The Purple Culture Guide to Mauritania

Chapter 1: First Impressions

The first thing that gets you is the light. It's not a metaphor. Mauritania's light is different — flatter, whiter, more honest than the soft, angled light of Europe or the humid haze of West Africa further south. It bounces off sand and pale concrete and hits you with an almost physical weight. You find yourself squinting even with sunglasses on, and you understand immediately why so many people here wear long robes and wrap their heads. It's not fashion. It's architecture against the sun.

If you've arrived by air, your first hour in Nouakchott will likely be confusion. The city is low-rise and dusty, laid out in a wide grid of sandy streets that don't so much end as dissolve into the desert. There are few tall landmarks, and the sea is hidden behind dunes and informal settlements. The airport road, unlike the rest of the city, is smooth asphalt, but it gives way quickly to a maze of dirt tracks and roundabouts. You will notice a lot of unpaved streets, a lot of goats wandering with visible purpose, and a skyline dominated by the minaret of the central mosque and little else. This is one of the world's least photographed capitals, and it takes a moment to recalibrate what a city even is.

The second surprise is the quiet. For a capital city, Nouakchott is strikingly calm. There's no honking orchestra like in Dakar or Cairo. Traffic is sparse, and the pace is slow.