Banc d'Arguin National Park

Banc d'Arguin National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site stretching along Mauritania's Atlantic coast where the sands of the Sahara meet the ocean, is one of the most important bird sanctuaries in the world. Its vast expanse of shallow coastal waters, mudflats, sandbanks and small islands provides a crucial wintering ground for millions of migratory shorebirds and waterfowl travelling the great flyways from northern Europe and Siberia, a spectacle of avian abundance. The park's rich waters also support fish, dolphins and turtles, and are traditionally fished by the Imraguen people using time-honoured methods, making it a place of both natural and cultural significance.

History

Its rich fisheries and position made this coast a prize for Portugal, France, England, Brandenburg-Prussia and the Dutch. Lured by tales of wealth in the interior, the Portuguese built a trading fort at Arguin in 1455 and soon turned from gold to slaves, exporting as many as 1,000 a year in the mid-15th century to Europe and to the sugar plantations of São Tomé. On 2 July 1816 the French frigate Méduse ran aground on the Banc d'Arguin, and the survivors' account inspired Théodore Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa of 1819, now in the Louvre. The national park was set up in 1976 to protect the birds, the fisheries and the geology, and it is a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Banc d'Arguin National Park).

Highlights

• The migratory birds - the millions of wintering shorebirds and waterfowl.
• The mudflats and shallows - the vast coastal feeding grounds.
• The Imraguen fishers - the traditional fishing communities.
• The desert-meets-ocean - the Sahara shore and Atlantic waters.

When to go

November to March, the cooler season and the northern winter, is the prime time, when millions of migratory birds fill the park and the desert climate is most bearable; birdwatching is at its spectacular peak. The park is remote, reached by four-wheel drive along the coast and explored by boat with local guides.

Before you go

Banc d'Arguin is remote and undeveloped, reached by rough coastal four-wheel-drive journeys and explored by boat with guides, with very basic facilities, so it is a specialised destination appealing mainly to serious birdwatchers and the adventurous; Mauritania's limited tourism and the desert conditions add to the challenge. For one of the planet's greatest concentrations of migratory birds, in a striking landscape where the Sahara meets the Atlantic, though, it is an extraordinary natural spectacle.

Nearby

The port of Nouadhibou and the desert coast are within reach.

Key facts