Mauritania is one of the least visited countries in the world, welcoming fewer than 5,000 visitors per year (estimates put the annual number of tourists anywhere between 1500 and 4500 in recent years). Of that number, most are usually coming for the exhilarating challenge of riding the iron ore train through the Sahara desert, a once in a lifetime experience for thrill-seekers and train enthusiasts alike.
It’s a shame really, Mauritania is a beautiful country worth visiting in its own right. A paradise for desert lovers like me and home to a wealth of beautiful landscapes. Most organised tours will include visits to highlights across the country, including Chinguetti, the 7th holiest city in Islam, and the capital Nouakchott. Generally speaking, Mauritanians aren’t super interested in tourists either, so unlike walking through the streets of Casablanca or Tunis, you’re not going to be hassled to buy things or asked about where you’re from, making for a peaceful experience when exploring the main cities and sites.
That being said, the iron ore train is an incredible experience and it’s understandable why it’s a major attraction. Known as one of the most dangerous train rides in the world, it involves clambering aboard a freight train cart filled with powdered iron ore, sleeping on top of said ore, braving freezing cold desert nights and then baking morning sun. All of this for the experience of a lifetime and one of the most beautiful sunrises you may ever see.
So what should you know before you embark on this perilous train journey?
The train has two points you can get on. It starts in Zouérat, a large town in northern Mauritania. If you climb aboard here you’re looking at 17+ hours onboard, with a red hot afternoon at the start and a red hot morning at the end, and a pretty long, dark, and potentially freezing cold night in between – not many people do this. Most tourists get on at Choum, 200km to the South West, meaning you get on in the cooler evening and have around 12 hours onboard.
The train doesn’t have a set timetable. It’s meant to leave Zouérat at around 15:00, but it can leave up to several hours later. From there it takes 4-5 hours to reach Choum. This means you can wait a long time for the train to arrive – we waited for 6 hours by the side of the track for it to finally get there around 23:00 (tip: bring food, water, cards, and group games!).
As you’re in the middle of the desert, there are quite obviously no bathrooms; there buildings a few minutes walk from the tracks that you can squat down behind though. You really must use the ‘bathroom’ as much as you can before you get on the train, nobody wants to be sharing a train cart with a litter box! Most people recommend reducing food intake a day before, and/or eating incredibly safely (rice, bread) to avoid any unwanted stomach issues while on the train. If you’re as unfortunate as me, you can be super careful and the stress/adrenaline of the train adventure will dictate how your stomach reacts anyway – if in doubt, take an Imodium, and know that there is no shame in pooping by the side of the tracks before you board. Your fellow train riders will thank you for not doing it on the train!
Much before all of this though, you’ll need to think about staying warm and protecting yourself from the ore. Most people recommend buying a blanket from the nearest large town Atar, which you’ll pass on the way from Nouakchott. It’ll cost you around 500 MRU (€11.50) and is soft, fluffy, and generally warming. If you’re riding the train in the late spring, summer, or early autumn, this combined with a few layers is probably sufficient to keep you reasonably warm through the night on the train. However, I rode the train in January, with night temperatures around 12-15°C at the coldest point combined with wind chill coming from the 50km/h train speed – it was FREEZING even with four layers, a coat, thermals, and the blanket. I woke up convinced I was getting frost bite in my toes (I wasn’t, of course, but I’m a tad dramatic). A cold weather sleeping bag and a wind breaker would’ve definitely made all of the difference – you won’t find these in Mauritania so you’d need to bring them with you.
There are few other things you’ll want to bring with you that you can’t find in country. A ski mask is probably the most important one, to protect your eyes from the ore – out people riding the train will wear one of these. I found this one on Amazon that could fit over my glasses, and it was a game-changer (it also kept my face super warm). You should also bring thermals with you as this isn’t something stocked in the Mauritanian markets. Gloves and Hats too are best brought from home, if you want them for an extra layer of warmth.
Most people will buy a traditional blue head scarf to protect their mouth and nose from ore. These are typically worn by Mauritanian men in their day to day activities to protect from dust and sand, but also work well for ore! You can find these for sale all over for around 200 MRU (€4.60) and locals will be more than happy to show you how to effectively wrap up you head.
In terms of clothes – wear old dark clothing and shoes. The ore will get everywhere, and whilst you can wash things afterwards, light clothes and shoes will be ruined. I brought a yellow puffer jacket with me, and it was damaged beyond repair after the train. Same for my blue sneakers, though these were old and worn and I had been planning to get rid of them anyway.
