Mauritania Insiders road

Nouakchott, march 20th.

In a few months, the mystery that surrounds Mauritania and the road acrross Sahara will be other. In a few months, Tanger will be entirely linked by a tarred ribbon, that will allow mister anybody to cross Western Sahara. People will discover the colors and smells of Nouakchott. Gas stations will florish along a once lifeless road. Some, more adventurous will prefer drive the 7000km journey to Dakar rather than taking the plane. While preparing their trip, completing vaccines and stocking water purifying pills, they will read again Saint Exupery, print some Aeropostale poster in order to get in the mood and feel like genuine adventurers. The trip will be wonderful, full of encounters with camels, policemen dress in sand colors and car squelettons.

The road will be fully paved with hotels and restaurants and your major concern will be not to get overpriced for the service provided by locals, in search for naïve tourists.

They won't now that the road once belonged enterily to car emperors. It was at a time when the border city between Morroco and Mauritania was composed of one house and tens “cabans”.
The people in charge of the toll had no air conditionning, and their bedroom, restroom, office and kitchen, was one and only wooden room roughly covered by tissu. They wont know that their was no road between the morrocan tolls and the mauritanian. They won't know that most of the people daring crossing the 1500 miles road across the desert were car dealers buying very cheap cars in France or Belgium with the aim of selling them in Nouakchott or Bamako. They won't know those guys always whispered with a suspicious eye always opened and never finished their sentences in order to let you believe they were real “insiders”. They were crossing the street in search for potential buyers at reasonnal prices. They were sometimes going to the main street car market where you could. Travellers won't know these guys were in love with their cars. They won't know that the guys were pride to be the only ones to dare an adventure there.
Maybe these guys will head further inside Africa in Mali, Niger, or Burkina.

Or maybe they will become tourists guide and show the 'insiders road', with old cow boys accents.