Chapter 958: Straight into the Desert
Urd runs a tourist camp: every year, many European and American tourists come to this national park to watch birds. However, this is the first time she has seen a living Chinese person.
Xiao Peng stayed in the camp in Urd for a day and then continued on his way: The Altun Beach National Park is indeed beautiful, but he smelled the smell of "human blood steamed buns" here.
Basically, the coastline of Mauritania belongs to the Arguin Beach National Park. Although there are rich fishery resources here, the Mauritanian people are basically not qualified to fish here.
They can only use small sailboats without motors to catch fish with nets with a diameter of more than 20 centimeters, and they are not allowed to use nylon fishing nets. However, in the Mauritanian waters, in addition to the fishing boats of the Mauritanian State Fisheries Company, there are at least more than 200 large fishing boats from all over the world fishing crazily here - Mauritania relies on selling these quotas to make money every year!
Mauritania is essentially desert except for its coastline. Agriculture is possible only along the coastline, but much of this area is within national parks, meaning there's virtually no agriculture in Mauritania! Even the few farms suitable for growing crops are mostly owned by foreigners, growing cash crops like coffee, tea, and tobacco. Consequently, the country relies heavily on international aid for its food needs.
The tourist camp was full of Europeans and Americans, most of whom were French. Xiao Peng was too lazy to deal with them.
It’s not that Xiao Peng is arrogant, but those French people are too arrogant!
When they spoke to Xiao Peng, they were full of superiority, their meaning roughly being: Look, we feed the people of this country, we are their saviors! You should also thank us, because we have protected such beautiful natural scenery, otherwise you would not be able to see such a beautiful place.
After hearing this, Xiao Peng really wanted to curse.
These European and American tourists are not ordinary tourists. They come from various NGOs, such as the "International Bird Watching Association", "International Bird Lovers Association", "International Wetland Conservation Association", "Africa Watch Association", "Mauritanian Women and Children's Health Observation Organization", "Labor Rights Protection Organization" and so on... In short, all kinds of European and American NGOs are running all over the African continent.
There are at least 10,000 NGOs in 60 African countries and Europe and the United States - this is not an exaggeration!
The question is, are they really helping the African people?
Xiao Peng did not deny that there were indeed many people who were truly loving and came to help the African people, but more of them came to satisfy their own ulterior motives.
Take the people in the tourist camp here for example, most of them are members of NGOs. On the one hand, they are here to monitor the problem of poaching by local Mauritanians, and on the other hand, they are here to take photos to publicize how well they have protected this place in order to raise more funds.
Well, this place is really well protected! They don't mention the large fishing boats of their country that are catching fish recklessly at sea, nor do they mention what life is like for the people here!
The hardship of the common people here has nothing to do with them, yet they call it "protecting traditions". If you really want to protect traditions, then don't take advantage of them and plunder their iron mines!
It's a vicious cycle: If Mauritania doesn't follow the advice of developed countries, it will have no food and no aid. But if it does, it will never have food: its resources will be constantly plundered, and its people will suffer. The rich will become richer, the poor will become poorer, and when all the plundering is finished, Mauritania's resources will become worthless. It's hard to imagine where this country will go.
Xiao Peng couldn't stand these guys who were both powerful and insolent, so he left Nouadhibou early the next morning.
But Xiao Peng was really confused about where to go next.
There's only one road out of Nouadhibou, running south along the coast to the capital, Nouakchott. There are only three roads in the entire country of Mauritania, and they all appear to be at least a century old!
Xiao Peng did not take the coastal road, but drove directly into the desert.
Many people think of deserts as thick sand, like the Sahara: dunes, quicksand... In fact, this isn't the full concept of a desert. The Sahara is merely the world's largest sandy desert, while the true largest desert on Earth is Antarctica. Deserts are called deserts because they have little rainfall and no vegetation. For example, Antarctica receives less than 200 millimeters of rainfall annually. So what else is it if not a desert?
Although most of Mauritania is desert, the desert here is more like a salt-alkaline land: the sand layer is not thick and is blown from the interior of the Sahara Desert. Therefore, driving here is not difficult.
Xiao Peng bought a map from Urd - yes, a paper map.
Although there are no roads in Mauritania, there are still many people living in the desert, and there are many small villages. This map shows the locations of those villages. Although there are no roads here, Mauritanians have long been accustomed to this kind of life without roads. They have various "wild roads" in the desert connecting the villages.
After entering the coordinates of the maps and villages into the navigation according to the map, Xiao Peng continued his journey.
It is very important to keep track of gas stations: it is so hard to find a gas station here!
Mauritania is roughly three times the size of Germany, yet there are fewer than 50 gas stations in the entire country, each at least 300 kilometers apart. The first thing you have to do when you come across a gas station here is fill up. Otherwise, you'll definitely end up in tears.
Xiao Peng was less than 30 kilometers away from Nouadhibou when he saw a group of people standing there, but it was not a village, but a checkpoint.
Mauritania is not without its advantages. The advantage here is that the public security is quite good!
Many people think that Mauritania is bordered by Western Sahara to the north and Mali to the east, and that these are places where UN peacekeeping forces are needed to be stationed, so the security here should not be good.
In reality, this is a misconception. While there are beggars and thieves in Mauritania, public safety is much better than in Europe. Muslim countries generally have good public safety, as they strictly adhere to their religious beliefs. Only extremists cause chaos.
Of course, there is another reason why the security here is good, that is, the management here is quite strict, and you can often see checkpoints to check for contraband and "pornographic books".
The so-called "little yellow book" is the vaccine quarantine certificate.
Before going to Africa, you have to get a lot of vaccines, such as yellow fever, malaria, hepatitis A and hepatitis B. If you haven't got them, you will be forced to take to the local hospital to get them.
I swear to God: Basically, Chinese people who can travel to Africa absolutely do not want to go to African hospitals for injections. The sanitary conditions...
hehe.
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