Things to see and do Oualata

Created in 1996, they produced their first harvest in 1999. Their goal is to diversify the food supply of the inhabitants of Oualata, to provide a complementary source of income to the 60 families who operate them and to fix the population in the region thanks to 2 reservoirs which, in the hot season, work with solar panels. If you have the chance to meet one of the 2 engineers who work there, visit them with him, you will be amazed. The water is first pumped from a non-permanent water table, raised and then stored in a reservoir, the pressure exerted making it naturally flow back down to the gardens.

Then, the irrigation system set up allows to save water by allocating to each plant the flow that is necessary for it. This technique has made it possible to introduce species that would have been incompatible with the climate of the region. We discover date palms, jujube trees, baobabs, lemon trees, mandarin trees, mango trees and even vines! Vegetables are not forgotten with tomatoes, beans and onions consumed fresh on the spot or dried. So much so that the market garden production is today superior to the consumption of the inhabitants! Fruits and vegetables are exported to Néma. The gardens also produce compost from camel dung, medicinal plants and natural insecticides. This vegetation attracts a lot of game, including a few hares, which are an important food supplement for those who trap them.

Like the three other ancient cities of Mauritania, Ouadane, Chinguetti and Tichitt, Oualata is home to treasures in its library, preserved by chance and with care by the inhabitants through time, sometimes with the means at hand! In the room to the right are old manuscripts belonging to the four families of Oualata. Opposite is the library of Taleb Boubekar, traditional chief of the city, who died around 1915. This library is full of centuries old writings, vestiges of another time.

In the old city, you must visit the small store that Meîja has installed. She explains how the women of Oualata reproduce the houses and the decorations specific to this city, down to the smallest details. Indeed, it is the women who take care of the superb wall decoration of the houses of Oualata, the red capital of the Mauritanian desert. Geometric shapes drawn with clay, whose miniature reproductions are known throughout the country, and can serve as beautiful souvenirs.

There is no need to show you the way to get there: perched on a promontory, you can see it clearly while you are still 30 minutes from Oualata. Built in 1912, it successively housed the French army during the pacification of the region, then political prisoners from the independence of Mauritania. Since 1990, the authorities have closed this prison. The triangular building is impressive and appears to be in a perfect state of preservation, seen from the outside. Inside, around the courtyard, the prisoners' cells are scattered. It is hard to imagine what the conditions of the men incarcerated here were like not so long ago. A small opening allowing a little light to pass through, a living space reduced to a minimum, because the cells were crowded, the diseases, the heat and the mistreatment must have made the life expectancy very limited. One comes out of this fort with shivers down one's spine.

It is possible to admire Oualata by taking the stairs on the left, just after the entrance of the fort. You are then on the roof of the cells! Going back down from the fort towards Oualata, on the right, the French cemetery shelters a dozen graves, among which the one of Bonnel de Mézières who administered the region at the beginning of the ^XXth century. Passionate about archaeology, he contributed greatly to the excavations carried out at Aoudaghost and Koumbi Saleh.

Warning: Before considering a visit, inquire about the feasibility of the site with local tourism professionals.

The museum, adjacent to the city's library, is a motley collection of very interesting objects, but it needs some tidying up and cleaning! It will be easier to enjoy the visit of this site if you are accompanied by a serious and well-known guide, for a small fee of about 1,000 MRU. Otherwise, you may miss the local traditions and nomadic customs represented by many household utensils and objects. Nice view from the terrace of this traditional house.