Choum
Choum (pronounced shoom) is a tiny railway stop in the Adrar Region of Northern Mauritania 5 km (3 mi) from the straight-line demarcated border with the Western Sahara that runs due west-east at this point before turning south-north 12 km to the east.
The whole area allegedly has a population of 5,000 but this is by no means obvious from the sparse and shabby development of 50 or so wooden shacks.
Understand
Choum has a passenger boarding opportunity for the iron ore train to the port of Nouadhibou. These ore trains are reputedly some of the heaviest (c. 20,000 t) and longest in the world at 3 km and bring iron ore from the many haematite mines around Zouérat the 700 odd kilometres to the coast.
Straddling what was once a major camel train route across the Sahara, the settlement has declined as this trade declined. It didn't help that, in 1977, it was attacked by French troops who suspected that it was supporting the Polisario Front, a national liberation movement that has fought for decades to free the Western Sahara from (successively) French, Spanish, Moroccan and Mauritanian rule.
Get in
There is no road or airstrip so unless you're wealthy enough to charter a helicopter, got your own camel train or are an off-course participant in the Paris-Dakar rally, your usual options are
By train
The Iron Ore Train stops in Choum.
By 4x4
From Atar c. 150 km to the South for c. 2,500 ouguiyas plus around 200 ouguiyas for each item of baggage.
Get around
On foot.
See
This is scorching and dusty grey-yellow-pink desert with very little to see, although some small-scale trenches, berms and firing positions are left over from the fighting with the Polisario Front.
Do
Very little, other than catch the train.
Buy
Coke and camping gaz from a few very small grocery shops.
Eat
Flies, since the Restaurant de l’amitie is a bumpy 4 hr 4x4 drive away in Atar.
Camel meat with onions and couscous or rice may be about the only thing available in Choum apart from the ubiquitous La vache qui rit (laughing cow) processed cheese (obviously in semi-liquid form in the heat) so you might want to bring some vitamin pills.
Drink
A lot! Temperatures during the day are above 40°C in July and August and sometimes top 46°C. You may not realise you are sweating a lot in the shade, since the air is very dry and your sweat usually evaporates before you see it, but you will need to drink about 4 litres a day. It's chilly at night under the clear desert sky, so pack your woollies.
Sleep
In your sleeping bag. Bring a sleeping mat because there are a lot of small, sharp stones on the ground.
Connect
Telephone
No telephones in Choum.
Outgoing international calls must go through the operator after you reach Nouadhibou at the end of the line.
Mobile phone
No coverage in Choum.
Both Mattel and Chinguitel have roaming agreements with some foreign mobile phone networks. However, coverage is limited to the urban area around Nouadhibou and Fderîck at the end of the line.
Internet
None in Choum.
In 2007 there were Internet cafes in Nouadhibou at the end of the line.
Post
None in Choum.
International postal facilities are limited to the main cities of Mauritania. Airmail to Europe takes approximately two weeks.
Media
No terrestrial TV reception in Choum. Satellite reception is brilliant because of the lack of clouds - except when there's a sandstorm. Several shacks have satellite TV. Shortwave radios work, of course and, at the end of the line, the BBC World Service is available on 102.4 FM in Nouadhibou!
Mauritanian TV broadcasts programmes in Arabic, French and other local languages. Mauritania's TV and radio stations are state-owned. As such, coverage favours the government and opposition access to is limited. Newspapers are in French and Arabic. Under press law, newspapers can be banned for publishing material that is perceived to threaten national security or undermine Islam.
Press
No newspapers are sold in Choum.
You may find some of the following titles after you reach Nouadhibou at the end of the line:
- Chaab is a state-run daily, in Arabic.
- Horizon is a state-run daily, in French.
- Nouakchott-InfoV and Akhbar Nouakchott are private dailies.
- Weeklies include Le Calame, L'Eveil-Hebdo and Rajoul Echarée.
Go next
On the ore train to
- Nouadhibou - on the coast and this country's second largest settlement
- Zouérat - the end of the line, 250 km to the North-East
By truck or Toyota Hilux on dirt tracks to the N1, 5 km to the East or South and then to
- Atar - to the South that used to have direct flights onward to Paris and Marseilles before they were scared off by AQIM franchised kidnappings
- Fderîck - a mining town to the North with the former French Légion étrangère Fort Gouraud