Al-Qaeda endangers Mauritania tourism (Magharebia.com)

With Maurice Freund and others in Mauritania from french TV5
Des Français Immigrés Au Sahel Évoquent La Nébuleuse Aqmi
visiting Sylvie in Chinguetti and Jacques Bonnet the desert dweller.
it's on youtube but I never could make a youtube embed work here....
YouTube - Des Français immigrés au Sahel évoquent la nébuleuse AQMI

Talking of tourism numbers, in Alg we were told no less than 35,000 tourists visited Tam (just Tam wilaya, not Alg) of which 6000 went up to Assekrem - these were official figures handed out by ONAT in Tam.

That's 16 a day at Assekrem, year round average. Well there were indeed that many up there counting us 10 a couple of weeks back, but it's hard not to think an extra 0 has been added on the end of the stats, the way they do when giving a figure in dinars.

We saw the six French fly-ins on the Pass and a Swiss couple in the camping. About the only reason that tally might improve this year is that people will be put off Libya if it stays bad there.

Ch

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

LOL
Perhaps they are also counting domestic tourists.

That's what I said but he insisted it was overseas visitors only. North Algerians certainly do go to Assekrem as some may know.

It could be that someone from outside the wilaya of Tam is a 'foreigner' but even then, 16/day at Assekrem is a push.

The guy did tell me that there are a lot of new countries coming to Algeria (fly-ins or self drive, dont know) and the future is less bleak than we might imagine. Eastern Europeans as we know from here, but also Russians and Turks and maybe soon Indians and Chinese. There is only one 'Sahara' after all.
Some of these nationals might be less concerned with fears of AQIM the way we are (or European travel agencies have to be, for insurance purposes).

Ch

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Wow, now I can picture the Tadrart swarming with Chinese tourists 8)

I rode with a 11 bike group through
Portugal-Spain-Morocco-Mauritania-Senegal-Gambia-Senegal-Guiné Bissau
in 16 days from the 5th to the 20th of February

We arrived at Nouadhibou on the 10th and left via Diamma on the 12th.

Our ideia was not to spend tooo much time in Mauritania, one night in Nouadhibou and one night in Nouakchott. Only in the road NDB-NKC we rode as a group within the sight of each other. Elsewhere on the trip the daily journey was free, so to say.

I don't recall seeing any tourist in NDB ou NKC, except for a WildMog in Cap Blanc... with american number plate!

BR,
Luis Cabrita

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Luis Cabrita, Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin '97 & Honda CBR 600 F4 '99
https://www.flickr.com/photos/148874658@N08/albums

I came back 5 weeks ago- not many bikes about- no difficulties either- usual checks all the time by overzealous army blokes. Few tourist (belgians, french in Daklah)
Got back home to find this in my local paper:
1- an elderly 84 years old killed with blunt object- place ransacked
2- 2 men convicted of local thefts- pleading over 32 other offences!
3- 1 road rage fight
4- a local centre vandalised
5- cars knicked
6-allotments broken into and tools andf stuff knicked as well

I'm wondering how safe it is to be living in Uk these days-
All this put in perspective makes me laugh reading about so called problems in Mauritania where it actually feels safer!
welcome home to Britain!

all quiet in Mauri as far as I can tell: after nearly a month in NKC we had a splendid route down south from cca. 30 km east fo Sangarafa on Route de espoir all the way down to Selibabi and on to Kayes. Super nice people (admittedly with 42 degress C everything else but nice is a major efforzt) and surprisingly friendly gendarmes (we met very few on our route) unlike the genadrmes we experienced in the past years. What can I say ... the discrepancy between the panic made on this and other forums and our experience couldn't possibly be bigger
cheers to all independent travels

Thanks for the helpful feedback Moro - nice to hear that you had a successful trip. Direct reports help greatly to make the real situation clear. They are the real deal.

I wouldn't say there was much panic on the Sahara forum. Instead I think most people who post info do so with the aim of gathering the info in one place and then interpreting it so that the best decisions can be made by them and others.

Very few people relatively speaking have a bad time in the Sahara and very few relatively speaking get kidnapped. For those that don't get kidnapped, things are fine. But those who do get kidnapped have their lives changed. Some are murdered. As a result there is a fair amount of effort on the forum trying to minimise the life changing part.

Good answer RW.

