The longest Train in the world

There is only one railway line in Mauritania. Opened in 1963, it consists of a single, 704-kilometre railway, single track standard gauge line linking the iron mining centre of Zouerate with the port of Nouadhibou, via Fderik and Choum. The mining company SNIM controls the railway line. Trains on the railway are up to 2.5 to3 kilometers in length and are longest and heaviest in the world. They carry about 240 cars each carrying up to 84 tons of iron ore. This is the symbol of Mauritanian pride and its picture is on every currency note of Mauritania. (In above photo -Train about 50 Kms from Nouadhibou) In the photo bellow the now abandoned Choum tunnel. You can see the beautiful granite plateau underneath which it was cut.

(In this phot - Train approaching Nouadhibou at he cape Blac Peninsula) Few passenger cars are sometimes attached, but more often passengers simply ride atop the ore hopper cars. And it is free. But it is interesting to take a look at the passenger cars as well. They are not actually like train bogies, but more like containers put on container rakes. As you can see in the photos they are individual containers. I have given photo of both the first class which has A/C and second class. As you see it looks more like as if you are in the cabin of a ship then train.
This National Train of Mauritania has anther distinction – It passes though another country as well and that in Western Sahara. In the early 1960s the French colonial authorities in Mauritania wished to build the line from Nouadhibou to Zouérat to exploit the iron ore reserves at Zouérat. The Spanish authorities then responsible for the Western Sahara negotiated to allow the railway to be built through Spanish territory over relatively level desert but imposed conditions unacceptable to the French. The French engineers therefore built the line parallel with the border and tunneled through the Choum hillspur - two kilometres through solid granite just to stay within French territory. The tunnel has been called a "monument to European stupidity in Africa", because of the difficulty and expense in building it. The absurdity was highlighted when the southern part of the territory of Western Sahara was occupied by Mauritania after the Spanish withdrew in 1975-6. The tunnel is no longer in use and a 5 km section of the railway cuts right through the Polisario Front controlled part of the Western Sahara. I have given a photo of that tunnel. During the Western Sahara War the Gorilla fighters of Polisario raided this train several times, thus disrupting the export of iron ore. The most important source of revenue for the country. Thus Mauritania left all claims on western Sahara and ended war with Polisario fighter and only retained two West Saharan territories. One in Choum were this train is passes thought 5 kms of Western Saharan Territory and other is the town of La Güera in the Cap Blanc, peninsula.

This is the only road crossing of this train that comes when we enter Nouadhibou - and as you see ITS UNMANNED. There is hardly any traffic on this impotent highway which connects together the largest and second largest cities of Mauritania and also goes further to connect Morocco. Also the people in Mauritania are very disciplined. They follow rules. They are not forced to follow it. I have seen that on all the police check posts in the country. Non had any kind of barricade or speed breaker. When people see the sign to stop they always stop.

There are a few Passenger coaches also in this train. They are not like conventional bogies, but basically containers put on a rack.

 As you can see in this photo. The passenger wagons are in reality containers, which are modeled to carry passengers loaded on container carrying carts and not real train bogies

Women looking out of her passenger container

This is inside of a first class container. It has A/C. It looks so much like a ship cabin

And this is second class container. We have some French ladies traveling today.

This is how a first class wagon looks like. Basically a container put on a rack. This is actually a good idea. This allows the company to remove passenger wagons and puts good containers on the racks or vice versa as need arises. 
 

Mauritanian Airlines drained me...

See how week I am looking in this photo.... Because I got into a Mauritanian airlines plane which was five hours late, which made me miss my two connecting flights from different airlines from Dakar and created serious issues with the customs and I have to bribe my way out, as I have to leave the airport in order to book new connecting flights as there is no phone or internet at Nouakchott airport. And what pissed me most was that the air hostess in the plane only gave me a glass of juice in this one hour flight. They served us nothing to eat. When they delay passengers by 5 hours they should at least give then a sandwich. And I was so tired and hungry it shows on my face. Also the airline gave no assistance like phone or internet so that I can contact with the other airlines whose flights I will miss because of their delay. But I like the flight because I love to travel in small planes which have just one seat with every window. Also the fact that about 7o percent of the seats were empty. They were only a handful of passengers. I thought of sending a suggestion to the airlines so that they at least provide something to eat for passengers if they delay the flights. But when I saw its website http://www.mauritaniaairlines.mr/, It was another story. The airlines has the smallest website in the world. With just one page which shows 4 addresses and no photos.
I later discovered that Mauritanian National airlines has just 3 planes and the airline was banned from European airspace by the European Commission, quoting "persisting deficiencies in its operations and maintenance" So it was not allowed to fly to Canary Islands and Paris, the only two European destinations it flew. But now I think this ban is removed. I hope Mauritanian airlines will grow into a much better airlines. I look forward to fly with it again as a small but nice carrier. I wish Mauritanian Airlines all the very best.

