From the airport to the city centre Mauritania
If several companies were created in the pre-Covid period (AlloTaxi, MSP Taxi), they are struggling to operate today. There are individual private cabs at the airport that will take you wherever you want, otherwise the CarApp application is really efficient: using geolocation, it puts you in touch with a community of drivers. Safety assured thanks to the comments available on the quality of the drivers, and speed: in less than 5 minutes in general, a cab is waiting for you where you asked for it. It takes about 30 minutes by cab to get to the city center. No public transportation.
Public transport Mauritania
Minibus companies provide connections from one city to another. The main companies are: First Class, El Moussavir, Essevir, Somacir, Prince.
With a driver Mauritania
If you don't like walking, cabs are an excellent way to get around Nouadhibou and especially Nouakchott. The other cities of the country are not very big, so it is easy to discover them on foot. If you can't find a cab, you are really doing it on purpose. They go around the streets honking their horns as soon as they see a pedestrian, especially a white one, and slow down waiting for a sign from him.
In general, in Mauritania, any vehicle can be a cab! You just have to ask someone, and the magic happens to take you from one neighborhood to another, within the same city.
Taxi-brousse. This is the means of transportation that will allow you to travel almost anywhere in Mauritania. Bush cabs cost between 100 and 500 MRU per 100 km. A detailed list of fares would be both unnecessary and exhaustive. Prices vary according to many criteria: the state of the road or track, the vehicle used (station wagon or 4x4 pick-up), the type of seat occupied, the one next to the driver being more comfortable and therefore more expensive than the ones at the back.
By car Mauritania
It is essential to rent a 4x4 to visit the country's places of interest, unless you have a car or travel by the public transport used by Mauritanians. As for car rental companies, 90% of them are located in Nouakchott and it is a bit of a jungle to find your way around: many of them do not own vehicles and only start looking for a car when they have found a client. A little bit of gumption and a lot of patience will nevertheless allow you to get by. The daily rental of a 4x4 costs about 3,500 MRU with driver, not including fuel.
Highway code. Mauritanians' interpretation of traffic laws is sometimes confusing. This remark is not specific to Mauritania; it is valid in most African countries. On the other hand, the condition of some roads should make you very careful. This is why, if you rent a car, we recommend that you also hire a driver. Traffic is not very heavy in Mauritania, even in Nouakchott; nevertheless, navigating through the streets of the capital requires a certain amount of practice. It must be said that Mauritanians are excellent drivers, as collisions are extremely rare. In the bush, it is advisable to be very careful with animals that can cross in front of your vehicle at any time. Crossing villages requires the utmost vigilance, as children, not always used to traffic, care little for cars. Off-road driving is reserved for experienced people, because in the desert the traps are numerous. The areas of brittle regs, where your vehicle is subjected to a severe test, follow the immense stretches of sand. If you crash in the dunes of the erg Ouarâne, don't expect to get out of it as easily as if you were at the dune of Pilat!
Fuel. You will find gasoline and diesel in all the major cities of Mauritania. If you are going into the bush, plan ahead, as it may be necessary on some routes to carry extra cans of gasoline, and don't forget that off-road driving, especially on soft sand, is particularly fuel-intensive. In April 2023, a liter of gasoline cost 56.64 MRU (49.96 MRU for diesel) in Nouakchott. The further away from the capital, the more expensive it is, except in Nouadhibou where it is cheaper.
