Arrived in an Oasis
Day 3
Wed July 20th
Start: Nouakchott [18 07 N 16 02 W]
Mid: Akjoujt [19 41 N 14 24 W]
End: Terjit [20 12 N 13 06 W]
To thank Marc for his hospitality we went out in the morning and got two soft drinks for him and left him a note while we headed out for the garage park to get a car to Atar. At the park we met a former volunteer from Mauritania named Bridget Fox. She had served from 90-92 and worked in Peace Corps DC for a few years. She was friends with President Taya’s sister-in-law during her service and was coming back to visit them. As it turned out one of her fellow volunteers while she served is now the PCMO, the medical officer in charge of all volunteers and staff in country.
Along the road, in Akjoujt we stopped for lunch. It consisted of taking our shoes off, entering a room with mats on the floor and being served one bowl of rice for the four of us with tea afterwards. The stall next door had coke and soft drinks with a few fruit. We asked how much the apples on display was with the owner writing down “K=700”. One kilogram of apples for 700 UM, or about $2.50 a kilogram. I don’t know how much apples are the US, but it was a good deal for being in the desert.
Although we paid the full route to Atar we were stopping at Ain Attaya to go a different direction to Terjit, the desert oasis. At the intersection the guards were telling us we had to go to Atar and get a private vehicle to Terjit. Just from the intersection alone to Terjit was 10 miles. Bridget helped with the French while we agreed to just walk the 10 miles. The guard told us some French guy left about 15 minutes ago to do the same thing. Maybe we would reach up to him. Five minutes into the walking the trail, with plateaus on each side and desert shrubs ahead, we were picked up for a free ride. We sat in the back of the pickup
A few minutes into the ride we passed the French guy, named Patrick, who had a free ticket to Africa and decided to go along. He spoke French and some English and helped us a lot when it came to prices while we were in Terjit. You really don’t expect to see an oasis in the middle of the desert, but turn a corner and there’s palm trees full of dates, a small stream, children running the water, a small pool, women in full clothes talking in a circle, while the men played cards enjoying themselves. Tents were set up, with no walls, and just a ceiling. The creek was near a cliff going up and following the contour. For upper-middle class Mauritanian’s this was their vacation spot. I watched the men play cards some, and was surprised to see one with a hearing aid – as even glasses are rare in The Gambia.
After dark the Mauritanian tourists leave, since you have to pay for visits, day visits, and night time sleep overs. They would drive down the road and sleep elsewhere and come back the next day. The charges were per person. 1500UM, about $5/day and $5/night to stay at the oasis per person. Food was an additional $5/person. We ate what Patrick couldn’t eat from his dinner.
It was a long day and after a few hours of swimming and relaxing we brought our the mattresses and played cards for a few hours while the creek was at our feet, the moon above us, the date trees surrounding us and the cliff to our backs. We fell asleep in the cool open air of a Saharan oasis.
Wed July 20th
Start: Nouakchott [18 07 N 16 02 W]
Mid: Akjoujt [19 41 N 14 24 W]
End: Terjit [20 12 N 13 06 W]
To thank Marc for his hospitality we went out in the morning and got two soft drinks for him and left him a note while we headed out for the garage park to get a car to Atar. At the park we met a former volunteer from Mauritania named Bridget Fox. She had served from 90-92 and worked in Peace Corps DC for a few years. She was friends with President Taya’s sister-in-law during her service and was coming back to visit them. As it turned out one of her fellow volunteers while she served is now the PCMO, the medical officer in charge of all volunteers and staff in country.
Along the road, in Akjoujt we stopped for lunch. It consisted of taking our shoes off, entering a room with mats on the floor and being served one bowl of rice for the four of us with tea afterwards. The stall next door had coke and soft drinks with a few fruit. We asked how much the apples on display was with the owner writing down “K=700”. One kilogram of apples for 700 UM, or about $2.50 a kilogram. I don’t know how much apples are the US, but it was a good deal for being in the desert.
Although we paid the full route to Atar we were stopping at Ain Attaya to go a different direction to Terjit, the desert oasis. At the intersection the guards were telling us we had to go to Atar and get a private vehicle to Terjit. Just from the intersection alone to Terjit was 10 miles. Bridget helped with the French while we agreed to just walk the 10 miles. The guard told us some French guy left about 15 minutes ago to do the same thing. Maybe we would reach up to him. Five minutes into the walking the trail, with plateaus on each side and desert shrubs ahead, we were picked up for a free ride. We sat in the back of the pickup
A few minutes into the ride we passed the French guy, named Patrick, who had a free ticket to Africa and decided to go along. He spoke French and some English and helped us a lot when it came to prices while we were in Terjit. You really don’t expect to see an oasis in the middle of the desert, but turn a corner and there’s palm trees full of dates, a small stream, children running the water, a small pool, women in full clothes talking in a circle, while the men played cards enjoying themselves. Tents were set up, with no walls, and just a ceiling. The creek was near a cliff going up and following the contour. For upper-middle class Mauritanian’s this was their vacation spot. I watched the men play cards some, and was surprised to see one with a hearing aid – as even glasses are rare in The Gambia.
After dark the Mauritanian tourists leave, since you have to pay for visits, day visits, and night time sleep overs. They would drive down the road and sleep elsewhere and come back the next day. The charges were per person. 1500UM, about $5/day and $5/night to stay at the oasis per person. Food was an additional $5/person. We ate what Patrick couldn’t eat from his dinner.
It was a long day and after a few hours of swimming and relaxing we brought our the mattresses and played cards for a few hours while the creek was at our feet, the moon above us, the date trees surrounding us and the cliff to our backs. We fell asleep in the cool open air of a Saharan oasis.
posted by Mike | 4:23 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home