Welcome to Mauritania!

If you love deserts, you’ll love the ever-changing landscape of this large country. At present, the Saharan Adrar region, with its World Heritage–listed caravan towns is currently off-limits for security reasons. With one of the world’s lowest population densities, the country is equally split between Moors of Arab-Berber descent and black Africans. The capital and largest city is Nouakchott, which is home to around a third of the country’s 4.4 million people. Mauritania is also known for having an Iron Ore train, one of the longest trains in the world. It’s 2.5 km in length with 200 train cars carrying 85 tons of iron ore from mines in Zouerat to Mauritania’s second largest city, Nouadihbou.