Alone in NBD

Ali gave me a warm welcome on arrival and asked how Gianni was and where I had last seen him. He organised a room for me and went off to get some bottled water as he could see I wasn't all that well!

I slept a while and was woken by my stomach which was getting worse, not better. Eventually I ventured out into NBD feeling very guilty about leaving Julian to his own devices, I went down towards Imal Camping and met Amandou on the street who told me that Julian had turned up and was safely esconsed with him. He asked me why I wasn't there too and I explained the situation ... little did I know what Amandou had in mind to do next ...

Back at La Baie, there were some Germans who spoke English but not French and were trying to sort out mobile phones, arriving back Ali asked me to take them to the Mauri-Tel shop and organise their SIM cards. I hoped that I'd find out that these Germans were heading north and I could get a lift, Hans was homocide policeman in Bonn on holiday with his Land Rover and had met up with a couple and their campervan; unfortunately both vehicles were heading south. I asked Ali about finding a vehicle going north and he wrote a letter for me to give to the police at the police post at the junction of the border/NBD/Nouachkott for the following morning. It would mean getting a lift out there or a taxi. A taxi from NBD up to Dahkla was 8,500UM .. if you could find one!

Two Land Cruisers turned up again Germans, Hans asked them on my behalf and they said that they would take me as far as Dahkla in two days time! Fantastic I had a lift!! I went back to a little restaurant for supper and was getting a lot of hassle from the owner. A Japanese guy, Hitoshi-san who used to manage an Irish pub in Shinagawa, Tokyo, came in ... the poor guy, I literally pounced on him asking if he would sit at my table to deflect all the unwanted attention! A great move, we had a long chat for a couple of hours, it got my Japanese going again and I was able to help him with costs & his route through Mauritania, worryingly he was heading for the Ivory Coast - I hope he's made it through unscathed!

The following day I wandered around town and bumped into Amandou again. He told me that he had put Julian in a taxi to Dahkla that morning, relief - I knew if he could get to Dahkla then he would be alright. Then Amandou told me that he'd managed to get Julian to pay 10,500UM for the taxi, I said 'why?' as 8,500UM is the going rate; he smiled and patted his pocket saying as had been said before by several travellers whilst in Mauritania 'he's got a lot to learn' .. I wasn't thrilled Julian had been ripped off as soon as he was alone but at least I knew he was relatively safe!