Saif Al Islam a collector of old scripts reads us old Arab love poems.

Our most exhilarating desert sand drive so far. Alone and lost!

Deep in the dune field, an oasis with date palms

In the back ground the dunes are advancing mm by mm

Door to the library, like all doors here 1,50m high

Saif reads us a love poem, we sing "blowing in the wind" fo him.

Artworks from the 10th century, stored in old rusty cupboards

On the left: Small love poems sent to your loved one

Astronomy from the 11th century while Europe still lived in mud huts.

Chenguetti

December 21, 2025 in Mauritania ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

Cenguetti is another of the seven holy cities of Islam and at a crossroads of various Caravan routes from Mali, Senegal and the Maghreb. It was from here that thousands of pilgrims over the centuries started their Hadsch to Mecca. In the 10th century It was a center of scholars in religion, medicine, astronomy and Technology.
Then came the all consuming sand dunes, burying the city again and again. Because Cenguetti is home to numerous libraries with scripts from this age, it was put on the UNESCO heritage list and received funds to remove 3 meters of sand from the old town. Today 15years later the sand is back again. 11 private libraries exist still. I'll

Driving to chenguetti was our most exciting desert drive so far. We drove ahead of the group and came many Kms off track. It took us hours working ourselves back 500m by 500m, walking ahead to find a route through dunes and large grass bushels and then back to the car to drive. It was both exhilarating but also frightening and a wake up call for how easy it is to loose orientation when everything looks the same and you distance yourself from the car looking for a route and suddenly discover that the wind has covered up your footprints.Read more