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Nouadhibou is the first place of Mauritania you will
see if you have travelled all the route through Morocco.
Nouadhibou is a place never constructed to fit the needs
of tourists.
There is very little to see inside the city of more
around 60,000 people, but the nature here is of splendid
beauty.
Nouadhibou stretches along a peninsula running out from
and parallel to the mainland in southern direction.
Everything is more or less sand, shaped by the wind,
meeting the sea in several bays without any vegetation
destroying your impression of really being in Sahara.
Although accommodation is very difficult to find, eating
is better here than anywhere else in Mauritania. There
is one simple explanation to this : foreign fishing
vessels exploiting the deep sea fishing outside the
Mauritanian coast.
As these often need a harbour, as well are obliged to
land and process a certain percentage of their catch,
many foreigners enter the streets. They want a decent
meal, but sleep on their vessels, of course.

Daily air connections to Nouakchott,
but you can also get to Las Palmas on the Canary
Islands, Spain. You can travel with one of the
trucks or Land Rovers that go overland to Nouakchott
(30-50 hours), and the price is normally US$20
to US$30, but prices are not fixed.
Pay on arrival, and charge the drivers if you
help with repairs en route. Faster connections
to the south is with the train to Choum (about
250 km south of Zouerate), and use overland transport
from there. This is far cheaper as well.
But for travellers with time, the direct connections
south is a fantastic experience. Going north into
Morocco, you cannot rely on any form of public
transportation, but check around with travellers
going this way (which happens to be quite unlikely
due to the strict policies of Mauritanian border
police).
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