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Piste from Nouadhibou to Choum Piste from Nouadhibou to Choum
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North Africa Topics specific to North Africa and the Sahara down to the 17th parallel (excludes Morocco)
Photo by Andy Miller, UK, Taking a rest, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Andy Miller, UK,
Taking a rest,
Jokulsarlon, Iceland



Trans Sahara Routes.

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  #1  
Old 17 Aug 2004
Ian Ian is offline
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Piste from Nouadhibou to Choum
The one alongside the railway track.

Anyone attempted this? Any indication of difficulty?

Is fuel available along the piste or in Choum?

Does the train stop for loading/unloading anywhere between Noadhibou and Choum?

Thanks in Advance,

Ian.
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  #2  
Old 17 Aug 2004
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Hi If youre on a bike, I would ride between the railway lines all the way! (just dodge the extremely slow train)

I put my bike on a wagon and hated the 10 hours journey. I met a couple who found the piste 'hard' in a 4x4 truck.

the line marks the broder so be on the right side of it.


Karim

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  #3  
Old 17 Aug 2004
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The only fuel you can “rely” on will be at Nouadhibou and Attar (though you may get some fuel in Choum by asking around)

The piest is quite sandy in places and can be hard work depending on your route finding. I have done it twice now in a landy and IMHO its fairly strait forward esp if your prepared to detour south of the railway occasionally to miss areas of sandy tussocks. It’s a nice drive although I did get suck a few times


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  #4  
Old 17 Aug 2004
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hi ian
Idid this trip in january its not that difficult exept for a long soft sandy passage thats about 40 klms long (keep your sand ladders handy ) this dune is about 200 klms before choum . no fuel or much else between ndb and choum .I enjoyed the trip and am going again in january
good luck john
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Old 17 Aug 2004
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hi again ian
Sorry but my last reply is a bit of dis information. The 40 klm long dune starts about 125 klms before choum (not 200) near Timeimichat. I did it in a 4X4 and normally i get about 860 klms from one tank of diesel but on this piste i got about 520 klms so take plenty with you . It took me 4 day (2 in a sand storm) Good luck john c
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  #6  
Old 18 Aug 2004
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Thanks for the replies, which raise a couple of points:-

> the line marks the broder so be on the right side of it.

I believe to the North is mined. Correct?
Any mines to the south (unlikely I know)?

>The 40 klm long dune starts about 125 klms >before choum (not 200)
Whatever, I've got it to look forward to...

John C: Is the 860km figure what you get from, say, a good piste or on a sealed road? Just like to know so I can get an idea of possible increase in fuel consumption.

Cheers,

Ian.
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Old 18 Aug 2004
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I've done it in April 2004 (Land 110) with a (good) guide ( we were with only one car ) :

- It is possible to take a track on the NORTH side of the railway before Choum , just before the sandy zone : there is no mine in this area ( the track is not difficult to follow , there is a lot of camels , so no mine near the track); before the track crosses the railway in a little village and there you ccan head on to Attar directly without going to Choum .
- Whith this guide we were NEVER stuck in the sand and the duration is only one day ( Nouadhibou to Atar )
- The landscape is not very beautiful , enough monotonous , except durin the last part ( from crossing the railway to th North side to Atar ) .
Nice trip !
RR.
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Old 18 Aug 2004
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Sorry this is the good version :

I've done it in April 2004 (Land 110) with a (good) guide ( we were with only one car ) :
- It is possible to take a track on the NORTH side of the railway before Choum , just before the sandy zone : there is no mine in this area ( the track is not difficult to follow , there is a lot of camels , so no mine near the track); before Choum ,the track crosses the railway in a little village and there you can head on to Attar directly without going to Choum .
- Whith this guide we were NEVER stuck in the sand and the duration is only one day ( Nouadhibou to Atar )
- The landscape is not very beautiful , enough monotonous , except during the last part ( from crossing the railway -to the North side- to Atar ) .
Nice trip !
RR.

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Old 18 Aug 2004
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Quote:
Originally posted by roro:
Sorry this is the good version :

- It is possible to take a track on the NORTH side of the railway before Choum ,
Do you have any GPS points for this part, or for the route as a whole?

Any indication of the total distance i.e from Nouadhibou to Choum?

Thanks.
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Old 18 Aug 2004
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Sorry I have no waypoints : We followed the indications of our guide and forgot to take the points ....
If you want I can give yo the name of the guide .
RR .
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Old 18 Aug 2004
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hi ian , john c again
>gps for choum 21,17,848N 13,03,605W
>The 850 klms is on sealed roads
>We did this route without a guide and did spend 1/2 a day drinking tea with some nomads and another day driving at 25klm per hour in a sand storm
>distance ndb to choum 470 klms
>the gps point we used was just for choum but now have some way points that we put in on route if you want them
>p k 55 21,17,135N 16,54,715W
bou lanouar21,17,997N 16,31,460W
inal 21,17,360N 14,59,740W
tmeimichat 21,14,330N 14,22,585W
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  #12  
Old 19 Aug 2004
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Thanks again, just the information I needed. Itching to go now, as deprived of desert for 18 months...
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Old 19 Aug 2004
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We past the piste 4 weeks ago. exept the heet (40C +) the pise was fine. got stuk a few times. guide is not needed if in a group. Take a lot of water! In Choum the police ask you about the amount of water you take. In Juli an famaly of 7 lokals were found dead 40 km north east of Choum.
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Old 19 Aug 2004
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Quote:
Originally posted by anjansen:
We past the piste 4 weeks ago. exept the heet (40C +) the pise was fine. got stuk a few times. guide is not needed if in a group. Take a lot of water! In Choum the police ask you about the amount of water you take. In Juli an famaly of 7 lokals were found dead 40 km north east of Choum.
I'd exepct it to be bit cooler in the winter when I'll be going.

What was the cause of the fatalities?

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Old 19 Aug 2004
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Hi,

I don't know exactly. But apparently their car broke down and they were not carying enough water with them. This is what we herd from the camping in Atar. Later an Swiss couple told us that one little girl had servived.
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