Diesel R11 Tidjikja to Nema Mauritania

[maurice joyce]

We are planning trip to Timbucktu in Jan 2011 via Choum Atar Nema using R2 R10 R11
Is diesel available on R 11 if so where
We are short of time for trip , how many days for R2 R10 and R11 ?
I am thinking of one night camping on R2 And four nights on R10 / R11
Has anybody done these pistes in the last while ?

Thanks
Maurice

[Chris Scott]

Hi Maurice, no fuel on R11 last I heard, apart from possibly Tichit, Oulata or other travellers in between. It's a long piste so you need to be autonomous.

I think you can comfortably double your estimates for the time taken to cover 1800 km of sandy piste from the border to Nema. When you get there you will see why.

If time is short I would just do one of the routes you list or simply continue on the road - you could get to Nema 3 nights, I suppose.

Ch

[maurice joyce]

Chris

Thanks for that , we are in two 4x4 from Dublin trying to make the music festival in Jan 2011

Maurice

[Robin-79]

Is there any news about the safty of these routes. Is the threat of AQIM stil there? I'm planning a similair trip with a 4X4 and a bike but i'm not sure about the safety....

[Chris Scott]

I think if I was going to the festival (is it right in Timbuktu town? It must be, or even somewhere south) I'd sooner fly in to Bamako and go overland this winter.

We were just shown this map, but it has the usual generous safety margins.

The French version is here (dated Sept/10 - taken from this page). There are no doubt others.

As for Mori there is no FO map yet that I could find but if you want a quiet night's sleep the French MAE map (also Sept 2010) tells it broadly like it is, if you have no feel for the area. (I presume there is a 'safe corridor' from Morocco north of NBD).

The threat in Mori is thought to be from the east where AQIM (MBM faction presumably) have got it in for the Moris, but as we know, last year they were able to reach far west and south in Mori, presumably with the help of local 'spotters'. That is what makes it so unpredictable.

Ch

(I see the Fr say the 'Dakar-Bamako train is obsolete. Travel conditions are precarious'. What a shame).