Alsahara: Mauritania


	updated 14 apr 2008 we also offer: 4x4 rental hotels & lodges logistic and support flights CARAVANS Chinguiti-Wadan and the Atar's dunes and hills (9 days) DESERT OCEAN + Extension to N.P. Banc d'Arguin (11 days) SAHARA ATLANTIC + Extension to Butilimitt (16 days) TWO WORLDS + Extensión a Keur Massene - P.N. Diawling - (16 days) special tours: transahara others


Mauritania	Niger	Senegal	about us

Alsahara expeditions
MAURITANIA :
A JOURNEY TO THE NEOLITIC AGE - 16 days -

CIRCUIT Nº 5

1 -Flight to Nouakchott. Reception at the airport and transfer to the hotel.
2 -Nouakchott - Butilimit - Aleg - Yuk. Camp. Full board.
3 -Yuk - Aiún el Atrus. Camp. Full board.
4 -Aiún el Atrus -Timbedra - Nema - Walata. Lodge. Full board.
5 -Walata. Lodge. Full board.
6 -Walata - way to Tichit. Camp. Full board.
7 -on the way to Tichit. Camp. Full board.
8 -arrival at Tichit. Camp. Full board.
9 -Tichit - Pozo de Zig. Camp. Full board.
10 -Zig - Lekcheb. Camp. Breakfast.
11 -Lekcheb -Tidjijka. Lodge. Breakfast.
12 -Tidjijka - Nbeika - Guelta de Matmata. Camp. Full board.
13 -Matmata - Mudjeria - Sangarafa. Camp. Breakfast.
14 -Sangrafa - Butilimit - Nouakchott. Hotel. Breakfast
15 -Nouakchott. Hotel. Breakfast.
16 -Nouakchott - Return flight. Breakfast.

In the south west part of Mauritania, south to the fault that connects Tidjikja with Tichit and Oualata, it is the Auker hollow, formerly an inner sea but today filled up with dunes. 3,500 years ago there were 300,000 people living nearby the fault fishing by the sea.
We will discover along several hundreds kilometers the most mysterious an beautiful Caravan Cities as well as one of the prehistoric Neolithic sites in the Sahara.
We'll visit some of the 300 fortified villages, built with dry stone in the highest places. The region is scattered with pieces of hunter and fisher tools (axes, arrows, ceramic, mortars…). Those inhabitants most likely had to move away as the sea was drying out during the first millennium before Christian era. Probably the only group that managed to adapt to the new environment were the hunters, some of whom still survive today in a small group called the Nemadi who hunt antelope with the help of dogs.

Prices of land services

Per person in double room: 2400 Eur (2 pers) - 1800 Eur (3 pers) - 1620 Eur (4 pers)
- 1500 Eur (5 pers) - 1440 Eur (6 pers) - 1380 Eur (7 pers) - 1320 Eur (8 to 15 pers)
Regular Tour: 1300 Eur per person.
180 Eur extra per person in single room.

Departure Dates

Dates of Regular tours with guaranteed departures (from 1 to 15 pers):
2007: 12/10, 30/11 and 22/12
2008: 02/02 and 15/03

Services included

-Full board except in Nouakchott.
-Accommodation as specified. Double rooms with bathroom and air conditioning in Hotels.
-Camping equipment : double or individual tents, mats and kitchenware.
-4x4 cars fully equipped for crossing the desert: Toyota Land Cruiser, Nissan Patrol or Toyota Hilux pick-up with double cabin or similar. For big groups we´ll use a Mercedes 1117 4x4 truck-bus. Each vehicle carrying 4 or 5 people depending the car type.
-Local French/English speaking guide-drivers with a large experience in tourism and a wide knowledge of the desert. Some of them with a basic knowledge of Spanish.

Services not included

-Mauritanian Visa.
-Drinks and spring water. Tips.
-Meals in Nuakchott.
-Any other expense not specified.

Itinerary

Day 1- NOUAKCHOTT.
Reception at Nouakchott airport and transfer to the Hotel.
Day 2- NOUAKCHOTT - BUTILIMIT - ALEG - YUK. Full board.
Leaving Nouakchott taken the Trans Mauritania road towards Nema. The first part of the road crosses big dune strings N-S oriented which leave corridors in between where the settlements are. We'll get into the big Trarza Reg where an important emirate grew up long time ago. The road is often cover by the sand. Once we pass the village of Butilimit which is built with clay (adobe), we’ll entry into a big dry lake from where we can see the old Aleg fort in the top. In this area the road becomes impassable so we’ll drive over the fodder parallel to it. After Magta Lahtar several hills are visible in the South but it will be in Sangrafa where we’ll enter in the so called el "Trab el jachara" or stone country in the Tagant mountains which are part of the Mauritania mountain range. We’ll continue driving to the East parallel to the Tagant mountains until arriving to the beautiful place of Yuk where we’ll camp.
Day 3- YUK - KIFFA - AIÚN EL ATRÚS. Full board.
Along this area rich in pastures we’ll see large herds of camels and zebus as well as “suicidal” donkeys with the skill of crashing against the vehicles. The Trans Mauritania artery-road has entailed a revolution in nomad life making this people who were spread in the East part of the country to become slowly sedentary. That transition consists in most of the cases firstly in leaving the skeleton of the tent firmly built with strong pillars and therefore defining a territory where they return seasonally each year. As the years go by they spend more months in that permanent tent. At the same time in the cities of this area there is a strong emigration from the black sedentary inhabitants along the Senegal River. The city of Kifa shows a Sudanese architecture similar to the one found in Niger River banks in Mali. The track brings us along an amazing valley surrounded by colossus stoning sculptures carved by the wind. After crossing a narrow mountain range we’ll enter in Aiun el Atrus. Camp.
Day 4- AIÚN EL ATRÚS - TIMBEDRA - NEMA - WALATA. Full board.
The architecture of the Aiun is based on white and brown stones with the look of a chessboard. This region belongs is on the big Hodh pan with the depression of Auker in the North. After Timbedra we go through Nema where the asfalt ends to give way to the sand of the desert and the old caravan tracks that led to Tombuctu. We’ll heading North to enter in a pure and beautiful desert populated by the Nemadis, the only hunting nomad people that move with their ”Esluguis” dogs – as fast and strong as the grayhounds – runing after antelopes. This small group is the most ancient in the that region and possibly they are the direct descendants of the Neolitic hunters and fishers that populated the banks of the Auker inner sea. Camp.
---- UNDER TRANSLATION ----
Day 5- WALATA. Full board.
Day 6, 7 Y 8- WALATA - TICHIT. Full board.
Day 9- TICHIT - POZO DE ZIG.
Day 10- ZIG - LEKCHEB. Full board.
Day 11- LEKCHEB - TIDJIKJA. Full board.
Day 12- TIDJIKJA - NBEIKA - GUELTA DE MATMATA. Full board.
Day 13- MATMATA - MUDJERIA - SANGRAFA. Full board.
Day 14- SANGRAFA - BUTILIMIT - NOUAKCHOTT. Half board
Day 15- NOUAKCHOTT. Breakfast.
Day 16- NOUAKCHOTT. Breakfast.
Transfer to the airport and boarding assistance to the return flight. End of our service.

Nouakchott, Mauritanie
MCAT/D.Tourisme nº57
Zone Art. 31 B.P. 419
Phone: +222 6306207
Fax: +222 5295527

alsahara @ alsahara.com

Europe Sales & Marketing
Director: J.L. Escolano
Madrid, Spain
Phone: +34 915 474 794
escolano@alsahara.com