From the Delphin Hotel in Nouadhibou, we had a good view of the city. But the city itself wasn’t that beautiful or interesting.
The hotel was nice, with clean rooms, safe parking behind a fence, and a nice restaurant. Toni, the hotel manager of the Delphin, was also very friendly and helpful.
Charging also worked well there. The electricity was stable enough to charge all three cars at the same time.
The temperatures had dropped significantly during the last few days. Especially in the morning and evening, it was now really cold.
We explored the surroundings of the hotel on foot, trying to find an ATM and new SIM cards for Mauretania.
Very noticeable was the number of very old, run-down Mercedes cars in Mauretania. And always of the same type: 190 Diesel.
Later that day, we drove to the Villa Maguela camp in Nouadhibou. It is owned by Victor from the Netherlands. He has managed this camp for many years and is a legend in the overlanding community.
It’s a beautiful spot and perfect to relax after (or before) the stressful border crossing.
It’s also the place where most overlanders will stop by. Therefore, perfect to meet like-minded people and exchange information and stories.
Sadly, the electricity there is not good enough to charge a couple of electric cars. Otherwise, we would have definitely stayed there instead of in the Hotel Delphin.
But I had a good reason to visit Victor and the Villa Maguela. I really wanted to get some drone shots of our expedition, especially from our cars in the desert. Sadly, in Morocco, drones are strictly forbidden. Not only is the usage of drones not allowed, but even taking one into the country is prohibited. Before the trip, I was evaluating different options to solve this problem. One way was to send my drone via DHL Express to Nouadhibou and pick it up there. I discussed this option with Victor, and he advised against it because often valuable items don’t arrive or are stuck forever in customs.
He instead suggested that I could rent a drone from him. He has one DJI Mini 4 Pro and one Mini 3 Pro for rent that he bought from travellers coming from the south who couldn’t bring their drones to Morocco. I immediately loved this idea and reserved both drones for my trip.
At the Villa Maguela, I tested both drones. Before, I had to register my DJI user on the Smart Controller to be able to fly. With the slow and unstable internet connection, this wasn’t an easy task.
But in the end, everything worked well. I rented both drones in case one of them makes any problems. In addition, each drone has only one battery. Since they share the same battery type, it makes sense to rent both to be able to fly longer. I paid a 75€ rental fee for each drone for about 3 weeks. I think it’s a fair price.
Afterwards, we drove 230km to the Hotel Gouffa in Chami. The road to Chami is a bit challenging. It’s tarmac, but the surface is in very bad condition, with really big holes. In addition, the road is very narrow, and there are lots of slow-driving trucks on this road. Overtaking them can be a real challenge. You never know when the next big hole is coming.
After arriving in Chami, Ayoub installed his usual charging box.
The hotel is very basic, but it’s the best option in Chami. And you can always sleep in your car and just use the toilet and showers of the hotel room.
If you want to continue further south, options for charging an electric vehicle are very limited. Therefore, stopping in Chami at this hotel is pretty much a must.
The electrivity is not very stable in Chami. Power cuts occur often. We also had to limit the maximum charging power to 10A to not overload the power supply. But this was enough to have fully charged cars the next morning.
In Chami, sand is everywhere.
If you are not careful, you could easily get stuck with your car in the sand directly at the hotel entrance.
And everything looked very different here compared to Morocco. Animals in the middle of the village or at a gas station are totally normal now.
The next morning, we drove with our cars through the village of Chami on our way to our next destination, the Banc d’Arguin National Park. More about this stunning national park in the next post.
Chami is an interesting little village with a kind of wild west atmosphere. All roads are pure sand. Interestingly, Chami also has a history of gold mining, similar to some of these wild west villages in North America.
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