Chinguetti and Eastern Adrar, land of contrasts on camel trekking

Indicative flight proposal: Royale Air Maroc.
We take off in the late afternoon for the Mauritanian capital via Casablanca in Morocco. Once formalities are complete, we welcome you in the hall of the Nouakchott airport terminal.
With a short transfer into town, we reach our hotel in the middle of the night for some well-deserved rest.

After leaving the city and its suburbs, we take the beautiful paved road that heads northeast towards the mining town of Akjoujt.
The Trarza region and the Atlantic coast are now behind us, the vegetation changes and becomes increasingly Saharan.

The vast sandy plains of Inchiri lead us to the somewhat surreal town of Akjoujt. Mining industry is present there and, since the Chalcolithic, Man has been extracting copper, gold and other materials.
Gradually the landscape changes. You are now driving in the Amsaga region.
In the distance, to the east, the dark barrier of the Adrâr begins to emerge. You pass the great alluvial plain of Yagref and the village of Aïn Ahel Taya. The road crosses the first escarpment of the Adrâr.

Transfer in 4x4 vehicles to reach the ancient city of Chinguetti (approximately 2 hours drive).
The track to climb onto the plateau (dhar) is currently in good condition, but it can be degraded by rains that occur at the end of summer.
If we have time, visit the old town: library(ies), palm groves and gardens. If not, this visit is postponed to the next morning.

An early morning awakening allows us to visit this Saharan ksar, the private libraries, the gardens …
We continue our transfer by vehicle in an increasingly sandy environment. The "track" passes north of the dune massifs of Wârane and Afam el Merzrougât.
45 km from Chinguetti, the semi-nomadic camp of El Rhéouiyya welcomes us.

The track passes north of the small Herour massif. Between sand and rocks, we head towards the ksar of Wadâne, the last settlement before the great solitudes of the Mauritanian borderlands.

The camel team awaits us southeast of the city.
All originally from the Wadâne area, the camel drivers generally come from tribes in northeastern Mauritanie: essentially Amgârîj, Kounta or more rarely R'gueïbat.
Very good travel companions for the past several years, they are fast, efficient and discreet.
The camp is established near the camel drivers.
The vehicles return to Atar (180 km to the west) after being unloaded.

After crossing the traditional farming areas where millet, sorghum and sometimes wheat or barley grow, we reach, to the north-east of the zone, the aklé which separates us from the Hôfrat Wadâne. This vast corridor in an arc shape is the southern periphery of the geomorphological complex of Guelb er Rîchât. The remains of the old fort of Agwadir, which some attribute to the Portuguese, are still visible. It would likely be a more recent Moroccan construction dating from the time when the Alaouite sultans had designs on the wealthy caravan city. We establish our camp a few kilometers away, near Hassi Thibâ.

The first dome of the Richat is there. The relative wealth of the forested Hofrat gives way to mineral barrenness. The sands are replaced by black reg dotted by the upright ridges of the different concentric riches.

Heading northeast, we follow the multiple camel tracks that crisscross the massif. Here and there, a few brown tents huddle in the folds of the terrain. A few families raise herds of goats. Currently we happen to see flocks of sheep that can only survive thanks to the beneficial rains of recent years. We approach a succession of well-marked swells from the top of which we have, in clear weather, the best view of the concentric system of Rîchât. Having reached the last rîcha, we have lunch under the meager acacias of Megsem el Hârane. This "gateway" is made up of a ridge line with eroded rocks between which reddish sand comes to mingle. After the meal, we embark on the long crossing of black reg that marks the head of the oueds Akerdil then Tilililt.

The bivouac is set up on the edge of an oued within a most austere environment.

The camel tracks converge towards Kneig Tilililt. The horizon is cut by the steep, brown cliffs of Taguenze. They mark the outer edge of Guelb er Rîchât.
The wide gorge leads us to the Tilililt spring. Day and night, hundreds of mammals and birds gather around the only water point.
Around the site, on the dark sandstone slabs, dozens of rock engravings demonstrate the antiquity and importance of this site. Two unexpectedly engraved elephants can be found there.
Via a steep mule track, we reach the plateau. The guelb remains behind us. Following a northwest hiking route, we reach, after crossing a vast undulating reg expanse, Oued Oua'n Amoûr.
We set up camp on a sandy tongue dotted with Acacia seyal and jujube trees. Some dorcas gazelles live in the area but remain very difficult to observe. Our camels and presence cause them to flee far into these open environments. To the west, the immense rectilinear Azilal plateau is their domain.
In Wadâne, in the past and until the 1975s, certain castes of the Amgârîj tribe were semi-professional hunters of Addax and gazelles just like the N'mâdi in the southeast of Mauritanie. These hunting expeditions have a name: the gueïmarés. The memory of these times remains very vivid …

