The great tour of the South

On this route, you will take the Road of Hope to Nema, on the border with Mali. Of course, the 1,100 km of this journey are a source of additional fatigue, but it would be a shame not to make this journey at least once, either on the way out or on the way back. Count on 2 or 3 days of travel.

Oualata, a desert town listed as a World Heritage Site, has a motto: Ecology and autonomy. A social project is trying to give the town back its autonomy, while preserving its rich past, and Oualata will amaze you with its cleanliness. Arriving in the city, with its fascinating, almost timeless beauty, will make you forget the fatigue caused by the three or four hours spent on the difficult, if not very difficult, track from Néma.

Please note that a guide is required on this route. If you enjoy solitude and adventure, you should take all the usual precautions on this route, especially with regard to water and fuel supplies. For around 600 km, you'll follow the cliffs between Oualata and Tidjikja.

Next stop: Tichit, then . Along the way, take in the splendid rock engravings, the remains of some 400 villages that were inhabited before the Sahara's increasing aridity drove its inhabitants to more hospitable lands.

Your road continues, with always Tidjikja in line of sight: you finally reach it, this beautiful palm grove! Open your eyes: the landscapes are constantly renewed and are all more beautiful than the others, from the oasis buried in the middle of the sands to the cliffs protecting deep canyons.

Today, you leave one of the most beautiful palm groves of Mauritania and cross, in the direction of the descent, the splendid pass of Moudjéria. So few tourists venture into this region that you take advantage of it for them. Itinerary entirely tarred between Tidjikja and the road of Hope.

Correct tar that plunges you into another environment and offers you a total change of scenery. After the aridity of the Sahara, here is the fertility, you enter the granary of Mauritania: vegetable gardens, fruit trees and cereal fields bloom, watered by rain and water from the Senegal River.

From Bogué, you have two possibilities.

Either you choose to continue to follow the Senegal River by going upstream, in which case you will travel through the regions of Gorgol and Guidimaka, asphalt from Bogué to Kaédi, then a track to Sélibabi. These regions are the most populated in Mauritania, their inhabitants, breeders and farmers, make the best use of the rains to produce most of the country's cereal resources.

You can either follow the river westwards towards Rosso. In the dry season, there is no risk of getting lost, you follow the Senegal River. On the other hand, during the rainy season, from July to October, it is necessary to make a small detour via Rkîz. This route allows you to discover the ingenuity of Mauritanians who have developed irrigated areas. Dikes and canals allow the cultivation of all kinds of cereals. This ambient humidity attracts not only mosquitoes, vectors of malaria, unknown in the North, but also many birds. Rosso is the crossing point to Senegal. Important commercial center, the traffic is incessant on the Senegal River, lung of the city.