south of Nouakchott

anybody rode the beach south of NKC to Senegal border?
doable? how steep?
any access WPs?
thanks

[stef25]

I didn't do Nouakchott - Dakar along the beach but I did ride from the Mauri border to a beach north of Nouakchott, camped there in the wild and then the next day rode all along the beach to Nouakchott itself. This was the most fun day in a 6000+Km trip.

The sand was hard enough to be able to ride around 80Km/h. The closer you go to the water, the firmer the sand is - just watch out for tidepools.

Make sure you know the times of the tides! I left around 6AM and you only have a few hours before the sea comes up too far and forces you to ride in very deep sand, pretty much impossible on an overland bike.

After spending a night in Nouakchott we rode to Lac Rose in one very long day. Maps and gpx tracks can be downloaded from my site here

Anyway, long story short, this pdf file should have the waypoints you are looking for. It's from the Zebrabar, which apparently is a good place to camp & get info. I'd also advise you to take the beach route I did, it's a great ride.

Thanks for your links Stef, did the northern part myself a few times, nice pics, cheers

[Lee @ Interpreter Live]

I believe that you may (and I stress may as I have not done the southern part fully) encounter problems on the beach south of Nouakchott due to some military bases in and around that region. I have been turned back north of NKT on the beach by military before and believe (anecdotally) the southern section has the same issues from Nouakchott to Diama. We found a couple of years back that the section from St Louis to Dakar was not worth the hassle - there are a lot more villages on the shore so you are constantly having to negotiate around boats, lines etc and we felt we were just getting in the locals way so - not wanting to irritate people further - quickly pulled back onto the main road to Dakar.

Hope that helps a little.
Lee

thanks, had the same experience N of NKC some years ago - they said it was only an -- what you call it -- exercise? nothing permanent

with so many military transferred way east as it seems lately I may just give it a shot, what the heck