MAURITANIA - Atar
The streets of Atar, the capital of the Adrar Region and the main gateway to the ancient Moorish cities of Ouadane and Chinguetti.
TVD-Dakar; Day #7, Trip: Mauritania, Atar, Pass Tifoujar, Vale Blanche, Adrar
A breathtaking 18-day 4x4 Expedition full of adventure toward Dakar in my standard Land Rover Discovery II.
It's a Trans-Saharan adventure that connects two continents: Europe and Africa, and crosses five countries: Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania & Senegal.
The crossing from Mauritania #11 days provides technical feats with much sand and tracks passages and Senegal #3 days provide a totally different world, as you drive back along the magical beaches of the shores of Mauritania and Senegal.
Although they are small samples, I hope you enjoy this videos as much as we enjoy bringing them to you.
Special thanks to the entire LeirividaTT team who provided this expedition at the highest level.
GPS:
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Tifoujar canyon, Adrar Atar, Mauritania
Fieldwork mission of 2009 to Mauritania.
Narrow Tijoufar canyon, south of Atar.
Film by N. Sillero
BIODESERTS--Biodiversity of Deserts and Arid Regions
BIODESERTS is a research group hosted by CIBIO/University of Porto. It is focused on assessing biodiversity patterns in deserts and arid regions. The objectives are to: i) advance scientific knowledge on these environments; ii) produce outputs of high scientific standard and guidelines for conservation policies; iii) train human resources in desert evolution and conservation biology; and iv) communicate scientific activities and improve public appreciation on desert biodiversity.
Chinguetti the library of the desert (Mauritania)
Chinguetti la bibliothèque du désert
Chinguetti (Arabic: شنقيط) is a ksour or ancient trading centre in northern Mauritania, lying on the Adrar Plateau east of Atar.
Founded in the 13th century, as the center of several trans-Saharan trade routes, this small threatened city continues to attract visitors who admire its spare architecture, exotic scenery and its ancient libraries.
The indigenous Saharan architecture of older sectors of the city feature reddish dry stone and mud-brick houses,featuring flat roofs timbered from palms. Many of the older houses feature hand-hewn doors cut from massive ancient acacia tress that have long disappeared from the surroundings. Many homes include courtyards or patios that crowd along narrow streets leading to the central mosque.
Notable buildings in the town include The Friday Mosque of Chinguetti,an ancient structure of dry stone featuring a square minaret capped with five ostrich egg finials; the former French Foreign Legion fortress; and a tall watertower. The old quarter of the Chinguetti is home to five important manuscript libraries of scientific and Qur'anic texts, with many dating from the later Middle Ages.
The Chinguetti region has been occupied for thousands of years and once was a broad savannah. Cave paintings in the nearby Amoghar Pass feature pictures of giraffes, cows and people in a green landscape quite different from the starkly beautiful sand dunes of the desert landscape found in the region today.
The city was originally founded in 777, and by the 11th century had become a trading center for a confederation of Berber tribes known as the Sanhadja Confederation. Soon after settling Chinguetti, the Sanhadja first interacted with and eventually melded with the Almavorids, the founders of the Moorish Empire which stretched from present-day Senegal to Spain. The city's stark unadorned architecture reflects the strict, Malikite Islamic beliefs of the Almavorids.
After two centuries of decline, the city was effectively re-founded in the 13th century as a fortified cross-Saharan caravan trading center connecting the Mediterranean with Sub-Saharan Africa. Although the walls of the original fortification disappeared centuries ago, many of the buildings in the old section of the city still date from this period.
For centuries the city was a principal gathering place for pilgrims of the Maghreb to gather on the way to Mecca and it became known as a holy city in its own right, especially for pilgrims unable to make the long journey to the Arab Peninsula. It also became a center of Islamic religious and scientific scholarship in West Africa. In addition to religious training, the schools of Chinguetti taught students rhetoric, law, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. For many centuries all of Mauritania was popularly known in the Arab world as Bilad Shinqit, the land of Chinguetti. Chinguetti is sometimes said to be the seventh holiest city of Islam. There is no recognition of this claim outside of West Africa, but whatever its ranking, the city remains one of the world's most important historical sites both in terms of the history of Islam and the history of West Africa.
Although largely abandoned to the desert, the city features a series of medieval manuscript libraries without peer in West Africa, and the area around the Rue des Savants was once famous as a gathering place for scholars to debate the finer points of Islamic law. Today its deserted streets continue to reflect the urban and religious architecture of the Moorish empire as it existed in the Middle Ages.
Today, along with the cities of Ouadane, Tichitt and Oualata, Chinguetti has been designated as a World heritage site. The Friday Mosque of Chinguetti, is widely considered by Mauritanians to be the national symbol of the country. Mauritania's recently discovered offshore oilfield was named Chinguetti in its honor.
While difficult to get to, Chinguetti's stark beauty and exotic, medieval Islamic architecture make the region an interesting, if challenging, tourist destination for both the adventurous traveler and the Islamic scholar.
VALPARD FILMS
TVD-Dakar; Day #13, Trip: Mauritania, Nouakchott, beach
A breathtaking 18-day 4x4 Expedition full of adventure toward Dakar in my standard Land Rover Discovery II.
It's a Trans-Saharan adventure that connects two continents: Europe and Africa, and crosses five countries: Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania & Senegal.