Moro, you need to remember that not everyone here has been to the Sahara before and most use the Atlantic Route as a simple transit to get to West Africa without searching for any great desert adventure on the way.

Until they actually get to experience the situation for themselves, some only have media reports and dire govt agency warnings to go on, alongside the regular reassurances from those on this forum who have been there and like yourself, send reports back.

It is possible you are referring to a certain poster on this forum who was recently mouthing off outdated and exaggerated info about Mori (and then edited his posts). The nature of that thread made it difficult to delete his post so he was advised by PM to take a break.

Ch

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Morocco Overland 4 pre-order for Xmas • Trans Morocco Trail

Thanks Richard & Chris
I'm not referring to anybody in particular, just the simple fact of statistics: really even in my little ridicilous specimen of a country a traveller has got more chances to get hurt than in the whole vast Sahara & Sahel ... that being said: we're in Kayes now - a very dusty and hot ride. Huh. And the is ... a little sweet tasting. The piste from Selibaby to Kayes is awful, yes, the villages on the other hand very interesting ... I especially like the resting place for the elderly under the biggest tree in the village Arrived at Mauri/mali border at night, were invited to stay at the hose of one of those bearded ones - actually a guy who works in Paris since 15 years ... didn't have the nerve to ask him about his experience with the posh Parisians ... right next to the mosque of Melgue, the last Mauri village ... it was so hot ... the border guys forgot to give us a stamp in the passport and came looking for us hours later to correct the thing ... so we can legally enter again this summer when we'ra back to Mauri. After the border a thousand trees but not a single shade ... so one HAS to become gentle and humble and all that. Since NKC we had TWO gendarmes ask for cado (gently) ... not the case 4 years ago ..apart from that NO probs whatsoever.
The guy at the Petro-dis (Shell) petrol station at Selibaby told me he was robberd at gunpoint by the guys who got blown up later on 14 km south of NKC, no money, just petrol - that wasn't his but his patrons.
My point: if a traveller retains a minimum of respect and empathy for the plight of the people whose land he's using for his sand & palm fantasies his chances of getting away unscathed are 100% good, give or take a per cent
more to follow from SW mali & Guinea Conakry
cheers

Moro you do get around.....I am envious. We may try Selibaby to exit, too. Or Kankossa.

We had a good stay in Chinguetti, where they are really longing for tourists. Four auberges remain from twenty a few years ago. Gendarmes have taken over the tourist bureau and became a little jittery as we drove up front. A French group had just left for the 300 kms drive across the dunes to Tikdjidja. But it is very quiet and peaceful in the Atar region. Hard to imagine anything bad happening here (other than your 4wd rolling off a dune - we saw four crushed late model Landcruisers). You can probably get kidnapped anywhere from Bissau to Cairo these days, but here it seems unlikely.
Going up from Nkt we met a large military convoy at high speed pushing us off the road. All equipment looked brand new. I looked for French personnel but didn't spot any.
Abdo the kind hostel owner (auberge Zarga, highly recommended) had two theories about the French red-zoning of Mauretania I can't vouch for, but:
-there is a visible French military presence and they don't want any French civilians around
-Total and other French companies are very active searching for oil, gold, uranium etc and they don't necessarily want tourists (or journalists) in the region either
Hotels in Atar and Akjoujt were fully booked long term by mining and other 'Societées'. So, who needs tourists? Well, Chinguetti does.

priffe, the piste from Selibaby to Kayes is interesting in terms of people/landscape, but very bad (lost of baking powder and holes, very slow), a fellow traveller described the piste Kiffa - Kankossa - Kayes as much nicer (firm sand, faster)
- we made the border at Melge late at night (N14 54.211 W11 48.142)
Kayes is soooo hot, recommend to stay at "Relais centennaire" (N14 27.305 W11 27.221) a christian or something establishment, camping 3000/pers, cross the bridge turn right and cpn't some 2 km along Rue Magdeburg (sic!
In Bamako watch for fake and genuine policemen at the entrance into town. First try to rob you (my girlfriends experience, second try to charge you 50 euros for breathing the fine Bamacan air). Don' pay, smile (if you shout instead it takes longer to get rolling again). A place to stay: The sleeping camel (behind German mebassy, close to pont des martyrs south), highly recommended, camping 3000/pers
we're off to Guinean mts for the summer soon