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| Nouadhibou | ||
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| Mauritania has no parent region. | ||
| Residents | 118.000 (2013) | |
| height | 0 m | |
no tourist info on Wikidata:  | ||
| location | ||
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Nouadhibou (نواذيبو) is a city on the coast in the north Mauritania close to the limit of the Moroccan managed Western Sahara.
background
Dynamic cards
As Port-Étienne, Nouadhibou was a sleepy town during colonial times. The expansion to the industrial port began in the 1960s, since iron mining in the region Zouérat began and here the ores delivered by rail are shipped. In 2013, Japan paid $ 8.5 million in development aid to rehabilitate the fishing port. The EU has been planning to have the ship cemetery cleaned up since 2014.
The village is only interesting from a tourist point of view as a transit point because it is effectively the border town to the Moroccan administrated Western Sahara acts.
The city is located on the forty kilometer long headland Ras Nouadhibou, which was divided in colonial times to the Atlantic in Spanish (today Moroccan), to the mainland in French (today Mauritania). It ends in the top Cap Blanc, Spanish Cabo Blanco.There is a small colony of the almost extinct here Mediterranean monk seals. The Spanish settlement founded in 1924 1 La Agüera (الڭويرة) on the Atlantic coast was abandoned.
The district is about seven kilometers south of the actual Nouadhibou 2 Cansado, a test-tube town created for the workers of the mining company in the 1960s, another three kilometers further on 1 Port Minéralier for loading the iron ores and the end point of the railway line.
getting there
When driving overland in Mauritania, you will always come back to the police station Fiche asked. This is essentially a written list of personal and passport data on the "where from and where to." These can be written on site, but the police officers are deprived of the opportunity to demand bribes if they are printed on the back of a passport copy corresponding information has already printed on it.
Guerguerat border crossing
The southernmost Moroccan administered place in Western Sahara is 3 Guerguerat (ڭرڭورات مغربية). The border police clearance is usually problem-free for Europeans on this side. The buildings on the Moroccan side were renovated in 2016/7.
There is a piece of mined no man's land between the two countries.
At the Mauritanian border post is after a first passport control the visa available. It is now (2017; € 55) biometric and is usually only issued for a single entry.
Self-drivers need a fee for their car from customs passe avant, then one from the police cachet d'entrée. Insurance must also be taken out in another building. You can change money in the office next door. “Helpers” and “mediators” are intrusive and numerous, but not necessary.
The border is open from 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m., with an extremely long “lunch break” from ± 12.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m.
From Nouadhibou you should sit in a taxi towards the border by 8.00 a.m. at the latest (2017: 3000-5000 OUM to the border). The actual driving time to Dakhla is eight hours, there are also driving opportunities for the entire route (from 12,000 OUM). The taxi rank is near the northern exit of the town not far from Bureau de la Federation of Transport (about 20 ° 57'51.5 "N 17 ° 01'54.8" W; 300 m from the first roundabout seen from the north).
By plane
There are not too many landings. The entry visa can be obtained in an office that can be reached by going right in front of the passport control. With Bintar Canarias one arrives directly after Gran Canaria. Mauritania Airlines has flights to Nouakchott on offer.By train
The iron ore trains, with 150-250 wagons, are primarily used to transport freight. Passengers are more likely to be taken as an afterthought. In the simple variant, you sit (for free) on the dirt in the wagons (absolutely sun, face or face protection). There is, but not always, a wagon with “Class 3 minus” seats (usually at the end of the train). In order to travel here, it is advisable to buy a ticket the day before, just to find out the approximate departure time (usually 3 p.m.). The price for the whole route in 2015 was 3000 old OUM. On almost every train there are flat freight cars on which cars can be transported. The driver sleeps in the car. The route runs through largely unpopulated area. In any case, you should bring enough food and drinking water with you, derailments in the desert are not uncommon.
The route runs parallel to the southern border of the Western Sahara, 460 km to Choûm, a dusty nest whose only reason for existence is mining here. Shortly after that, the route bends sharply north at the corner of the Western Saharan region, to F’dérik (km 629) and Zouérat (km 652), “scheduled” a total of 12-19 hours. The towns mentioned are also supplied with water by train from the coast.
By bus
Out Nouakchott minibuses / taxis (6 men in Mercedes) run in a good six hours (2018: 500 new OUM). People like to leave early in the morning.
Since spring 2018 there have also been buses from Ad-Dakhla south to the Mauritanian border and vice versa.
There are four or five regular bus companies that go to the capital. You come from there and then start the return journey in the afternoon (usually 4-5pm; sometimes also at noon), you then reach Nouakchott 10-11pm. Departure is from the respective offices.
In the street
The directions given under “By bike” along the coastal road through the Western Sahara are also useful for drivers.
Head south to the capital Nouakchott on the tarred N2.
By bicycle
The way from Morocco to St. Louis in the Senegal describes the page Bike tour Western Sahara.
mobility
By foot or taxi.
Tourist Attractions
The numerous traditional, open wooden fishing boats in the area are picturesque 4 Baie de Plaisance (نواذيبو).
activities
Continue driving.
shop
The "old town" Keran has a second hand market. There are three supermarkets Bon Marché and 1 28 November are less than fifty meters apart on the main road. For local products you will be in smaller ones épiceries drive cheaper. There is only one general store in the district of Cansado.
You can buy camel milk from the shepherds at the entrance to the village. There are goats everywhere in the local area.
kitchen
Many restaurants have fresh fish.
nightlife
None. The street lighting is also poor.
It shouldn't come as a surprise that in a place like here, with a lot of through traffic, sexual activity is practiced commercially, which is forbidden in Mauritania. Corresponding establishments are usually in apartments and are called locally bafana bafana.
accommodation
All of the simpler accommodations don't seem very clean.
- Upscale
Cansado
4 Oasian
5 Somarsert Hotel / Apartments
Practical advice
2 Post office (البريد)
trips
literature
- Streiff-Fénart, Jocelyne; Poutignat, Philippe; Nouadhibou «ville de transit»? The report d’une ville à ses étrangers dans le contexte des politiques de contrôle des frontières de l’Europe; Revue Européenne des Migrations Internationales, Vol. 24 (2008), No. 2
