The covered market in the centre of town is the social hub of Néma. Goats, sheep, dates, millet, tea, and a few stalls of cheap Chinese goods change hands under makeshift roofs of corrugated iron and cloth. The traders are a mix of Moors, Soninké, Bambara, and Tuareg, and most exchanges happen in Hassaniya Arabic, French, or a mix of both.
It is not big and it is not picturesque, but it is the best place to feel the cultural overlap that gives Néma its character — a Mauritanian town with the smell and sound of the western Sahel.