We are up early and are getting ready for a day with lots of waiting. After a quick breakfast at 7:00 AM, we break camp and drive off and wait at 7:50 AM just outside the campsite for the convoy to be assembled. It seems some are just taking their time, or maybe they are having troubles with their vehicles. The convoy is finally assembled at 9:40 AM and after they give us back our passports, we are off, driving towards the border - only to be stopped 5 minutes later for 30 minutes. Then we are off again, and this is where it starts to get very interesting. The road quickly becomes quite bad and is reduced to nothing much more than a track (and a very rough one). Some cars are beginning to have troubles, with one guy losing his entire muffler and exhaust (he just stops, runs back and throws it in the back (which cannot then close!!). We finally make it to the border and we have to wait again. There are no markings at the border other then the immigration hut and a metal rod in the ground.
Immigration is a small stone hut with a small window, with dozens of people crowded around it trying to get their passports stamped. We wait our turn, but at least we have some amusement in watching the other cars that have already cleared customs. Just after the hut is a small sandy hill that people have to drive over and many have troubles (sorry, could not take pictures). The first was the big passenger bus. He buried his entire rear axle in the sand. After quite a lot of digging and pushing he finally made it out and over. A few of the other cars had troubles and we would watch as they had to dig themselves out and try to get over. There were a number of madmen in the crowd and they would be racing at high speed, not paying too much attention to anyone else. We had lunch on board while waiting. The other amusement were two border guards who asked Paolo if he wanted to stay behind (with them, we presume).
We clear immigration at 1:30 PM (the last ones to do so - most likely because we had so many people and they had to write down every detail) and now it is our turn to get over the small sand mound - no problems and we are over, only to stop once again. This time it is the police check point, where they go through everything they went through at immigration. At 2:45 we clear the police check point and then proceed on to customs. This is quite fast and at 2:55 PM we are on our way. But just in front of us, a couple of the vans have got stuck in the sand. We get through the sand and then give the stuck vans a hand to get out. Mark has prepared a tow line at the back of the truck and it is a simple matter of tying it up to the van and pulling it out. In the mean time, a car that had been too impatient to wait had tried to go around the long way and had gotten stuck. We all gave him a push and he was also clear.
We then headed on our way to Nouadhibou. The road was a mess - it must not have been repaired in ages and it was often smoother to drive off the road on the dirt as the pavement was so broken up. In places the sand had been blown across the road and this is where people started getting stuck. In the first big mound, we all got out of the truck and it got up speed and raced into the sand. As it slowed down and before it stopped, we would get behind and push (and it weighs about 17 tons, so it is hard pushing), and we were able to get through. We then used the tow rope and our muscle power to pull/push a few people out of the sand and get them on their way. It was all lots of good fun.
At around 5 PM we cross the railroad tracks and make our final way into Nouadhibou, the second largest city in Mauritania. While we were the last to cross the border, we were one of the first to get all the way through - that is what happens when you have a superior vehicle!!! We are staying at a small camp site here for two nights. We need to sort out a few details and stock up on some food for our 4 day drive through the desert.