Dakhla, Western Sahara
There's not much to do in Dakhla town centre, just a few hotels and restaurants. It's a stop off point really, between Morocco and Mauritania. There are a few hotels here in the Town, also this is where you can find a share taxi to Nouadhibou or Nouakchott, early morning. Just north of Dakhla, (pictured above) is a popular kite surfing venue, passing it I saw at least 50 kite surfers.I arrived late evening and asked around for a share taxi the following morning, I was told to come at 7am and the taxi will leave right away. I arrived the next morning at 7am, and there was no-one there, so I sat and waited. At around 8am, 3 more passengers came, a car, and a driver. The driver who agreed to take me at 7am was nowhere to be seen. I was told that the car could not go with less than 6 people so continued waiting and was talking with another passenger from Japan. She persuaded me that we should hitchhike as it was already 11am, so I went to tell the driver, and all of a sudden he jumped up and had 6 people. He had just been waiting for a 7th passenger but didn't want to risk losing 2 passengers. We then left straight away, the cost was 350 Dirham. Just as we were leaving, the driver who arranged to meet me at 7am arrived and started complaining that I was going with another driver!
Share taxi, Dakhla to Mauritania border - 350 Dirham
The taxi ride to the border was about 3 hours, with a short bathroom stop at a decent enough place. Arriving at the border, I got my exit stamp from Morocco, changed taxis from a 7 seater to a 4 seater, so everyone had to squash in, it would have been worse if there was a 7th passenger! The taxi then crossed no mans land which is paved half way, I guess they are paving the rest and it should be completed soon.On arriving in Mauritania, I didn't have a visa because the embassy in Rabat was closed, the Japanese tourist also didn't have her visa, but is confident as the Japanese sites say it is possible. First we went into the police station, who checked our passports and sent us to the Visa office. Not really a visa office, but a hot, dirty old room in he middle of the desert. They were issuing visas in there, those who were first time in the country needed to get fingers scanned and a photo taken by the webcam, no photocopies or passport photos required! The cost would be €120 or $150, no Dirhams accepted. I sat down, got my fingers scanned and photo taken, then the internet stopped working so I could not get my visa yet. The internet never came back on that day so the police confiscated all passports until the following morning and told us we had to sleep at the border.
Three of the passengers from the taxi did get there visas and were told they had to leave the border immediately. One was a 9 year old boy, and his fathers visa wasn't issued so he got special permission to stay on at the border with his visa. The police then gave us permission to stay in a hostel just over the border anyway without our passports. It was interesting to see who stays at the border, money changers, trucks that arrive late wanting to cross over to Morocco, the Borat lookalike heckler, I've seen mentioned in other blogs.
After a night at the border, the Visa office was supposed to open at 9am, it actually opened around 11am, but the internet was now working and I paid €120 for my 30 day single entry visa. The taxi driver was already back to take us to Nouadhibou, the police just needed to check which route I was taking through Mauritania and we were off.
Taxi 2 - border to Nouadhibou (included in 350 Dirham)
In Nouadhibou, the taxi dropped me off on the first roundabout on the way into town. Less than 30 meters from this point is the station for the minibus to Nouakchott, which has wifi on board and takes about 5 hours. The company copies your visa several times to give to the police at the many checkpoints so you never need to get off, just for the toilet breaks.Nouadhibou to Nouakchott - 6000 - 5 hours