Travel Guide Erg Maghteïr

The erg Maghteïr is part of these powerful dune massifs running from the Algerian west to the west of Saoura to the shores of the Atlantic. Born under the general name of Erg Chech, it ends its course in the ocean under the name of Azefal. A cape of the Adrar plateau stands like a ship's prow, the tarf Tazazmout. It marks the entrance to the corridor leading to a high place of the Mauritanian Sahara, El Beyyed.El Beyyed, witness of the Paleolithic. El Beyyed is located at the foot of the great dhar of Adrâr and, in the north, develops an immense and powerful erg: the Maghteïr. The corridor of El Beyyed presents, on nearly 20 km in the direction of El Ghallaouiyya, a considerable quantity of material resulting from the Palaeolithic: blades, splinters, points, bifaces. The many rock art sites here represent samples of so-called "Ethiopian" fauna: giraffes, elephants, rhinoceroses... It is fascinating to think that such a population occupied Mauritania at that time, which is now so desert-like! This fauna would have disappeared from the area about 10 000 to 12 000 years ago. The engraving sites of El Beyyed have been known since 1932 (discovery by Lieutenant Girard). The four stations (at least) of the sector seem to show an important human presence in the past, what corroborates the various still existing water points, and especially the important lithic industry.The country is not empty! All along your route, especially if the pasture is good, you can see nomad tents, brown (made of wool and hair) or white (made of canvas), whose edges are raised as soon as it is hot or when there is no wind. You may even have the opportunity to enter one of these tents to drink tea (three glasses!) and zrig, fresh or curdled camel milk, cut with sweetened water... The only condition is that you have been invited, or if the nomads you meet are part of the family of the guide and the camel drivers who accompany you. If this is not the case, do not insist. Herds of camels, camels and camels are everywhere in the erg Maghteïr, as well as goats, sheep, cattle, donkeys. In the hot season, even if the pasture is quite green, it is a captivating spectacle to see the watering of all these animals, which patiently wait their turn at the wells or oglats (set of wells).