The Ore Train in Mauritania
06.01.2019
There might be nothing more adventurous than a ride on a freight train. And even better if it is one of the longest trains of the world and goes right through the desert of the Sahara.
This train is the Ore Train from Nouadhibou to Choum in Mauritania.
It takes Ore from deep inside of Mauritania to the Coast at Noudhibou. Every day, there are three trains to and three trains from Nouadhibou and only one of them takes passengers with them.
According to the Schedule, the train leaves Nouadhibou at 1 o clock pm and arrives in Choum 10 to 14 hours later. But sometimes, it even leaves at 1 o clock in the morning. TIA. This is Africa.
You can either take a ride on the empty train from Nouadhibou or you can go to Nouakchott, from there to Atar and then to Choum, with a taxi. Then you can sit right on the ore.
But I take the ride in the empty train, it’s just on my way.
It is already 4pm. As I arrive at the “Gare de Voyageurs. 50km away from Guerguerat at the border to Morocco or 10 km before Nouadhibou it’s only a rusty sign that shows you that you finally arrived. I would have missed it, didn’t I have had this information. I push my bike through the sand to the building of the station and a friendly woman tells me, that my backpacker friends are already waiting for me inside the building.
The building is quite empty, there are some rows of chairs like on an airport, a room for prayer and a sign that tells you that maybe some food is served outside.
All the people seem to prefer to wait outside and only Ken and Inga, the Backpackers are waiting there. I say hello to them and while we wait for the train, we talk about this and that.
I was already greeted by the stations officer, a man without any sign of a uniform but with a rarely seen enthusiasm about his job. He wants to make sure that we really know when we have to be where and that we all feel fine.
The sun is already going down as we go through the sand to the track. There are a lot of people waiting and baggage and bags of rice are shifted to piles next to it.
We meet up with Mustafa, a Mauritanian who invited us to travel in his waggon.
The sun is already going down and we keep talking with each other about Mauritania. It would have a lot of resources, but the only resource of which the people profit are goats and fish.
A car with two gendarmes arrives, they ask about a Swiss guy. I take the call but they head off before I even can introduce myself. They are just looking for money, tells me Mustafa.
It is already dark as the train arrive, Mustafa climbs up between two waggons while Ken climbs into the Waggon. The baggage and my bike are quickly put inside and even the 50kg rice bags vanish in the waggon.
Then I climb into it too. 2.5m x 5m and about 1.6Meters high is the Waggon. It’s all steel and everything is still covered with a layer of dust.
Mustafa puts his Mattress and his cover on the floor, and I put my plastic sheet on the ground while Ken and Inga have some carton and their sleeping bags placed.
Bumm, A bag of Sand lands right in the waggon. Mustafa takes the Sand and puts it in one corner. Toilet, he says.
We all wear our warmest clothes and me and Mustafa our turbans.
A rattle and a shock goes through all the waggons. We are pretty surprised but then we realise that the train just started. This noise will wake us up all night long.
The train is moving and we can watch over the Sahara and the desert stars. It is an amazing feeling, you really feel like a great adventurer, like in one of the adventure stories which I read as a child.
But then the dust from the Sahara sand and the ore makes the eyes hurting. Everything is covered n dust and I have to put on my dark sunglasses to protect my eyes. I don’t see much now and decide to lay down to sleep. It is uncomfortable on the ground and it’s cold. I didn’t want to take out my sleeping bag because I was afraid that the dust would finally ruin it. So I roll myself in my plastic cover. It helps a little to protect from the wind but I have to get up and do pushups from time to time just to keep warm.
In the first light of the morning, Mustafa wakes me up. The Sahara has changed its face overnight. There are now little mountains, Sand dunes, small cottages and acacia trees. It’s just beautiful to watch, but it is still cold so I lay down another half an hour. Just trying to get away from the wind. Right at sunset, Ken and Inga wake up too, and together we watch the landscape passing by. There are dromedaries walking along the track and with the light, it’s simply beautiful.
And everything is covered in a layer of white dust. Even in my front panier, everything is covered. Pretty bad, because there is a lot of my electronics located. And there is dust even under my sunglasses. It will later take three douches to get rid of this stuff.
Then some mud houses com into sight. Each no bigger than a garage in Europa, in the middle of the sand. Only a radio station and the double deck waggons of the people waggon show that you are not completely out of civilization.
Choum.
The train finally stops, and we only have ten minutes to unload all the stuff before it continues. But it’s quickly done. Ken and Inga take one of the taxis which are waiting next to the track and off they are.
I pack my bag and as I have to do a hundred meter sprint to get back my plastic cover, I finally realise, that a very strong wind is blowing.
I push my bike in the middle of the village through all the sand, and there is a surprisingly perfect road. Against the wind I head off into the next adventure.
