Nouakchott Transportation

It's not very fancy to take a driver when in Afria. And your driver will save you a lot of trouble and time by keeping you safe as well as taking you wherever you fancy.

My driver, Abdullaye SY is a tall man who knows everyone, everywhere and will take care of you as if you were his child. Unbelievably helpful. Whether you're there for business (oh the time he will save you...) or on holiday (and want to be helped discovering the town), as essential as a clean hotel room.

Abdullaye speaks French (and arabic and somewolof and bambara) but knows a few words of english and is anyhow very helpful.

He doesn't go outside Nouakchott but will help you with organising your trip further and finding reliable people.

In Nouakchott, unless you know exactly where you are going, and how to get there, don’t take a taxi (drivers scarcely speak French, and usually don’t know the place you want to go to, and most of all, there are no real address here, everything is “near” something, or on the road to somewhere... that’s how you give directions!

The best driver according to me, is Mr. Abdoullahi SY (cell: 630 7550). He has been working with my company for many years. He’s a bit expensive, but damn worth it. He’s way more then a driver and will help you with about everything you need, from shopping to organizing a tour, dealing with the authorities, etc… And most of all, he’s very reliable !

An other one is Saidou (630 8075), He’s the second best I found in the country and a little cheaper, and nearly as helpful as Mr. Sy, but not as reliable..

There is one English-speaking driver (he doesn’t speak French though) I know, Mohamed Lemine (662 0045) cheaper then the two others. He is a nice older man who will do his best to please you, but he's extremely slow and only good for driving, don’t expect from him anything else then driving you from one point to an other!!!!

If you need to rent a four-wheel car (to go in the center of the country or to Nouadhibou by road), you can rent one from M. Chebani, the owner of a tourism agency (next to Park Hotel), he’s very nice and makes good prices (fixed line: 529 5657), and can also organise tours to Terjit's oasis or anywhere!
Remember that you need to know when the tide is LOW to drive north, since the only road, up to know and my knowledge, is still the sea-shore!!! There was a project of building a paved road that would go from north to south, but... things are slow...

To go to Nouadhibou by plane: Air Mauritania!!! Faster, and almost cheaper!!!

like locals do, donkeys are a big alternative :o)
this is a big way of transportation all around the country. in the plage du pecheurs or in the fishermen's beach this animal is often use to carry everything.