HOLIDAY IN MAURITANIA   >   AFRICA   


Mauritania isn't known as a tourist destination being poor and mostly desert. It is a harsh environment of shifting sand, dunes and rocky plateaux. The climate is dry all year round; rainfall is infrequent and sparse.
Although it is this very desolation that keeps mainstream tourism away, travellers learn to love Mauritania for the way it somehow fulfils romantic images of desert spaces - towns half blanketed in sand, nomads in colourful tents, lunar-like landscapes.

Regions in Mauritania : Adrar, Assaba, Brakna, Dakhlet Nouadhibou, Gorgol, Guidimaka, Hodh ech Chargui, Hodh el Gharbi, Inchiri, Tagant, Tiris Zemmour and Trarza.

Cities in Mauritania : Nouadihbou, Nouakchott, Boutilimit, Aleg, Sangraffa, Kiffa, Kouroudjel, Kankossa

Capital City Mauritania : Nouakchott.


hotels, national parks mauritania, tour operators, travel guides, travel to mauritania
 
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Hotels in Mauritania
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  -   Hotels in Nouakchott

 
Centrally located hotels ranging from small family run budget accommodation to world-class five star hotels.

 

National Parks Mauritania

  National Park Banc d'Arguin
The Banc d'Arguin, the northern coast of Mauretania, is the most important spawning ground of essential coastal fish species and one of the most valuable habitats worldwide for marine mammals and water fowl

Travel Agents / Tour Operators

    
Holidays from dozens of leading specialist tour companies and accommodations who are passionate about conserving Africa's wildlife and benefiting its people.

 
Create your perfect trip to Mauritania   -   Flight, Hotel and Car



Travel Guides Mauritania / Related Books

  Lonely Planet  -  Mauritania

Mauretania
Map: 1 pages; Publisher: ITMB Publishing; 2Rev Ed edition (30 May 2007); ISBN-10: 1553413229; ISBN-13: 978-1553413226.

How do I travel to Mauritania

  Nouakchott Airport

 
Book cheap flights to Mauritania at ebookers and benefit from discounted airfares. View their latest offers and book your flights, accommodation, car hire and insurance online

  Airline Tickets /  Bargain Flights   -   price comparison possible

  Maps International   -    
Mapsinternational.co.uk is one of the largest map shops online.
  Map Mauretania [ Uni Texas   -   Perry-Castañeda Library   -   Map Collection ]


Links 

  Tourist Office of Mauritania   -   Mauritanian Embassy in London

Mauritania invites you to discover :

*  Golden sand as far as the eye can see;
*  A vast desert dotted with green and shady oasis;
*  Pastures where it rains, cattle in large numbers;
*  Above all a nomadic life of an amazing simplicity.

But also: hundreds of cities: Chinguetti, Wadan, Tichit, Oualata, Rachid, and agriculture, both ancient and modern.
Mauritania, in peace and stability, offers to all those willing to travel a variety of tours in a natural state, protected from any pollution.

  Government Mauritania
Portal with all information concerning the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.

  Nouakchott
When Nouakchott was created in 1960, the site was many days walk from the desert, but is now entirely surrounded by the Sahara, with sand piling up against walls and fences like snow drifts.

  Adrar   -   Capital city is Atar. 
  Assaba   -   Capital city is Kiffa. 
  Brakna   -   Capital city is Aleg. 
  Dakhlet Nouadhibou   -   Capital city is Nouadhibou.
  Gorgol   -   Capital city is Kaédi. 
  Guidimaka   -   Capital city is Sélibaby.
  Hodh Ech Chargui   -   Capital city is Néma.
  Hodh El Gharbi   -   Capital city is Aioun el Atrouss.
  Inchiri   -   Capital city is Akjoujt.
  Tagant   -   Capital city is Tidjikdja.
  Tiris Zemmour   -   Capital city is Zouérate.
  Trarza   -   Capital city is Rosso.

  Atar   -   Capital city of district Adrar. 
  Kiffa   -   Capital city of district Assaba. 
  Aleg   -   Capital city of district Brakna. 
  Nouadhibou   -   Capital city of district Dakhlet Nouadhibou.
  Kaédi   -   Capital city of district Gorgol. 
  Sélibaby   -   Capital city of district Guidimaka.
  Néma   -   Capital city of district Hodh Ech Chargui.
  Aioun el Atrouss   -   Capital city of district Hodh El Gharbi.
  Akjoujt   -   Capital city of district Inchiri.
  Tidjikdja   -   Capital city of district Tagant.
  Zouérate   -   Capital city of district Tiris Zemmour.
  Rosso   -   Capital city of district Trarza.

  Boutilimit   -  
Important center of religious scholarship and training since its founding by an Islamic mystic and scholar in the 19th Century.
  Chinguetti    -   Medieval trading centre in northern Mauritania, lying on the Adrar Plateau east of Atar.
  Kobenni  -  border ??
  Kouroudjel
  Kankossa
Near the border of Mali

Conflict

Underlying ethnic conflict between 'white' and 'black' moors and black Africans [ the latter often descended from haratin - freed slaves ]. Slavery was officially banned [ 20 years ago ], but suspected to persists to this day.

Cuisine  -  Mauritanian Foods / Recipes

Many of Mauretanian dishes have a strong North African flavour. But the French influence on the cuisine is notable.

  Kitchen Mauretanian   -   Cuisine mauritanienne

  Flavors of Mauritania

History of Mauritania

The French occupied the country in 1860 in close cooperation with Moorish religious leaders.

Independence: 28 November 1960 (from France)

From the 3rd to 7th century, the migration of Berber tribes from North Africa displaced the Bafours, the original inhabitants of present-day Mauritania and the ancestors of the Soninke. Continued Arab-Berber migration drove indigenous black Africans south to the Senegal River or enslaved them. By 1076, Islamic warrior monks (Almoravid or Al Murabitun) completed the conquest of southern Mauritania, defeating the ancient Ghana Empire. Over the next 500 years, Arabs overcame fierce Berber resistance to dominate Mauritania.   See for more Mauritania's History at Wikipedia ( Pre-colonization;  French colonization and post -colonial history;  Recent political coups [ June 2003 Coup, August 2005 coup ] )

  Ancient Mauritania   -   Accounts of Ancient Mauretania, c. 430 BCE- 550 CE

Music, Art & Culture

  Music of Mauritania [ Wikipedia ]
Mauritania's largest ethnic group is the Moors. In Moorish society, musicians occupy the lowest caste, iggawin, who used song to praise successful warriors as well as their patrons...

  Culture of Mauretania

  Culture de Mauritanie [ French language ]
Religions in Mauretania, Language, Media, Mode, Arts, Traditions, Gastronomy, Games and Sports

  Qur'anic school   -   known for its library of manuscripts
the manuscripts are second only to the collection found in the ancient Mauritanian city of Chinguetti.


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