Visa and entry requirements Mauritania:
Passport required
German citizens need a visa to enter Mauritania. The visa can currently only be issued upon entry at the border or at Nouakchott and Nouadhibou airports.
Visa costs: 55/95 euros

Information from the Foreign Office about your trip to Mauritania:
https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/mauretaniensicherheit/219190

Mauritania is a country in northwest Africa with around 4.4 million inhabitants. The country borders Algeria in the northeast, Mali in the east, Senegal in the southwest, the disputed territory of Western Sahara in the northwest and the Atlantic in the west.

The country's two official languages are Arabic and French and the official national currency is the Mauritanian Ouguiya, where 1 euro corresponds to around 433 MRO.

Mauritania lies on the western edge of the Sahara Desert, the landscape consists of desert steppe, thorn savanna as well as grass and bush areas and is essentially quite flat. The highest point in the country is Kediet Ijill at 915 meters. The only permanent river in Mauritania is the Senegal, which is also the border river to the neighboring country. There are two national parks in the national territory, Diawling National Park and Banc d'Arguin National Park.

Date palms, bamboo and baobabs mainly grow in the savannah. Mauritanian wildlife includes elephants, hyenas, antelopes, leopards, warthogs, gazelles, ostriches, scorpions, snakes and crocodiles.

Almost the entire country's population adheres to the Muslim state religion and consists of three ethnic groups: the Arabs, the Berbers and the black Africans. About half of the residents live in cities, the rest live as nomads in tents.

Slavery still exists in Mauritania today, despite having been abolished several times. There are around 500,000 to 600,000 slaves in the state, the highest proportion of slaves in the total population in the world. Another problem is child labor, which affects almost 18% of all 6 to 14 year old children. Around half of all residents of the country are illiterate.

Mauritania is one of the poorest countries in the world. The only economic sectors are agriculture, ore mining and fishing. The main exports are iron ore, fish and other various fish products.

The country's largest cities include Nouakchott, Nouadhibou, Kiffa, Mbera, Kaedi, Zouerat, Rosso, Selibaby and Atar.

The capital and by far the largest city in Mauritania is Nouakchott with around one million inhabitants. Nouakchott lies on the edge of the Sahara and has the second largest port in the country.

The few sights in the capital include the Saudi Mosque, the Civic Center, the Zeinart Gallery, Nouakchott Beach, the Ibn Abbas Mosque, the Olympic Stadium, the Tent Market, the Moroccan Mosque and the Central Market.

In July 2016 I traveled to Mauritania for two days coming from Casablanca. Somehow it was very strange when we arrived, so deserted in the morning. From the airport, about 40 kilometers away, a brand new asphalt highway led through the middle of the desert to the capital. After arriving at the hotel I had booked, one of five possible hotels in the city, I was initially surprised by a tank right in front of the hotel entrance. At the reception I was informed that my hotel booking had been canceled by the government because all the hotel rooms in the capital were needed for the Arab League meeting in the evening. Of course, no one from the hotel had informed me about the cancellation in any way beforehand. After I was able to at least store my luggage there, I started exploring the city on foot.

Nouakchott is easily the strangest city I have ever been to. Everything is so far apart that there is no clear urban planning concept at all. There are simply streets in the middle of the city center with no development for 200 meters to the right or left. The two asphalt boulevards are hugely wide and the remaining sandy streets are super narrow. Ultimately, there isn't that much worth seeing in Nouakchott.

Due to my canceled hotel room, I spent the night at the safe airport and flew back to Casablanca, Morocco the next morning.