Travels in Mauritania

It is more usual that where Mauritania features in a book, it is one of the Saharan countries travelled through as a part of a longer journey. This book is more unusual, in that the author travels extensively through Mauritania, and writes about this country only.

And this books covers a lot of ground. The author visits many towns and villages, and he doesn't rush, spending several days in a village that seems to have about a days worth of things to see. Because of this, the book is largely about people and relationships he makes, which makes it an interesting read.

Very poor, Mauritania is a huge country with vast areas very sparsely populated, and with ever reducing rainfall, the country appears in a bad way. However poor the people seem, they never fail to meet their obligation to house and feed a visitor, and their generosity is amazing, given their often subsistence lifestyles. Not frequently visited by tourists, this book give insights in Mauritanian life that other books don't.

There are some great photos (black & white) in the middle of the book, but only thing detracting from the book are the sketches which occur in most chapters. They are pretty poor, and I am unsure why they were added in, if anything they detract from the writing.