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Nouadhibou/Nouakchott, left Moroccan Sahara

Flag Mauritania

Sunday, September 18 2005

1 year, 1 month, 27 days

Nouakchott, Mauritania

About Travel Photography,
Colors of the World.

Manfred is creator of ThisFabTrek.com, travel photography, a travel blog and a photography blog (a journey from 2004 to 2013). 'I set out to see the colors of the world, always I try to capture the colors'.

Seeing, is understanding, so I report and photograph, but formost enjoy and live those different conceptions of life (all that TV [and the web] cannot give). I reject jealousy, animosity, bigotry. Be free!

Manfred in the desert of the Western Sahara

The mind, when pondering at night and always asked those questions. What am I doing in corporate wonderland of bank, university, office or church? Who is the other animal asleep deep inside, the thinker, punk, creative, or Indian, vagabond and healer, maybe artist, writer, photographer, traveler, globetrotter? Oh God, dare you to think. When I saw the lies, gambles and manipulations I follow the old dream and set out for the journey of life lived, the journey to see the colors of the world.

During years on the road I have taken the turns as they came along, and realized one thing: Only such a small part of the planet can be explored and such a vast land and sea mass will always remain unknown, to me; many swamps, jungles, deserts and oceans will never be traveled. But then I am father of twin boys, Daniel and David, my most important, and I show them some of the wonders and colors out there.

ThisFabTrek, Photography and Journey, the Stories from the Road and Life around the World, stopped in August 2013 after more than 9 years, Love and Peace.

Last vehicle.

G20, Chevy Gladiator.

Chevrolet Gladiator G20, The boys in Cordillera Blanca, Peru.
The boys and Chevy van, Peru.

The G20, the vehicle that came to me for the Americas adventures.

6 wheeled Land Rover.

Land Rover Defender 6x6
Link to Foley

The vehicle of the Africa adventures, a Foley 6-Wheeled Land Rover Defender.

Before, the MB307.

Manfred and MB307
Journey, Middle East.

The vehicle of the Middle-East and North-Cape Journeys. See all vehicles.

Daniel and David with nanny Aisha, the best we ever had, black African Woman carrying white twin babies, in Bamako, Mali.

Land Rover 36,706km

Trekking 305km

Ferry 683km

Train 150km

Other cars 4.633km

Travel Blog

contains Festival/Fiesta/Art photography.

"There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come." - Victor Hugo.

"What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it, to tell the tale." Living to Tell the Tale - Gabriel García Márquez.

"They never taught wandering in any school I attended. ... they never taught the art of writing a book, either. It's all so mysterious."
"Wandering is an art in itself. Wandering and writing don't mix"
"Writing demands commitment and if one thing your wanderer is allergic to is that very quality of commitment, for once one is committed he runs that very risk of failure ..." Wanderer - Sterling Hayden.

"Photography enables you to grasp a place first time round. ... Photography is a means of exploration, it's a vital part of travel, almost as essential as a car or a plane. " - Wim Wenders.

"The worst prejudice we acquire during our youth is the idea that life is serious. Children have the right instincts: they know that life is not serious, and treat it as a game..." , Egon Friedell.

"How far you gonna go. Before you lose your way back home" - Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World, Achtung Baby, U2.

"If you want to be a hero well just follow me." - Working Class Hero, John Lennon.

"When I think of all the things I have done, I know that it's only just begun." - I love you, Lou Reed.

"One does not escape the Sahara - the Sahara let's you go or not" - Touareg.

"Planet earth is blue and there`s nothing I can do" - This is Ground Control to Major Tom, David Bowie.

"Glory for the crazy people/in this stupid world" - Ahmed Fouad Negm.

www.thisfabtrek.com > journey > africa > mauritania > 20050918-nouakchott

Sahara crossing

Map: Agadir, Laayoune, Nouadhibou, Nouakchott.

Download GPS (KML) track/waypoints.

We leave Agadir and my parents 4th of September. The family gathering has been successful and - peaceful. We have come to agree to repeat this once every year in a different part of the world.

We also leave behind in Taghazout which is a bit north from Agadir, Hamza and Virginie, Hamidou and Orane, friends, Moroccan boys and their European girls.

When in Agadir, I have got used to spending my evenings in Taghazout, at the beach where Hamidou's caravan has found a final destiny. A great many binges we have had here, near the sea that in winter belongs to the surfing community.

But at night it is quiet with just the sound from the waves and it usually has less flies then Agadir.

Not so this time as a lot of rubbish had been accumulated over the summer month, a feast for the flies.

Beginning of September, the holiday (silly) season has drawn to a close, the crowd looking for la fète, is much smaller. Just the 4 friends left, - they may hang out until the surfing season starts.

And, - Moroccans, to a great extent have started to observe the alcohol free time which starts 40 or 30 days before the beginning of Ramadan, depending on how serious you take it. Islamic teachings since Mohamed have stated that alcohol stays up to 40 days in the body.

So we leave Agadir, Hasna and I, the city where I have spent so much time. Been here with Michael (18Mar), past Tifnit (04Apr-28Apr), for the Timitar Festival with Hasna (30Jun to 16Jul) and again after my Moroccan Sahara Trip (30Jul to 01Aug).

And Agadir had never been that hot. 48°C, the temperature inside the car, while driving, all windows down.

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Moroccan Sahara.

