Pilgrimage Through a Plural Mauritania

The Amatlich Dune Massif
Theerg Amatlich is a small-scale dune massif (130 km x 5 to 8 km) that stretches from NW to SE, from the palm grove of El Gleitat to the overflow zone of Damane where it takes the name Dkhaïna.
Despite its fairly reduced surface area (when one thinks of Akchar, Makhteir or Warane, for example), its variety is great with regard to the vast interdunes and rocky zones that surround it.
This erg, moreover, was "sculpted" by water 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 Ifizouitne and Amlil Bou kerch, the vast overflow zones and wadis are numerous.
Should a "good" rain occur and the ancient 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 basin of the mare - which testifies to the past presence of horses -) are among others (of lesser importance) regular places of subsistence farming.
In a distant past, Neolithic Man settled all along the Amatlich, his presence was widespread. Neolithic sites are very numerous, some have been well studied such as Khatt Lemaiteg (Vernet, 1985) in the vicinity of Damane and Medinet Cbat (Nicole Lambert, 1970). near the well of El Guechriyé. 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 of the erg's border are very varied.

We will meet the women of Azoueïga. Grouped together in a cooperative, they perpetuate basketry and mat weaving techniques using plant fibers.

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

The ancient city of Chinguetti
Chinguetti was founded by the Ida Ouali around 1525, upstream from Abweyr, which no longer exists today, 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 centre 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 apart of the group, whose survivors founded another ksar in the Tagant, Tidjikja.
Today only a single mosque and the memory of prosperous periods remain…
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 near-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 fixed there during major droughts. The camp has been organizing itself over the past few years: development of goat and camelid herding (from 2 camels in 1993, now a herd of over 70 animals), creation of a school in 1994, birth of a small palm grove associated with gardens in 1999 and, now, some permanent structures.
"But we, we stay under the tent" assures us Atfeil, the camp chief...
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, in the same year as Tichîtt (1141), would derive its name from the Arabic word meaning "two river beds" (wadân). The details according to which these two wadis would be the wadi of dates and the wadi of sciences are greatly 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 traffic.
Wadâne is a dense urban center, of 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 edge of the black mountains of the Mauritanian Adrâr, to the west, and the vast expanses of rocks, rocky slabs and dunes of the Taoudenni basin, to the east.
The strange system of concentric ridges of the Richât is so imposing that it appears today on all maps, even at small scale.
Richât is the plural of richa (feather), a term that well describes the appearance of its ridges whose wind-facing slopes are streaked with tongues of sand and which dominate the deep plains where goats and camels graze… when, by chance, it has rained.
Because of its very size, it was only revealed quite late, by professor Théodore Monod in 1934.
Indeed, no one, whether coming from the harsh plateaus of the north or from the dunes of Majabat Al Koubra (Monod, 1958), to the south and southeast, could have imagined that these low ridges were organized in such a perfect concentric system, vaguely elliptical with diameters of 22 km and 25 km, emerging from a window 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 by the important lithic industry of the El Beyyed cirque.
The Tarf Agher is the southern extremity of the Itletefatène plateau. Finger-shaped, it forms a sort of cape allowing access to the two recesses 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 collapsed blocks, essentially at the foot of the cape, others on blocks still at the summit, or on partially tilted sandstone summit tables.
Let us note the presence of tumuli on either side of the point.

On foot, we set out to explore this iconic Sahara site. To the north, the great dunes of the erg Maghteir unfold while the amphitheater 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 the mines of 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 the export of iron ore to the port of Nouadhibou, then by boat to importing countries.

Early in the day, we head towards one of the world's largest iron mines. It's 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 tonnes, 100 tonnes 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 for several years now, it is an Australian train that has become the longest and heaviest in the world.

The Ben Amira monolith is one of the most stunning places in Mauritania. The enormous mass of granite rock rises over 600m high.
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 boats used by the Imragens fishermen to move silently through the channels between the islands.
The exceptional richness of the Banc d'Arguin consists of its very important bird fauna. Myriad 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 the Imragen fishermen navigating the channels of the Banc d'Arguin. The mudflats, the myriad of birds, the marine mammals are their daily life.