Saharan Exploration - Self Drive 4x4 Expeditions to the Sahara - 2003 Mauritanian Kiting Expedition Page 1

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Mauritanian Kiting Expedition 2002/2003

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Mauritania 2002/2003 - A Parakiting Extravaganza

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After spending a frantic fortnight finally kitting out the Land Rover with spares, equipment, the paraphernalia needed for desert travel and an extended parakiting trip we set off from N.Wales on the 10th of Dec 2002. The idea of the trip had been hanging around in my imagination for years. Since the 1970’s, Mauritania had sealed its land borders to the North and West, only allowing vehicles to drive South in a weekly convoy across the mine fields from Western Sahara. Driving north again from Mauritania was illegal, involving playing hide and seek with the soldiers who inhabit the mine fields on both sides of the boarder. Despite the Polisario war in Western Sahara calming down with the involvement of the UN and the need for Mauritania to develop a tourist industry, African bureaucracy looked set to stay firmly in place.

Last summer this all changed. The convoy system going south was abolished and for the first time in years traffic going north was allowed legally through to Western Sahara and on to Morocco and Europe. A quick look at the logistics it would entail brought no surprises and no real excuse not to go. The trip had been born – all we had to do was get there.

We crossed the channel courtesy of Norfolkline to Dunkirk then drove down through France and Spain to Morocco, crossed into Ceuta on the African mainland and headed south. We had to pick up our visas at the Mauritanian embassy in Casablanca before continuing the journey down to the desert. The visas were the easy bit, an application form and a short interview, then pick them up later on the same day. Finding the place to start with proved to be a different matter. We spent hours cruising Casa's streets asking directions from anyone likely before we stopped at some lights where a random youth waved at us and said " Are you looking for the Mauritanian consulate? its down there, turn left and you cant miss it" - We hadn't even asked him! I guess a lot of people drive around looking lost whilst trying to find the place.

Visas in hand and after so much driving, the hassle of Northern Morocco and trying to find the embassy, we needed a day off. We needed to get the kites out and have a mess around for a while well away from the Land Rover.

A days drive south down the road from Casa’ we finally found somewhere which wasn't overrun with French mobile homes (most places along the coast are) and we could use the kites and buggies. Sidi Kaouki, 30km south from the picturesque port of Essaouira is a small seaside hamlet and favoured spot for kite surfers in the summer. The beach itself was mainly flat with a few small sandy dunes, about 600m wide and maybe 12 to 15km long at low tide.

By the time we arrived at midday we unfortunately found there was no wind. After waiting around for most of the afternoon, the wind picked up around 4pm and we got the kites out. Flying the Ozone Little Devil 3m kite for the first time in near perfect conditions was fantastic - this is what we had come for. We hastily assembled the buggies and using the 3 and 4.5m kites we flew up and down the beach for an hour or so, until the wind dropped suddenly and we had to give up for the day.

All in all it was a great venue, and the beach proved to be a great place to fly a kite and buggy. During the week it’s quiet especially away from the northern end, the only problem we found was that the wind would die completely for hours on end. Its also a great place to camp on the beach and watch the sun go down.

Driving further south, it got hotter, sandier and much more sparse through Western Sahara until we finally crossed the Mauritanian border where everything changed dramatically, giving us a taste of the awesome size of the Sahara.

From the maps we had seen before leaving, we knew that there were a few potential sites we could try out before we committed ourselves properly to the desert and set off driving east from Nouadhibou into the desert toward the town of Atar in the middle of the country.

The best site we found in this area is quite close to the border on the Mauritanian side. Some 70 to 80km from Nouadhibou is a large tidal salt pan called Sebkht Atoueif which joins the Cap Blank peninsular to the mainland. Some 10km wide by as much as 30km long, this huge area has a good strong 15/30 kph wind for most of the day which apparently lasts all the year round. The biggest problem we found was although the buggy would float over the soft surface, the Land Rover would sink up to its axles as soon as you got more than a kilometre from the edges.