Queen Letizia's upcoming visit to Mauritania puts this interesting North African country on the map

Nouakchott Beach

photo_camera ATALAYAR/GUILLERMO LÓPEZ - The beach at Nouakchott is home to all kinds of people: young people playing football, women who play an important role in Mauritanian life walking on the sand, camel and horse herders, and tourists.

The beach at Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, offers a very clear example of the potential for development in this African country. The experience and knowledge of the tourism sector on the part of Spanish business groups could contribute in an exceptional way to the most appropriate management of kilometres and kilometres of virgin beaches with soft, pleasant white sand, with an almost permanent sun that requires adequate protection, with a sea that offers all the options to enjoy bathing and water sports, with a wealth of top-quality fish in numerous species and with a great opportunity to become a first-class, top-quality industry that would provide a key boost to economic activity, create jobs, improve the vocational training of Mauritanians and consolidate the growth necessary for the stability of a country that is already a key player in North Africa.

Stepping on the sand of Nouakchott beach takes us back to many of the Spanish beaches of the 1950s, unspoilt and natural, with a tempting invitation to enjoy all the good things that such a natural environment has to offer. This is why Mauritania is beginning the transformation from tents and shacks to large hotel buildings under construction in the centre of its capital, Nouakchott, where it is possible to carry out an orderly, environmentally friendly, sustainable and ecological planning of a tourism that could represent one of the main sources of income that will allow the North African country to continue its development process.

GUILLERMO LÓPEZ/ATALAYAR
Fish and salads

On this Sunday in the month of May, temperatures were low in relation to what is usual, with a strong wind and a choppy sea that prevents bathing, which is yet another demonstration of the climate change that we should be so committed to and which requires a clear and forceful attitude to avoid. However, despite the fact that conditions are not the best on this day, Nouakchott beach is home to all kinds of people. Young people playing football, women who play a leading role in Mauritanian life walking along the sand, camel and horse keepers looking to earn a living by offering a ride on their animals, Spanish tourists enjoying a magnificent platter of assorted fish and salads - the bill for four people is 85 euros - and entire families taking advantage of Sunday to spend it together by the sea.

ATALAYAR/GUILLERMO LÓPEZ

It is curious that the Mauritanian population is not particularly fond of the beach and the sea. Most are of Bedouin origin, from inland in the desert and dunes, and do not enjoy what we Europeans consider one of nature's wonders. The only beach bar on this beach is run by a Frenchman, Nicolai, who arrived a few years ago, realised the potential of the area, set up a tent, then two, then a wooden porch, and now has a modest place that can clearly be improved in terms of infrastructure and service, but which allows him to do excellent business.

La playa de Nuakchott
Visit of the Queen

Mauritania is beginning to interest Spain. It has more than enough elements at its disposal to increase trade exchanges, where Spanish exports are second only to those of the United Arab Emirates.

ATALAYAR/GUILLERMO LÓPEZ - La playa de Nuakchott, Mauritania

Queen Letizia will visit Spanish cooperation projects in Mauritania for two days. At Atalayar, we have anticipated her visit to get to know a country that is unknown in Spain, in Europe and in the world, but which should attract our attention in order to improve our relations in all areas and contribute to its development and progress in order to guarantee its stability in an area of the Sahel where there are many threats and radical interests, because, we must insist a thousand times, it is the stability of North Africa and, therefore, that of Spain and Europe.

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