Frequently Asked Questions

Absolutely! Mauritania is one of the safest countries you can visit. Its people are proud to share their culture of hospitality, friendliness and honor. Our greeting is “salam alaykum,” which translates to, “may peace be with you.” This is not only a greeting, but a promise to provide you with peace.

As of today thousands of Europeans, Americans, British, and so many other nationalities live and raise their kids in Mauritania, roaming its desert and visiting its beautiful attractions safely and stress-free.

To obtain a Mauritanian visa you simply have to apply online. The Mauritanian government tries to issue an approval as soon as they can, but sometimes there are issues with the system and delays can occur. If you are traveling with Sidi Tours and haven’t heard a response about your visa, send us your confirmation number and we can help to get it expedited.

For visitors traveling with Sidi Tours, use your Nouakchott hotel name as your local destination, provide our phone number as the local contact (+222 22 23 23 01), and you can optionally upload the itinerary document that we provide to you as your letter of invitation, but should not be required for your visa approval.

The desert train is one of the top reasons for travelers coming to Mauritania, and we understand why! It’s important to understand that the train is a privately owned rail belonging to the iron mining company, SNIM. Security and scheduling of the train and boarding its cars is not up to us, but we find a 90% chance that you will be able to ride it. If boarding is not possible from one location, it usually is from another.

Lately, the schedule has been very unreliable and led to delays in the latter portions of our guests’ tours. Our team is experienced in coordinating the best possible boarding chances for our tour guests, and are able to make contingencies in the case of delays. In some cases, the train arrives in Nouadhibou in the evening instead of the morning, depending on delays. This may result in an added hotel cost to spend the night in Nouadhibou unexpectedly, without the time to set up a campsite.

Yes, definitely. Many women travel alone in Mauritania without issue. Not only is this because Mauritanians are peaceful and respectful—but culturally, women are treated with more respect than men.

There are currently no vaccine requirements for Mauritania.

Group tour departures are guaranteed for 4 of our Adrar-region tours even with only 1 guest. These tours are Mauritanian Highlights, Heart of Adrar, Adrar Adventure and Adrar & Banc d’Arguin. The 2 tours that we have venturing into the Tagant region require at least 3 guests to depart. These tours are The Ancient Cities, and UNESCO World Heritage Tour. Tours that require a minimum guest count to depart are marked as such in the description.

Accommodation in Mauritania can vary widely, depending on your personal standards and budget. Sidi Tours works hard to balance cost, quality, and amenities for our tour guests. We work with guest houses that honor our reservations so that there are no surprises when our guests show up to their booking. We also like to ensure that they provide high quality food that is consistently served on time if meals are included. We only work with honest and reliable hotels and guest houses so that our guests are safe and comfortable while enjoying a clean and friendly experience.

Night camping is one of the ways that we connect our guests with nomadic Saharan tradition. We sleep in large, spacious nomad-style tents that sleep 3-4 adults comfortably. They are designed to block the wind so that you do not wake up with sand all over you. We provide lifted cots so that our guests are sleeping off the ground, as well as bug nets to keep mosquitos away. In the hotter summer nights (late April to early October), guests may find it more suitable to sleep in the open air under the stars, as the tents can trap heat and get quite hot. During the prime tour season, however, our tents make for a very comfortable sleep.

For our nomadic campsites, we also pack a dining table and chairs, so that guests are able to enjoy their chef-prepared meal comfortably. On cooler nights, our team will also prepare a campfire for guests to sit around and share stories. Campsites take some time to set up and break down, so please be patient with our team and feel free to explore surrounding areas while they are handling this task.

Toilets are not available during night camping. Our team will have a small shovel, which is used to dig a hole in the ground. Guests who need to defecate will need to do this in order to bury their stools. Any toilet paper used should be burned on the spot to prevent pollution.

A pump shower will be available depending on the route and access to water. Guests can use this to lightly rinse their bodies and apply some soap to get clean after a long, hot day.

Breakfasts include things like crepes, bacon or sausage, eggs, toast, jams and jellies, yogurts, and coffee or tea.

Lunches are light but hearty so as to not leave our guests too sluggish in the desert heat–they are comprised of fresh vegetables like cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, fish like sardines and tuna, prepared over rice or with breads.

Our dinner meals are 3-course, including a soup or appetizer, a main course, and a desert. Main courses use a variety of fresh, locally-raised meats like chicken, goat, camel, or fresh fish accompanied with vegetables like carrots, eggplant, celery, onions and peppers, and grains like rice or couscous.

Your menu may vary, and depends on the combined dietary needs of the group, and the tastes of the chef on your tour. You are welcome to inform us of any dislikes or preferences before your trip begins

Yes, of course! We have a wide variety of meals that can be prepared. For any guests on a tour who have allergies, food restrictions, or preferences, we will work our best to accommodate their needs. All our chefs have extensive experience preparing meals for all types of diets.

Please review our planning tips to get an idea of what you should bring. If you have any specific questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

For guests participating in a trekking tour, this is absolutely guaranteed. For guests embarking on a driving tour, it is very likely that you will meet a nomadic camel herder in the desert who will let you ride their camels. Camel riding is not an included part of our driving tours, but camels are so common that this is an easy experience to facilitate.

Most of our tours are driving tours and do not require any hiking. Some itineraries include an optional one-hour hike from Terjit to a wadi where they camp. This is not required and can be skipped by anyone who does not want to do this.

Trekking tours are mostly entirely hiking, so of course hiking is required for these tours. However, guests embarking on a trekking tour will be fully aware of this are deliberately looking to hike for most of their trip.

The best way is to wear light clothing made of cotton or linen, that is long and flowing. This is why many desert nomads wear the djellaba because it covers their skin and protects them from the desert sun.

Mauritania uses 220-volt electrical system. Guests arriving from North America may need a voltage converter for their normal electronics if they do not already have a converter plug on them. Many electronics such as phone and laptop charges already have a converter that converts the current into 12-volt current for their device. Please do your research in regards to how to know what voltage your electronics need. If you plug a 110-volt electronic into a 220-volt outlet, it will break. We do not recommend bringing hair dryers or curling irons, as they use variable wattage which may overload the electrical systems here and break or cause a fire. Please leave these high-capacity electronics at home.

There are only 2 mobile carriers in Mauritania: Chinguitel and Mauritel. SIM cards for these providers cannot be purchased before arrival, and require visitation to a store, creation of an account, fingerprinting, etc, in order to set up. This can take a long time, depending on how busy the stores are (and they are usually quite busy!), so we do not recommend trying to set up your own SIM card service if you are visiting for just the duration of a tour. Our team can provide a mobile hotspot for guests to use their phones on a prepaid data service, wherever signal is available. Otherwise, many hotels and guest houses will offer complimentary wi-fi to their guests along the journey.

Mauritania is a dry country. There are no bars in the country, and you will not find any stores selling alcohol. There is a common 0% ABV beer called Bavaria that many people like to enjoy instead. Or there is the “desert whiskey” as it’s called–Mauritanian tea!

Cannabis and other psych-active drugs are illegal in Mauritania. These are highly prohibited and possession is quite punishable. Please do not bring any substances into the country except for doctor-prescribed medications, or dry snacks that you may want to enjoy during your trip that are native to your own country.

While we have many older guests over 70 years of age each year, they are usually quite active individuals. Mauritania is not ideal for those who need walking assistance. There are no accessibility codes, and desert sand can be very hard to navigate in a wheelchair or with a cane, since it doesn’t provide a solid surface for balance.