On December 7th, after breakfast, Sid'Ahmed took us out for a
walk to one of the numerous oasis in the surroundings of Atar. By
taking not the direct way to this oasis, we first reached the dry canyon
south-west of Atar. Even more impressive than the already impressive
landscape on the way – with dark, colorful, nicely shaped stones, mixed
with bright sand full of many traces of a whole bunch of animals and the
green of various plants – there, standing on the edge of the high
platform of the canyon, one can not be any different than excited by the
beauty of the desert. Running down on a steep “wall of sand” and into
the gorge, we made our first short break in the shadow of palm trees
whilst drinking the delicious Mauritanian tea. Refreshed we fallowed the
canyon to where it opens to a valley and there it was: the oasis!
Amazing, how it is possible, that water is coming out of the ground and
that small fishes are swimming happily in the middle of a desert, in
which you suppose no life at all. Covert by a big, shadow-giving rock
and sitting beside the green water, we made a pick-nick, again
accompanied by the obligatory tea. After an hour of rest and already
slightly tired after more than 8 km of walk in the hot hot heat but also
grown stronger by the food we ate, we commenced our way back to Atar –
the sun now burning our backs. A taxi-driver, who crossed our way, was
finally invitation enough to finish our trip a little bit earlier than
we usually would have done and to relax in Sid'Ahmeds' Auberge Inimi.
The drivers' lift reduced the distance we walked from more than 15 km to
about 12 km. For me this half-day journey was definitely one of the
highlights during my two months in West-Africa. Very, very impress and
nice!
