Mauritania

February 13–14, 2014

Mauritania has one of the prettiest names of all the countries in the world.

Mauritania is one of the most useless countries in the world.

Sand, doom and gloom. Total Islam and a complete lack of crime.

The country has no prospects.

But it does have slavery.

Slaves comprise one fifth of the population. The blacks belong to the Arabs. Slave status is inherited.

Of course, all sorts of human rights organizations have bent over backwards to put an end to this, but to no avail—slavery continues to flourish in Mauritania.

It’s the only thing flourishing here.

Nouakchott

A traffic light.

A bus stop sign.

A bus shelter.

A license plate.

Gas canisters are stored on the street in metal cages. It’s easier to transport them this way, and they won’t get stolen.

Every other person on the street is completely wrapped in cloth, to protect them from the sun and sand.

It’s interesting that in Europe, coastlines are one of the most expensive and desirable areas to live in, whereas in Africa, coastlines are the stinky outskirts. The city has zero desire to get any closer to the seashore.

There are only fishermen here.

Lots of fishermen.

And here’s the fish!

No, wait, here it is.

Some bleeding-heart organization set up gray dumpsters along the main street in the hopes of keeping it somewhat clean.

Meh, who needs those gray dumpsters? It’s not like people have anything to throw out.

I’d almost lost all hope of finding anything interesting in the capital when I realized that a curious local feature had been following me around all day: car tires half-buried in the sand.

Sometimes they delineate yards, property or lots.

And sometimes they serve as additional protection for fences.