Atar, the city of Sahara in the center of the country heading Chinguetti

Adrar Region. For me one of the most beautiful regions in whole Mauritania. Atar is a big city, Mauritanian standards of course, which consists on a very imporatant point in the commerce of the region. Atar serves the city of Chinguetti which lies 80km away inside the desert.

market in atar mauritania sahara desert shopping arab market souk souq photo

I made Atar 3 times already. Once coming from NKT for my first time where I had to leave some baggage at a friends house to make possible to go with my car to Chinguetti (after all i didn’t have to cos the road now is pretty good), another one on my way from Chinguetti and another time almost 2 weeks after coming again from NKT going North to the Moroccan border after Bir Moghrein 900km distance.

The Town
well, the town is like a ghost town but with people. can you imagine that? Adrar region is a very hot area so the sun is always present. As every single town in Mauritania, the streets are full of sand. Mauritania is the country of sand, once called by french “Le Gran Vide” the big void. On the picture you have the city centre. This is the main crossroad. From here either you can go to Chinguetti going right, going right to the Hotel Bab Sahara and forward to NKT.
adrar region mauritania road to chinguetti north africa sahara desert west africa center country photo
People
People are for me, one of the nicest things to explore in other countries.
Kids in Mauritania always try to get something out of you. They can actually turn violente if you dont give somehing. Try to interact with locals and drink Mauritanian tea which is served 3 times. They make this special tea with foam on top, almost like a cappucino with green tea.

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