The crossing from Mauritania #11 days provides technical feats with much sand and tracks passages and Senegal #3 days provide a totally different world, as you drive back along the magical beaches of the shores of Mauritania and Senegal.
Although they are small samples, I hope you enjoy this videos as much as we enjoy bringing them to you.
Special thanks to the entire LeirividaTT team who provided this expedition at the highest level.
GPS:
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Guelb er Richat, Adrar, Mauritania
Fieldwork mission of 2009 to Mauritania.
Film by J.C. Brito
BIODESERTS--Biodiversity of Deserts and Arid Regions
BIODESERTS is a research group hosted by CIBIO/University of Porto. It is focused on assessing biodiversity patterns in deserts and arid regions. The objectives are to: i) advance scientific knowledge on these environments; ii) produce outputs of high scientific standard and guidelines for conservation policies; iii) train human resources in desert evolution and conservation biology; and iv) communicate scientific activities and improve public appreciation on desert biodiversity.
Terjit Oasis in Atar, Mauritania
Terjit is an oasis (means a desert spring or other water source), 45km by road south of Atar and popular with Mauritania's few tourists. It nestles in a gorge on the western edge of the Adrar plateau with the palm grove stretching a few hundred metres alongside a stream which emerges from a spring. There is a modest fee to enter and tourists can pay to stay in tents in the palm grove. It is often used for tourism for its charm, fresh water and shade.
Historically, it has been used for religious ceremonies, especially wedding ceremonies, as well as the coronation of a few African princes. European adventurer Michael Johnson was the first non-African to set foot on the oasis and is largely credited for finding it although Mauritanians had known and celebrated its existence for over 600 years prior.
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TVD-Dakar; Day #6, Trip Mauritania, Ben Amera, Ben Aicha, Terjit Oasis, Atar
A breathtaking 18-day 4x4 Expedition full of adventure toward Dakar in my standard Land Rover Discovery II.
It's a Trans-Saharan adventure that connects two continents: Europe and Africa, and crosses five countries: Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Mauritania & Senegal.
The crossing from Mauritania #11 days provides technical feats with much sand and tracks passages and Senegal #3 days provide a totally different world, as you drive back along the magical beaches of the shores of Mauritania and Senegal.
Although they are small samples, I hope you enjoy this videos as much as we enjoy bringing them to you.
Special thanks to the entire LeirividaTT team who provided this expedition at the highest level.
GPS:
R
The Most Surreal Places on Earth Part-V
The Most Surreal Places on Earth
1. Glen Brittle, Scotland
Glen Brittle is a large glen in the south of the Isle of Skye, in Scotland. The magic Fairy Pools you see in the picture run down from the mountains into the glen. The area is extremely popular among hikers and mountain bikers. The marvelous lilac slopes above the Fairy Pools are covered with thick forests full of rare plants and animals and who knows, maybe even elves and fairies have found their refuge in this mystical place.
2. Cano Cristales, in the Serrania de la Macarena, province of Meta
Cano Cristales is a unique biological wonder often referred to as the river of five colors or the river that ran away from paradise and the world's most beautiful river. Greater part of the year, Cano Cristales looks like any other river, but during a brief period of time yearly, it bursts into blossom and turns into the vibrant explosion of colors. Between wet and dry seasons, when the water level is just as required, a unique Macarenia clavigera plant turns the river into a sparkling ruby red stream, contrasting to the patches of yellow and green sand, blue water, and the enumerable shades in between.
3. Mount Roraima, South America
This rock soaring in the clouds is called Mount Roraima, the highest mountain of the Pakaraima chain of tepui plateau in South America. The mountain includes the triple border point of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. The tabletop mountains of the park are considered some of the oldest geological formations on Earth, dating back to nearly two billion years ago. The mountain's highest point within Venezuela is Maverick Rock, which is 2810 m high.
4. Richat Structure, Mauritania
Look into the Eye of Sahara, isn't it impressive? The Richat Structure is a prominent circular feature in the Sahara desert lying in the west-central Mauritania near Ouadane. This structure is a deeply eroded, slightly elliptical dome, 40-km in diameter. Differential erosion of the resistant layers of quartzite has created these high-relief circular cuestas. Its center consists of a siliceous breccia covering an area of approximately 3 km in diameter. Initially, there was a theory that the structure appeared as a result of an extraterrestrial asteroid impact. Looking at the circularity of the Eye, you might be inclined to believe it, but the point is now argued to the favor of highly symmetrical and deeply eroded geologic dome.
5. Grand Prismatic Spring - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
If you want to see something really magnificent, put Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming into your list. This hot spring is the largest in the United States and the third largest in the world. The devilish colors of the spring strike the imagination! The water is saturated blue, with red lava-like color surrounding it. Would you like to know the secret? This amazing tint is produced by the pigmented bacteria. They form microbial mats around the edge of the water. Seasonal temperatures as well as levels of chlorophyll and carotenoids greatly influence the hue of the bacteria. The mats do not form in the center of the spring because the water is too hot for bacterium's live cycle. The water is heated by the underground vents, which are a part of the volcanic system, the Yellowstone stands on.
Mauritania 06
Viaje a Mauritania por Marruecos y Sahara Occidental en Land Rover Defender.
31-12-2008: Terjit - Atar - Pass d'Amogjar - Site rupestre d'Agrour - Ouadane.