Dunes and Palm Groves - Saharan Mosaic in Western Adrar

Indicative flight proposal: Royale Air Maroc.
We depart late in the day for the Mauritanian capital via Casablanca in Morocco. Once formalities are completed, we welcome you in the hall of the Nouakchott airport terminal.
By a short transfer to the city, we reach our hotel in the middle of the night for well-deserved rest.

After leaving the city and its suburbs, we take the beautiful paved road that heads northeast towards the mining town of Akjoujt.
The Trarza region and the Atlantic coast are now behind us, the vegetation changes and becomes increasingly Saharan.

The vast sandy plains of Inchiri lead us to the somewhat surreal town of Akjoujt. Mining industry is present there and, since the Chalcolithic, Man has been extracting copper, gold and other materials.
Gradually the landscape changes. You are now driving in the Amsaga region.
In the distance, to the east, the dark barrier of Adrâr begins to emerge. You pass the great alluvial plain of Yagref and the village of Aïn Ahel Taya. The road crosses the first escarpment of Adrâr.

Transfer in 4x4 vehicles to reach the ancient city of Chinguetti (approximately 2 hours drive).
The track to climb onto the plateau (dhar) is currently in good condition, but it can be degraded by rains that occur at the end of summer.
If time permits, visit the old town: library(ies), palm groves and gardens. If not, this visit is postponed to the following morning.

Getting our caravan underway takes some time, as is the case with any large caravan.
Heading south. We are making our way to the small palm grove of Lagueila, nestled between two sand dune ridges of the M'ghalig (large dune massifs).

The itinerary described is given as an indication as it remains dependent on water sources, pastureland, atmospheric conditions or the gardens of settled populations.
The stages are subject to various influencing factors:
The extent of the rainy season having caused flooding, sandstorms or the presence of encampments near which it is impossible to set up camps, etc.

Then, heading due west, we continue our journey through the dunes.
Vegetation specific to the great ergs develops such as Acacia raddiana, Balanites aegyptiaca and Aristida pungens.
We set up camp on one of the powerful sand massifs.

Following in the footsteps of the Ida-ou-ali exodus from Chinguetti, who left to found Tidjikja in the medieval period, the caravan crosses the high dunes of Erg Warane. Wells and pastures allow nomads to traverse these sandy expanses. To the south soon appears the edge of the Kider plateau; we make a slight detour to revisit the rock paintings we discovered on a previous journey; pottery shards and flint artifacts confirm occupation of the site in the Neolithic. We then head towards Amoum well. Spectacular landscapes and bivouacs to the north of the aklé, soft and chaotic dunes, difficult for camels, but very beautiful. The shade of the acacias near the well is welcome.

Heading south, after crossing the aklé, we cross the tumuli zone that overlooks the Amoum well. We then go up the Amoum wadi, towards the sandstone massif of Roueïssat. We make our way between small sandstone castles, remnants of erosion over millions of years. This area, very rarely visited, offered us traces of gazelles on each of our passages. After lunch under a few acacia trees, we find the dunes that gradually invade the Roueissat plateau. We sleep on the plateau with, on the horizon, the Roueïssat erg, a golden river of aligned dunes.

Vegetation gradually disappears as the dunes become denser; we zigzag through, linking the interdune corridors, with the dark and high ridge of the Tanemouj plateau on the horizon.

At the edge of the dunes, a small ridge shelters a salt spring, attracting numerous birds, both resident and migratory, and the tracks of predators. We devote time to observing the life around this surface water point, very rare in the Sahara, since generally water is only accessible with a rope and a waterskin. Having crossed a steep dune corridor, we discover the Echig wadi, and its welcome well. On the way to our picnic at the foot of the Tenemouj plateau, we discover an ancient underground storage depot for goods, primarily salt. Then from the heights of this immense plateau, our march to the bivouac will offer us great moments of emotion above the vast sandy expanses. The plateau is perfectly flat, and the gaze is lost on the horizon, impossible to evaluate in terms of distance. It seems to recede before us, and recourse to the compass is essential. A passage, which we discover at the last moment, allows us to reach the plain; we dominate the landscape far towards the south, and at our feet the wooded valley of Amjenjer conceals somewhere our camels and our bivouac.

