Riding the MOST DANGEROUS train in the WORLD
Hi BoBers,
There is a huge train in Mauritania that delivers iron ore from an inland mine in Zouerat to the coastal port of Nouadhibou. For decades, locals have used the empty carriages to travel for free into the desert. More recently, it has attracted travel influencers. This brought corruption, moving some money across the enormous wealth divide.
I took the train from Nouadhibou to a pitstop town called Choum. The station policeman was in full swagger mode, forcing toursts into the passenger car, but really just wanting a bribe. We moved on a bit and he hassled us but didn’t ask for money.
I travelled with a cyclist friend from Hong Kong, David and a badass Chinese solo tourist, Peipei. We learned quickly that this train is not a passenger train. A thunderous roar in the distance rushed towards us and suddenly the wagon floor jerked with a deafening crash. David was standing and fell to his knees. I thought the train had been hit from behind, but this was just the reality of traveling in a train without any cushioning, and happened often.
We were off! We took photos and admired the view and sunset. It was too loud to talk. After the sun set, all that was left was to read my book and try to sleep. Unfortunately, the moon was almost full so we couldn’t really see the stars, even though there was almost no light pollution in the desert.
In the middle of the night the train stopped, some people disembarked and two young guys jumped into our wagon, one wearing a vest and with a radio. They said we weren’t allowed to be there and yelled at us for a bit. We played dumb and they left. They returned later and asked for money and we paid them about 5 euros each. Only afterwards did my hazy brain register that they were probably just some enterprising young men from the village.
We arrived in Choum at 3am, found a spot to camp and grabbed a few hours sleep before washing the bikes and heading off to Atar. All in all a pretty rough and dirty trip through some beautiful scenery, but not nearly as dangerous or difficult as all that, honestly.
In ore, J&BoB
