We are two bikers that will arrive Mauri in about 1.5 weeks. We want to do some of the sahara overland routes from atar to chinquetti and possibly to tidjika.
1) How do I go about getting the bikes on the train to choum? Who do I contact to make it happen? Do I need to fill up a wagon like you have to do with cars? How ,uch should I expect to pay per bike?

2) does anybody have the waypoints for the atar tidjika route? is this route very hard? we have 43l (riding teneres) of fuel each pluss 20l of water each. I have the sahara overland book but it doesnt say that much about that route.

any info would be greatly appreciated.

Hi John,

I’ve been to Mauritania this January and done the piste Nouadhibou-Choum-Atar.
1 - To get the train it’s a bit complicated. You may find all the information that you need (prices, timetables, contacts) about the train in the URL: http://www.snim.fr/mine-port.html . Nevertheless, I’ve tried to mark the train with 2 weeks of advance, and after 2 faxes I didn’t had any response. When I arrived to Nouadhibou, and after talking the person in charge of the train, I was told that I had to wait 3 days for an empty train bed to put the car. So I’ve decided to do the piste. Besides I was told by other travellers that the train is very uncomfortably. It’s a bumpy ride….. So I advise you to contact the SNIM, by fax and phone, before you depart, but I can’t guarantee that you’ll have a response !!!

2 – The book “Mauritanie au GPS” has all the information that you need. Check out this URL: http://www.takla-makane.com/

Good luck,
José

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Desert Crocodiles of Mauritania: http://cibio.up.pt/crocodilos/en

I have keyed the Takla Makane Atar-Tidjikja route into my PC and can send it to you in GARtrip, PCX5 or txt format. Do you have an email address?

If not I could cut and paste the 30 waypoints into a reply here.

Terry,

the waypoints about the route you mentioned above do interest me aswell : can you send them to my email address : (click on link above for email address)
just cut them ; I will paste them into some program.

Thanks a lot.

Kar El

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email address removed by Grant - see http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/faq.shtml#notify for why.

[This message has been edited by Grant Johnson (edited 27 February 2002).]

Terry,

thanks a lot for the waypoints.

Regards,

Kar El

The train station is at the southern end of Nouadhibou, it´s easy to find. Once you get there you go into the office, and look for the guy who gives the prices, and then another guy who tells you if there is any place or not.

I took the train three times and each time there were bikers on board. Once I took the three bikes in my van (early 1999), the price then was UM4,000 (probably gone up but in the van they paid nothing. The other time they laid the bikes flat onto the platform and tied them down. After 12 hours on a bumpy track one of the bikes was badly damaged (mechanicaal) the other two were ok but looked pretty bad. The last time I went they had another system which involves tying the bike to the back of one of the cars on the platform, the bike and the car were badly scratched. I´ve since heard that they have another system which seems to work by standing the bikes up and strapping them down, but I don´t know if this works or not.
On the train from Kayes to Bamako they got four old tyres, tied them together and laid some Swiss guys bike on that (a new Varedo) it worked perfectly.
If you want to drive on the tracks it seems to be quite easy for a bike to drive along between the rails, we managed 25km on a 125 Vespa withput any major problems and I met a few bikers who did it without any problems.
I suggest you go to the train station in Nouadhibou and let them show you how they intend to transport the bikes so you can make your own mind up.

hey, I would like those waypoints very much. my email adress is john-l(at)online.no. am in dakhla now after after a serious wipeout due to an exploded rear tyre (was doing 100k/h going to Mauri boarder)

thanks

Just to let you know, we managed to get on the train the day after we arrived in ndb. We loaded the bikes on the back of a trailer which worked fine. I learned that the prices were not fixed (though officially the price per bike is 6000 oogs). With a little help from Ali at the campsite we got the price down from 15000 to 10000 oogs.

John-l asks:<<the atar tidjika route? is this route very hard?>>

Nobody has answered john-l’s initial question about the Tidjika route.

I started this run a few years back but couldn’t get any helpful advice or willing guides in either Atar or Chinguetti.

I abandoned it that time, but would set out again (with two or three supporting vehicles) if I had some up to date information.

I would still like to do this route and would appreciate any comments from those who have done it.

All best Kitmax

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Kitmax - Traveller
Desert Pictures at
http://www.kitmax.com/kitmax/kit03ph...velgallery.htm
homepage http://www.kitmax.com

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Kitmax

I have keyed the Takla Makane Atar-Tidjikja route into my PC and can send it to you in GARtrip, PCX5 or txt format.

hallo!
i am returning from Togo with my 2cv and i will take "Kayes - Kiffa - Tidjikja - Chum" roud. if is posible, please send me gps points

regards from Bamako
gregor

polpiskra@email.si