Upstream from the Enchegdâne wadi, a very significant rock art site can be observed.
Outside the survey areas, these testimonies of the past are known only to a few people. We can observe there, on horizontal slabs of black sandstone, about forty engravings presenting essentially bovids dating, apparently, from around 3000 years ago.
In the downstream part, various representations spread across the cliffs bordering the wadi: ostriches, antelopes, bovids and some significant areas of ancient Berber writing - tifinagh.
We follow the course of the Enchegdâne wadi which quickly descends into deep gorges. Downstream, the wadi widens and joins the El Beyyed cirque. We bivouac near the El Beyyed well.

After crossing the cirque, the caravan heads into the edge of the erg Maghteïr. There, sand regains its dominance and sbot (Aristida pungens) suddenly replaces M'rkba (Panicum turgidum). In certain years, the southern aklé of the erg is generous and every shift in terrain can hide a settlement.
Camel herders often settle in spring in the large dune massifs to benefit from young pastures created by the sands.

We rediscover the serenity of the dunes for our bivouac.

We continue our progression into the erg. The aklé gradually loosens and reveals the great âlab that form the architecture of the Maghteïr. The texture changes, the color evolves too, we transition onto brown-red sands that bear witness to the age of the massif.

The cliff we had left behind is drawing near once again. The cape of Tazazmout emerges from the sandy ridges. The dunes assault the cliff of the Adrâr without ever touching it. In this natural corridor formed between the sand and the rock, the oued El Beyyed flows toward the west. The acacias are magnificent, protected from deforestation by their distance from urban centers. We are on the border of Amgârîj territory. Tomorrow, crossing the cape, we will enter the domain of the Ahel Cheikh Mohamed Fâdel. This sheikh was the custodian of the Tarika Fadeliyya, a branch of a Sunni religious brotherhood of the Quadriyya, very important in eastern Mauritania. This figure was eminently influential from northern Mauritania to southern Morocco. In allegiance to this man, the tribes of the Adrâr mark the necks of their camels with the symbol "T", except for the R'gueïbat faction which bears as its distinctive sign the famous and formidable Arabic letter "qaf". We are camping near the well of Touizizmint.

We skirt around the tarf Tazazmout. Countless Neolithic and contemporary funeral sites spread across the banks of the wadi. The large wells of Tazazmout were no longer maintained during our last passage in April 99. Now, the cliff moves away again, the aklé becomes denser and the pure lines of the dunes guide us. To the south, parallel to our walking route, an interdune furrow is scattered with magnificent Acacia radiana. We bivouac, immersed in the sands.

In the distance, the Aderg massif rises like the bow of a ship. As you approach the relief, the dunes become difficult for the caravan. The camel guide, far ahead, traces the path through this inextricable maze.
The Aderg inselberg reaches 650 m. and dominates the erg. Mauritanian nomads know this place well, where on the summit platform grows a plant rich in mineral salts, Askâf (Nucularia perrini), which animals and men alike need to survive.
In clear weather, from the summit of Aderg, the panorama is magnificent. From southwest to southeast stretch the great sebkha of Chemcham then the high cliffs of theAdrâr, with to the south, the wide fault of Akhmakou. Then, across the rest of the panorama, the waves of the erg Maghteïr undulate as far as the eye can see. Downwind, a vast dune-free zone is cleared, outlined with small ribbons of trees where passing nomads nestle. A few wells are found to be slightly brackish. At the foot of the inselberg, the clear sand ofOum el Beidh (280 m.) welcomes us for the night.

After crossing the small aklé of Oum el Beïdh, we now travel on a slight reg towards the alluvial basin of Naïtiri. We reach the well of Naïtiri,
The area is very wooded, with sometimes dense vegetation developing there. A few greïr are cultivated by sedentary people living in a few tents visible here and there, and very often, many herds roam the region. The camel drivers take advantage of stopping at the Naïtiri wells to water their animals.

We reach the Naïtiri well, the 4x4 vehicles are waiting for us to resume the track heading towards Atar. After crossing the great Chemcham sebkha, inhabited areas become increasingly numerous. We settle into the guesthouse in Atar to have a meal and spend our last night.

We head westwards. We leave the last plateaus of the Adrâr to reach the Yagref basin.
The cones of black rocks, the cordons of dunes of the Amatlich mark the landscapes of the Amsaga.
Then, the vast plains of the Inchiri take us to the Atlantic coast and the capital of Mauritanie.

Following your flight schedule to France, we transfer you to the Nouakchott-Oumtounsy International Airport.