Day 44: Noaudhibou, Villa Maguela – Between dunes

Breakfast, packing, paying and chatting a bit, saying goodbye to Domi and Lio (they're heading straight to Senegal to surf) and Abdul (who won't be driving the off-road route and who we hope to see again in Atar).

Then fill up with gas and buy bread and head east on the track parallel to the railway.

The famous Iron Ore Train transports ore from Zouérat to Noaudhibou and is said to be the longest train in the world at around 2.3 km. Ian counts 208 carriages plus locomotives on one of the trains we see. Some trains have one or two passenger cars attached – but the crowds are said to be quite heavy because tickets are probably sold multiple times. Some locals have always traveled on the ore wagons, exposed to wind, sun, cold and dust for up to 14 hours. Among travelers, taking a ride is one of THE adventures.

That's nothing for us. We are now driving through the desert by car. For Wolle it is his first experience with sand and deep sand (after one or two shorter sections in Namibia).

After getting stuck at the beginning, we (primarily Wolle) learn a lot over the course of two days. Deflate. Don't be too fast when driving in a lane and don't steer too hard. But never let up on the accelerator and when the car slows down, step on the accelerator – even give it a lot of gas.

The whole thing takes place at a speed between 25 and 40 kmh. This then leads to us increasing consumption to over 18 l, but all deep sand passages pass really well, even if it's 15 minutes in a row before you can come to a stop somewhere again. And Wolle can take a breath. Well done!

Desert. There are hardly any dwellings and if there are, they seem to be nomads or construction workers' shelters with plastic and cloth tarpaulins that are often torn apart by the wind. But there must be other people living here too, because at night we see wandering lights here and there. Every now and then little birds. Rarely goats, occasionally camels. Every now and then camel carcasses, where small sand dunes are already piling up. Maybe the beginning of every dune is a dead camel?

In the evening we find a nice spot between the dunes – but we need a windbreak for cooking.

At the end of the day there is a small fire, some tea, the wind dies down, the stars shine and it is absolutely quiet. Wonderful!