Chami

Chami is a modest town in the Inchiri region, best known as a waypoint on the long desert road linking Nouakchott and Nouadhibou. It grew up around this transit function and around small-scale mining and trade, and it retains the feel of a functional stop rather than a destination with its own attractions. For most travellers, Chami is where journeys are broken: a place to refuel, eat, rest or repair a vehicle before continuing across the often monotonous but atmospheric stretch of desert and coastal plain that surrounds it. The surrounding landscape, with its flat expanses and shifting light, has its own austere appeal for those willing to look. There is little in the way of formal sightseeing here, and travellers should treat Chami as a practical staging post rather than plan significant time around it, unless using it as a base to explore the surrounding Inchiri desert with proper preparation.

• Key waypoint on the Nouakchott-Nouadhibou road
• Fuel, food and repairs before or after desert stretches
• Gateway to the wider Inchiri desert landscape
• Genuine, unvarnished small-town Mauritania

Planning this visit

Reached by paved road roughly midway between Nouakchott and Nouadhibou, suitable for a standard vehicle. Most travellers stop for only a few hours; a 4x4 and extra time are needed only if venturing further into the surrounding desert.

Visiting responsibly

Treat Chami as a working town: be courteous with vendors and mechanics, ask before photographing people, and be mindful that water and services in this desert region can be limited.

• Encyclopaedia Britannica - Mauritania

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