Sadly we had to leave and after thanking our guide, we set off across the sand to the New Town

Looking back with affection at an important and living part of Mauritanian and Islamic history.
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Neither Gabriel nor myself are of the Muslim faith, but we were met with genuine kindness and an honest willingness to both explain Chinguetti's history and to give us details of the various kinds of ongoing architectural restorations and the cataloguing of their priceless manuscripts.
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I hope our contributions towards the local economy will have helped to further their efforts.

Wondering whether we could make the return journey in one stage ..
we drove back through Atar and headed away from the Adrar mountains towards Nouakchott .....

..... on the virtually deserted desert roads.

Dusk came quickly .. as a tiny moon rose high in the sky and darkness descended .....

..... the desert scenery changed to beautifully rich golden colours. Click HERE for a Panorama.

We drove on into the night .. eventually arriving in Nouakchott in the early hours of the morning without incident .. extremely tired from two days of almost constant travelling .. but happy to have been fortunate in experiencing all the sights, sounds and tastes of Northern Mauritania.
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Next day .. we were back in the hustle and bustle of Nouakchott and its crowded markets.
Whilst appreciating the colourful scenes and the abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables on offer
.. we really missed the peace, tranquility and cleanliness which we had so recently enjoyed.