Mauritania - The Land of Five Living Presidents

Mauritania has the distinction of being a land of 5 living Presidents. Now that doesn’t sound much of a distinction. But this is a rare feet for a country in Africa, a continent which has a reputation for repeated coups, civil wars and political instability. So coups do happen in Mauritania as in most African nations but they are among the least bloody.
Mauritania is a beautiful and remote country around the northern Atlantic coastline of Africa. Mauritanian Sahara was the last regions in West Africa to be occupied by the French only in 1920’s. And then also they found nothing of use in here, except for one iron ore mine in the north which they exploited. Otherwise this whole region was completely unaffected by French occupation and maintained its own distinct culture. After Independence, unlike the rest of West Africa, it was not much inclined to the French but embarrassed more of the Arabic culture. It not only declared was against Israel as a result of the 1967 Six-Day War but was among the few countries which supported Iraq in the Operation Desert Storm. Thus the country was largely isolated from the western world. Also the people are generally unchanged and follow their own version of modest Islam. Though Islamist Hardliners are slowly creeping in this remote region.
Mauritania is like a cradle of peace lying in North African Sahara. It’s a place where people live an amiable and collective way of life. It’s a place where violence and hatred considered an evil that should be rooted out. So even though it had long unsuccessful war with the Polisario guerrillas of West Sahara and a long violent internal strife with the Black African population on its southern borders with Senegal which still continues, Mauritanians are in general peace loving. The normal Mauritanian is that honest person obsessive about self-esteem and honor.
The country have been known one hundred ago by “the land of 1 million poets” which implies a high amount of peace of mind that dominates the overall behavior. Poetry maintains the feeling of popular culture through describing and molding the social memory. So much so that whenever one opens the National Television of Mauritania, there is almost always only musical poetry. Mauritanians are shaped to become hospital and humanitarian, regardless of the harsh deserted nature.
The fact that it was the last country in the world to end slavery (A law which was not really enforced) only by 1987, and still has (Some say about 20%) of its population as slaves, makes it difficult to believe that the people here are peace loving. Slavery is still largely practiced here in many areas, only because slavery is so integrated in the culture of Mauritania that people here (Both slaves and masters) cannot conceive of a life without this institution of slavery and not that people are violent.
The modesty of Islam backed through the peaceful traditions prevented the cradle of peace from civil wars that many African countries are still seething under. The society includes different races and components harmoniously with one another under the umbrella of brotherhood and social coexistence. Mostly ordinary individuals are not involved in politics as it is not appealing to their everyday life. So Politic here does not affect most of the people here. And few care about it.
Since August 2005 the country has seen 5 presidents, which shows the kind of political instability here. But all the presidents who were deposed are still living in Mauritania. They were not killed or forced into exile. Nor they left the country carrying there large accumulated wealth as many African leaders often do. Now killing another human is considered a great moral crime in Mauritania, so people do not find excuses to kill each other as in other politically unstable and ethnically divided regions of the world. Also saving someone’s life, specially from the desert is considered the highest good that can be done. So in Mauritania when there is a coup the new guy kind of just goes to the old guy and says “
Hi there.. Now your times up, man. Time to go.. Bye Bye. Now take rest.”
So political transits are the least bloody in Mauritania. And all deposed Presidents live in the same country. More or less peacefully. One major exception was President Ould Taya. While Ould Taya was out of the country for the funeral of Saudi king Fahd in early August 2005, soldiers seized government buildings and the state media and he was no longer the president. Ould Taya never returned. Though he was allowed to come back and live peacefully he chose to live in Qatar were his family joined him. In Qatar he is a school teacher, unlike other African heads who go to exile to live a lavish life from the money they have made up as rulers.
So even though Mauritania is like the rest of Coup friendly Africa, it is a land of Poetry and Peace..
And I hope it remains so... But I am greatly disturbed by the rising Islamic fundamentalism that is creeping in the country, specially from its border with Mali. I hope it retains it moderate Islamic culture.