You’ll also want to think about protecting your belongings. The ore will get everywhere no matter what you do, and it’s magnetic so good luck cleaning it off your phone or AirPods case, but you can wrap you things in additional bags to try and offer some protection. People recommended bringing trash bags to put my backpack in, but obviously I forgot to include these when I hastily packed to leave for Mauritania on Christmas day, so I ended up buying a giant reusable plastic laundry bag. Actually I bought two, because I lost the first one around an hour after buying it, but that’s by the by. I liked this idea so much that I then bought a third one, much smaller this time, for my day bag to go in. I looked like I was moving my entire life in laundry bags, but it did help to shield my things from too much ore. It was also trend setting because several of the group got one too. You could call me a fashionista. You’ll find these bags all over the market area in Atar; I’m not sure if the people of Atar just do loads of laundry, or if other savvy travellers did the same thing. I’m still claiming to be the original trend setter.
There isn’t anywhere obvious to buy food or drinks in Choum, and while you’re not going to need huge amounts of these/want to limit them for reasons mentioned above, you should still have bare minimum a bottle of water and a couple of biscuits with you just in case. Buy these in Atar on the way, there’s a little shop near the town’s main Atar-branded roundabout that has a variety of options. Also bring some painkillers with you – sitting in the sun for several hours followed by a chilly few hours in the dark waiting for the train gave me a bit of a headache, I was thankful to have Panadol with me.
You have no warning that the train is going to arrive, so you have to be listening out for it rumbling along – we heard it around 2 minutes before we saw it, as a low rumbling the gradually got more intense, but we had some false alarms too that turned out just to be cars…
There’s always a mad rush when the train arrives to get people and belongings on board. You have to climb up, and be able to lift your bags up yourself/as a group – there wont be anyone around to help you. You should absolutely move quickly, but the train does stop for a good 15+ minutes so you don’t have to panic. We were told it would wait 30 minutes, but it definitely wasn’t that long. The quicker you get on board, the more time you have to arrange yourself and your bags without trying to hold your balance as the train moves, so there is definitely benefit in moving fast.
On the train
The train carts are big enough to feel spacious, maybe 4m x 2m, but if you’re in a group you’ll be sharing them with 4-6 people and need places for sleeping, bag storage, and a ‘bathroom corner’ just in case (though as mentioned above you really don’t want to have to use it!). Place your bags at the end of the cart that faces the train, rather than the end facing the long chain of carts. This way you wont have giant bags lurking in the corner of all of your photos at sunrise. We didn’t do this, an after the first couple of sunrise photo shoots we had to try and rearrange the cart while the train was going at full speed, and with minimal finger movement capability after a freezing cold night.
You will also want to be in a cart near the front of the train, so that you don’t have ore from too many carts blowing at you. The train is around 2.5km long so that’s a fair distance to try and navigate when thinking of where to get on. The drivers dropping you off at the tracks should know approximately where the front of the train will stop (failing that, the locals that will inevitably come out to watch you will) so you should position your things near there ready to jump on when the train arrives.
Also think about choosing carts that aren’t near other groups, or you’ll end up with other peoples’ heads and hands ruining your photos! In the same vein, if you’re a big group you might be across two or three carts – the cart at the back will inevitably get better pictures of the sunrise as there’s nobody behind them. The front cart(s) can still capture great sunrise photos, they just have to be creative about the angles to get the others out of their pictures!
Make your essentials easy to access, and try to keep them warm. I put my phone, water, biscuits, and painkillers in a small bag that I kept next to me, and left it on the ore while I slept (everything else was in the laundry bags). I did find though that my phone became freezing cold and started malfunctioning when I checked it in the middle of the night, so ended up tucking the bag into the blanket with me.
With the adrenaline, you’re probably not going to be hungry or thirsty. It’s just as well, as despite best efforts to cover your face, the ore will likely end up in your mouth. That being said, try and stay a little bit hydrated, 12+ hours is a long time without water, particularly when it starts getting hotter from 9am onwards.
And finally…
Have fun! Riding the iron ore train is an amazing experience. There will be times in the night when the cold wind is whipping your face, or when you need to pee desperately but know you can’t go, where you’re questioning why you’ve done this. But honestly, the experience itself, along with the incredible sunrise, is so so worth it. When you’re sitting on top a mound of ore watching the sky turn from dark purple to bright orange, feeling the warmth of the rising sun on your face, and taking in the breathtaking landscape, that you’ll feel so so grateful that you’ve taken this journey.
Don’t forget to look up at the stars. The train travels through very remote areas where there is no light pollution. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen such a clear view of the night sky that when I was waiting for and then on the train. Look up, take in the view.
Also – take more pictures!! I thought I had taken loads, but when I went back I wondered why I hadn’t taken more of the sunrise, more of the train, more of myself and of my friends. Take more. You can always delete them after.
I can’t recommend this adventure enough. I felt completely accomplished after climbing off the train in Nouadhibou, and I even wondered whether I could see myself doing it again some time (maybe at a warmer time of year…). Go for it, I guarantee you’ll have a good time.