After crossing the Amjenjer valley and to reach our picnic on the edge of a lovely pond, we cut across the plateau, occupied by pretty orange-colored barchan dunes (crescent-shaped dunes). By the wadi or the plateau we reach the improbable oasis of Aïn Sefra ("The yellow spring"). A handful of huts seems to have been thrown onto the plateau one windy day, against which they are poorly protected. You only discover the wadi and the cluster of palm trees when you really arrive at the edge of the cliff that overlooks the wadi. We fill our jerry cans and waterskins, while all the children have left school to come and see these funny nomads. We move away from the village to camp behind a line of dunes.

We now head westward and reach the nearly enclosed plain of Aït Maoualine; the pastures are generally quite rich, but reckless deforestation has wreaked havoc. No one will come to monitor this illegal activity so far from road networks. Ribbons of sand descend and climb the foothills that encircle this basin. The most common tree species are Acacias raddiana (Talha), Balanites aegyptiaca (Teichot), Boscia senegalensis (Eizine). Greenery, sand and rock make up a rich and varied landscape.

We wind our way through the maze of more or less sandy wadis in this area of highly fractured plateaus. No straight line is possible. We reach one of the Toudouchine wells, a rallying point for the nomads and semi-nomads of the region. We enter the heart of the territory of the Oulad Sassi; they are part of the Ideichili tribal confederation, which has always enjoyed a certain autonomy with respect to the Hassan tribes and emirate authority. They were a source of almost permanent contestation against various successive powers. French penetration in Mauritanie was destabilized for a time by the death of X. Coppolani (head of the pacification mission in Mauritanie), killed in Tidjikja on May 12, 1905 by an armed band essentially composed of members of the Ideichili tribe. The palm grove of Toudouchine el Kebir welcomes us at lunch time; we will also spend the night there after a well-deserved afternoon of rest.

Always between wadis and plateaus, but in more open landscapes, we enter a beautiful tectonic fault, sheltering trees and water holes of Sbaïa ("lion's water holes"); this name refers to this feline, which could still be encountered in the 1930s-40s of the previous century. Despite regular human occupation, we sometimes observe fauna very representative of Saharan regions. The golden jackal (Canis aureus) is well represented as well as the fennec (Fennecus zerda) and the pale fox (Vulpes rueppelli). A few spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) occasionally take animals (goats or sheep) from herds. The honey badger (Mellivora capensis) and the porcupine (Hystrix cristata) are also present. Among felines, we were able to observe sand cats (Felis margarita) and in autumn 1998, one or more large felines not really identified, circulated throughout the entire Adrâr arc. They could be cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus), or more likely caracals. Their migrations were tracked thanks to the depredations they committed on the herds of donkeys in the camps. It seems they would have tracked the transhumance of the Ideï Boussat nomads from the Hodh towards the north of Mauritanie.

A short stage takes us to the lake (when it has rained) barred by dunes, in the spillway area downstream from Abteïli. Many unexpected birds are then observable (ducks, waders, …). The mauve cliffs stand out singularly against the dense green of date palms. The white sand adds a note of softness to this picture. The Ideichili nomads are in the habit of settling in these areas of the Adrâr at the height of the dry season. With spring approaching, they often resume their migrations towards the southwest, towards the pastures of Bou Nagâ or Timassoumit, to meet the African monsoon. We take our time to reach the bivouac, meeting point with our vehicles, at the foot of beautiful cliffs.

Departure by 4x4 heading north. At midday, we reach wadi El Abiod, a huge rift collecting water from vast plateaus normally rich in pastures. Many small palm groves benefit from abundant and shallow water. We arrive in Atar at the end of the day. The guesthouse with simple and pleasant comfort from our local contact welcomes us for dinner and overnight accommodation.

We are heading west. We leave the last plateaus of the Adrâr to reach the Yagref basin.
The black rock cones, the dune ridges of the Amatlich mark the landscapes of the Amsaga.
Then, the vast plains of the Inchiri take us to the Atlantic coast and the capital of Mauritanie.

Following your flight schedule to France, we will transfer you to the Nouakchott-Oumtounsy International Airport.