Journey across the Sahara on top of Mauritania’s iron ore train at dusk
Mauritania
Until recently, I didn’t know where it was on the map. And now it’s the place where I fulfilled my old, absurd childhood dream: to ride on the roof of a freight train through the desert. Alone. Under the stars. Like in that black-and-white photo from the TV that got stuck in my head for the rest of my life.
When I was a child, I didn’t have the sea, new things, or travel. There were tulip beds for sale and things from my older sister. But there were dreams. And now, with my second child on the way, I decide: it’s time to fulfill one of them before it’s covered up along with the development of tourism.
A ticket to Mauritania — and a farewell, like the last time
Without French, without Arabic, without a husband (someone has to stay with the children). Grandma is not an option. And I just buy a ticket. I really say goodbye to everyone, like the last time 😅 My husband, however, supported me: he said, you will cope.
And then — everything was like in a fog. Arrival at night, Couchsurfing, the guide sent a friend who not only picked me up from the airport, but also paid for the hotel, refusing to take my money. Then — an overnight stay in the same guide’s apartment (on the first night it was occupied… by a driver who flew into donkeys 😳).
Tea with a stranger, mattresses on the street and camels in the desert
At 6 am — a bus for six hours deep into the country, to the Terjit oasis. There, a man stands on the road and says: bonjour, madam. I also try to mumble something French in response. I heard the word “tea” — and went to drink tea with a completely unfamiliar guy 😄
Further — even more fun: camels, nomads, spending the night in the open air, sleeping in the back of a jeep, mattresses on the street, because sleeping in huts is like an oven. And the main attraction — 19 hours on the roof of a train with ore across the Sahara…
This train doesn’t wait. You either jump on it or you’re left
There’s no schedule. You arrive and wait – maybe an hour, maybe seven. I was lucky – I only waited an hour. The train was coming from somewhere far away. And then I realized that it wasn’t stopping. You had to jump on it while it was still moving.
I ran next to the train, with a backpack and a bag of food, with horror in my eyes. The stairs were between the cars. One attempt. If you don’t make it, you’ll just be run over by the next car. I made it. I climbed in. I exhaled. A few more minutes — and that’s when I noticed my hands starting to shake…
Driving on ore is like racing over a meteorite in the night sky
The dust from the rock flies in your face, they pour water on it to tame it a little. I dug a hole in the ore, wrapped myself up and slept in it, because it was very cold at night. I hid my head inside a garbage bag to eat a banana and not crunch on iron crumbs 😅
But I saw such a sunset and such a sunrise that it was as if I had been between two universes! If I could, I would immediately go back on the same train. And I would also have a bachelorette party on the roof of this train. And one day I will definitely go – with my husband.
