The Kiffa market is the commercial heart of the Assaba region, drawing traders and buyers from the surrounding desert and Sahel for hundreds of kilometres. It is a proper working market rather than a tourist attraction, with sections for livestock, grain, cloth, household goods, and the Kiffa beads for which the town is famous beyond Mauritania.
The livestock section is particularly worth seeing if you arrive on a market day: camels, goats, and donkeys traded according to customs that have barely changed in a century. The cloth section has locally produced fabrics alongside imported goods from Senegal and Mali. The market is most active in the mornings before the midday heat arrives; by early afternoon it quietens considerably. Bring small denomination ouguiya for purchases — change is scarce.