Nouakchott to Senegal Border Bushcamp
We had a long and interesting journey from our hotel in Nouakchott to the bush camp on the border of Senegal. The journey started off predictably going through sand, lots of sand. As we went further south, the scenery slowly began to change to scrubby desert and then lots of green desert. We also began to get near the river Senegal.
When we finally got to our destination, which was a long drive down a very difficult to negotiate dirt track with lots of huge holes where obviously trucks got stuck in the past and left deep marks on the surface of the road. We managed to negotiate these and finally found a fairly flat spot to park. As usual, we set up camp, set up the field kitchen and pitched our tents.
As we were getting nearer to the campsite, and for about an hour previously, it began to feel more and more humid. We thought that there might be mosquitoes around because of the increase in humidity. This was true. As soon as it got dark, clouds of mosquitoes began to appear. A few of the wiser ones, me not included, had dressed appropriately in long sleeve shirts and long trousers. So they didn’t get bitten mercilessly.
As soon as I heard the mosquito buzz, I ran to my tent and sprayed myself fairly liberally with DEET 50%. This stopped me getting bitten but from the journey to spray myself, just a few minutes, I was bitten about 10 times.
As soon as the meal was over and everything was tidied out the way, in double-quick time, we all ran off to our tents although it was still early. The tent was the only secure place from the onslaught of the mosquitoes.
However, inside the tent it was also pretty humid but as often happens in the desert, I hoped it would cool down a little bit, but it didnt. I left the top cover off my tent to allow some breeze and this helped a tiny bit. Somehow, two mosquitoes made their way into my tent but I squashed them against the mesh, leaving bloody marks behind.
I woke up at around half past two in the morning to answer a call of nature and I could hear the mosquitoes outside. At first I thought it might be the sound of the wind in overhead electricity lines but there was no wind and there were no overhead lines. Because I had no top cover on my tent and there was only a mesh between me and the outside, I’m guessing that the mozzies were able to pick up my scent and were homing in on my tent. I’m glad the mesh was between me and those horrible voracious little bastards.
I woke up next morning in time for breakfast and there were no mozzies around. I think the day shift hasn’t started yet.
I need to be more careful in future and prepare when we’re entering humid areas.
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