Nema
©
Nema

Nema

Remote Saharan town on Mauritania's eastern edge, with nomadic trade and very basic traveller facilities

Nema is at the eastern edge of Mauritania, an eternity's drive through desolate Sahara or a quick Air Mauritanie flight — scheduled once a week and almost always overbooked. There is nothing particularly special to see here, but the town has a laid-back atmosphere and gives you a chance to encounter people from different nomadic tribes. Timbuktu is not far away across the border in Mali, though getting there may prove very difficult.

Facilities are basic. There is no hotel — camping is possible — but hardy travellers will find a market, a hospital (try to avoid it), and a bank.

Guide

Getting There

Nema is where the road pretty much stops. The Route de l'Espoir takes you here from Nouakchott in about 20 to 30 hours and that should be enough of dusty desert road for anyones apetite.

Should you wish to travel further, according to the most recent reports you can cross into Mali from here, going south in about a straight line.

In principle it should be possible as well to go east directly to Timbouctou (this was what caravans did for centuries) but I have not heard of anyone doing this. If you have done so, please mail me.

Guide

Things to Do

Néma is not a sightseeing town. The pleasure of being here is in the simple fact of being at the end of the road — a small Saharan outpost where the Route de l'Espoir runs out and the desert opens up east into Mali. Spend a morning at the market, walk the dusty grid of streets, and watch how a Saharan border town actually lives.

Guide

When to Go

The only sensible time to be in Néma is the cool season, roughly November to February, when daytime temperatures stay in the high twenties and nights drop sharply. From March through October the heat is punishing — fifty degrees on summer afternoons is normal — and travel along the Route de l'Espoir becomes genuinely dangerous.

The harmattan blows red Saharan dust through the town from December to February, which can ground the weekly flight and reduces visibility on the road. Time a visit around it if you can.