Day 1

Arrival in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania. Pick-up from the airport and accommodation at the 3-star Hotel Flora in Nouakchott.

Day 2

After breakfast, we start the long drive towards the Sahara Desert. After about five hours we arrive at the oasis of Terjit, a lush oasis surrounded by majestic mountains. At the oasis, you can take a dip in a cool spring. We will enjoy lunch at the oasis and then continue via the small village of Mheirith, famous for its unique rock formations, to the town of Chinguetti further into the Sahara.

Chinguetti is a medieval caravan town and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town is known for its ancient libraries and stunning architecture. We stay overnight at the Auberge Caravane du désert in Chinguetti.

The total daily driving time is about 545 kilometres, or about 7 hours.

Day 3

We continue our exploration of Chinguetti in the morning, then drive to the town of Ouadane, also a UNESCO World Heritage-listed medieval caravan town. We explore the city's magnificent architecture, then drive a short distance east of the city to a remarkable geological formation known as the Richat Structure or "Eye of the Sahara". The massive formation, which resembles an eye, is about 45 kilometres wide in diameter. In the evening we return to Ouadane, where we stay overnight at Auberge Zaida.

Day 4

After breakfast, the journey continues. We drive to the Amogjar Pass, where we see magnificent lava formations and 6,000-year-old rock art. We pass the town of Atar and continue on to the small town of Choum, right on the border with Western Sahara. We enjoy lunch and at some point in the afternoon/evening we board an iron ore train. The train is the longest and heaviest in the world and carries Mauritania's main export, iron ore, from the outskirts of Zouérat in northern Mauritania. A train ride on top of a load of iron ore is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, quite a dirty one, but certainly a memorable one. We travel in our own carriage across the Sahara at night for about 12 hours. Bring your ski goggles from home in case of ore dust!

NOTE: It is possible to skip the iron ore train trip and replace it with another programme.

Day 5

In the morning, between 8 and 11 am, the train will reach Nouadhibou, the second largest city in Mauritania. We will check into Hotel Al Jezira, wash up, rest and in the afternoon we will set off to explore Nouadhibou, with a population of around 120 000, and have lunch at a local restaurant.

After lunch, we drive to the tip of the Cap Blanc peninsula, where with luck we will see endangered monk seals. The peninsula is divided in two with Mauritania and Western Sahara and was once a large ship graveyard, but nowadays the Chinese have bought up the abandoned ships' material and the peninsula's beaches have been cleaned up.

In the evening, we have dinner at the Ice NBC restaurant. Accommodation at Hotel Al Jezira in Nouadhibou.

Day 6

Today we drive back to Nouakchott and explore Mauritania's young capital, which was still a sleepy fishing village in the 1950s. Today it is home to around a million Mauritanians – at the crossroads of the Sahara and the Atlantic! We will visit the fish market on the Atlantic coast, the camel market and the Mauritanian National Museum. Lunch and dinner. Accommodation at Hotel Flora in Nouakchott.

The total daily driving time is about 480 kilometres, or about 6 hours.

Day 7

Depending on the departure time of your flight, you may have some free time today to explore Nouakchott on your own. Transfer to the airport.