj, the Chorfa, the Amgârîj and the Aghzazir.

The flattened dome of Guelb Er Richât, which appears during the Secondary period, is located at the borders of the dark mountains of the Mauritanian Adrâr, to the west, and the vast flatlands of rocks, stone slabs and dunes of the Taoudenni basin, to the east.
The strange system of concentric ridges of the Richât is so striking that it appears today on all maps, even at small scale.
Richât is the plural of richa (feather), a term that perfectly describes the appearance of its ridges whose lee-facing slopes are streaked with tongues of sand and which dominate the deep flats where goats and camels graze… when, by chance, it has rained.
Because of its very size, it was revealed only very late, by professor Théodore Monod in 1934.
Indeed, no one, whether coming from the rugged plateaus of the north or the dunes of the Majabat Al Koubra (Monod, 1958), to the south and southeast, could imagine that these low ridges are organized in such a perfect concentric system, vaguely elliptical of 22 km and 25 km in diameter, rising from a boutonnière of 45 km, the Taguenzé, opening in the sandstone plateau.

The El Beyyed engraving sites have been known since 1932 (discovery by Lieutenant Girard) and some engravings were probably published by Monod, in a publication we were unable to find.
The four stations (at least) in the sector appear to show significant human presence in the past, which is corroborated by the various water sources still existing, and especially the substantial lithic industry of the El Beyyed cirque.
The Tarf Agher is the southern extremity of the Itletefatène plateau. Finger-shaped, it forms a kind of cape allowing access to the two inlets of Ma'riya and Ghzalia (two forms of gazelle), whose thresholds leading to the plateau each shelter a guelta.
This ensemble forms the eastern part of the El Beyyed cirque. Engravings are found on fallen blocks, essentially at the foot of the cape, others on blocks still at the summit, or on partially tilted sandstone table tops.
Note the presence of tumuli on either side of the point.

On foot, we set out to explore this iconic Saharan location. To the north, the great dunes of the erg Maghteir stretch out while a cirque of cliffs surrounds us.

The mining city of Zouérat
Zouérat is close to the border with Western Sahara and is the capital (wilaya) of the Tiris Zemmour region.
It is also the 3rd city in the country. Zouérat receives iron ore from mines on the plateaus, including those of F'Derick, Tazadit and Rouessat.
It is the starting point of the Zouerate-Nouadhibou railway line which is used for exporting iron ore to the port of Nouadhibou, then by ship to importing countries.

At the beginning of the day, we head towards one of the world's largest iron mines. It is a surreal visit in a desert environment.

The railway line between Zouérate and Nouadhibou allows iron ore extracted from Kediet ej-Jill to be transported to the port of the country's economic capital, where it will be loaded onto ore carriers bound for industrialized countries. This desert train was considered the longest (220 wagons for a length of 2 km), the heaviest (22,000 tons, 100 tons per wagon), and the slowest in the world (15 to 18 hours to travel the 650 km between Zouérate and Nouadhibou). Only this last point remains valid, as in recent years, an Australian train has become the longest and heaviest in the world.

The Ben Amira monolith is one of the most breathtaking places in Mauritania. This enormous mass of granite rock rises to over 600m.
With the sand dunes surrounding it, it provides an excellent Saharan landscape. Ben Amira is the largest monolith in Africa and the third largest in the world, after Uluru and Mount Augustus located in Australia.

Early in the morning, we board the Canarian lanches used by Imragen fishermen to move silently through the channels between the islands.
The exceptional richness of the Banc d'Arguin is made up of its very important bird life. Myriads of birds take flight at our approach, forming incredibly beautiful movements in the sky. Marine mammals are also present. It is not uncommon to see dolphins and, with great luck, killer whales.

We share a moment with Imragen fishermen navigating through the channels of the Banc d'Arguin. The mudflats, the myriads of birds, the marine mammals are their daily life.