Mauritania

Overview

The visitor to Mauritania will almost certainly have to have an adventurous side. Although there are problems between ethnic and caste groups these are not so likely to impinge on the visitor as they might in nearby nations. The difficulty here is rather that there is an awful lot of sand and rock, barely any permanent vegetation and what is probably best described as a bare boned travel infrastructure. Regardless, there is wildlife in the Banc d'Arguin National Park to see and the desert train where the visitor rides with iron ore at Zouerate, which will be an experience unlikely to be found elsewhere. Chinguetti, Ouadaneare, Tichitt and Oualata are all old caravan cities worth seeing. Caution should be taken at the border with Morocco for land mines. Mauritania is about desert and ocean, and sometimes both at the same time. Although twice the size of France, it has only 3 millions inhabitants. You can imagine how remote some places can be. Mauritania is an Islamic Republic. Don't be afraid of this political status; Mauritanians are not extremists and are, as most desert people, incredibly friendly. The poorest nomad family will always welcome you as a friend with some tea and biscuits. The main attractions are the desert in Adrar and Tagant areas (around Atar), and the ocean in Banc d'Arguin (a natural reserve with dunes ending in the sea, full of millions of birds...more

History

Independent from France in 1960, Mauritania annexed the southern third of the former Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara) in 1976, but relinquished it after three years of raids by the Polisario guerrilla front seeking independence for the territory. Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed TAYA siezed power in a coup in 1984. Opposition parties were legalized and a new constitution approved in 1991. Two multiparty presidential elections since then were widely seen as flawed, but October 2001 legislative and municipal elections were generally free and open. A bloodless coup in August 2005 deposed President TAYA and ushered in a military council headed by Col. Ely Ould Mohamed VALL, which declared it would remain in power for up to two years while it created conditions for genuine democratic institutions. For now, however, Mauritania remains, a one-party state. The country continues to experience ethnic tensions between its black population and the Maur (Arab-Berber) populace.