4th of September down, via Tiznit and Mirleft to Sidi Ifni. Next Day the piste to Plage Blanche, the road to Goulmine and Tan-Tan. A first night in the desert. 6th we take the goudron to M'Sied and 7 hours of bad piste to the road leading to Smara.

Somewhere on that road we take the piste to the right, direction El Hagunia. We camp 20km before El Hagunia. Laayoune the next day. Been here, liked it.

Hasna decending from a ship wreck on the Dakhla peninsual
Hasna descending ship wreck.
Hasna and ship wreck, coast of Dkhla peninsula
Dakhla coast.

Dahkla 9/9, humid after rain: A neat looking little town, we arrive just before the Friday prayer starts. Half the men rush to the mosque, the other half stays (easy) in the cafés. Or enjoy their obligatory Friday cous-cous without a prayer.

So do we, the best cous-cous since arriving in Morocco followed by two grilled fish and fries. Yes we can eat a lot when we're hungry. We drive off for a round trip when the main mosque empties itself. People wearing their best white jellabas or darahs, most wear white, leave in groups. Some crowed gathers in one spot, a old rusty mercedes is being sold.

The whole town is surrounded by a rubbish bin. We drive the coastal pistes of the Dakhla peninsula in search for the Atlantic. Some good sceneries we get to see but the offensive smell on the car from the rubbish will not go away till cleaning in Nouakchott.

But Dakhla has jobs. Sardines is one big business. While visiting one of the many sardines sorting and packing facilities someone tries to steal my GPS from the car, amongst other items. I have got used to leaving the car unlocked, windows down. Morocco seemed such a safe place, with usually a great many decent people around that would guard the vehicle as if it was their own.

I have been right about this last point. The thieve does not get farther then 25 meters. Workers and a director from the sardines factory have been quick to react and catch the poor chap and hold him until police arrives. He had been arrested before, his glue sniffing habit has made him dispassionate about life.

A bit disturbing the whole incident. On the one side these happy, smiling people, proud of their jobs, on the other side ....

Road Moroccan Sahara
Road Moroccan Sahara
Road Moroccan Sahara
Cold days

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We enter Mauritania/This is Africa!

Cap blanche, Nouadhibou
Stranded ship, Cap Blanche, Nouadhibou. The captain was Moroccan.
Cap Blanch near Nouadhibou, beach, stranded ship
Stranded Ship
Cap blanche, Nouadhibou
2015: It is still there.

Finally in Africa, Morocco is trying hard to be(come) European, Mediterranean, Spanish. Mauritania is Africa, wants to be African.

Mauritania is a country on the crossroads between black Senegalese/Malian and white Arab/Saharan traditions.

We enter at Nouadhibou and shrug off a little shock, you think it is racist/fascist. The white against the black.

Mauritania had only abandoned slavery officially in the 1980s. Some say it still exists.

I am disgusted while I watch the owner of our Camping treat his Malian immigrant employees.

Only after a week and coming down to Nouakchott we begin to understand better the special melange that not just coexist in Mauritania.

Nouakchott, admitted, is more of a melting pot too. African colours, musique and dishes blend with the Moorish, desert, aristocratic bedouin-tent atmosphere.

But maybe in Nouakchott, we are just residing in the right place, the very hospitable Auberge de Sahara, of Mauritanian Sidi Mohamed and his French wife Kania (of Algerian origin).

Nouakchott is very hot. Really hot, even the locals concede.

When driving down from Nouadhibou we have taken the old piste that crosses the National Parc of the Banc d'Aguine. An easy drive, not too hot, we have had rain in the desert carpeting the sandy plains and dunes with a lush green transparent veil.

But the rain has made traversing some beach partitions impossible.

Desert and rain
Desert and rain between Nouadhibou and Nouakchott.
Banc d'Arguine, desert and rain
Hot colours, difficult light conditions. Got to get into White Balance.

So we have been forced to take the road for some 70km. And there it is the desert and its strong sandy winds blowing hot air from the Sahara.

Back on the beach - the windy, sandy, hot conditions have not changed, but at least there's enough water to cool down.

And an early camp, right next to the sea, allows us to test our new fishing gear. The fish we put on the two hooks, has stranded. The water has been too hot for a while, fish is struggling under these conditions.

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Atlantic coast, camp
100km north of Nouakchott, the Atlantic coast. camp
Hasna, fishing
Catch your dinner
fishing equipment
Our fishing equipment, bought in Nouadhibou, works.
Hasna, and catch
Catch of the day, a cat-fish

We arrive in Nouakchott 17th of Sep: Rain reaches Nouakchott regularly at this time of the year. After rain the whole city is wrapped in a special odour. The city is built on rubbish, as it grows the rubbish is flattened and used for new construction, new rubbish is dumped further out and flattened down once the next phase of development is reached.

No more rain once we have got here. But, the lakes of muddy water from the rain remain for many days as the rubbish does not allow for drainage.

The Auberge Sahara, a popular place for over landers, a centre for gathering information.

But we stay all day in a don't-move position just to keep the impact of flies and sweattening to a minimum. You don't want to read or work the computer nor visit the cities' many markets. All this has to wait for later.

There is no much beer in Nouakchott either, and the one you find is VERY expensive. So nothing to cool your senses.

But a great many nice people we meet and they give us new inspirations.

After 5 days, on 22nd of September, we decide to head for the green, more windy Senegalese coast, more exactly the nice beaches of St. Louis and its area.

Maybe it has been back in Nouakchott where I have caught the Malaria, maybe.

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