A World Heritage Site and major breeding site for migratory birds. Taking up most of the coastline from the north of Mauritania to Nouakchott, the park is massive geographically and also in significance to bird and marine conservation. We entered in the middle via a sandy track about 35km and exited the same way although there is the possibility to drive the entire length along the coast to Nouakchott, something to do next time!!

The road inland is very long and very dry; nothing to see but sand, the odd dusty village and a mountain of discarded plastic bottles. While a programme is in place to delivery water by truck to the villages and this is then stored in large plastic bags on the ground, most people still get their water in plastic bottles and these are discarded on the roadside, normally just at the outskirts but also just outside the houses. There is no garbage collection or organised disposal in any of the villages and not evident in the cities if it does exist; a tragic state of affairs.