I Broke My #1 Overlanding Rule Crossing Into a New Country

0:00 In today's episode, I leave Morocco and enter Mauritania,

0:03 one of the least densely populated countries in the world.

0:06 And we both want today to just be over.

0:09 Of course, every day out here is filled with micro adventures,

0:12 and these next couple of days are going to be no different.

0:16 Paradise.

0:17 (laughs) We start off with the border crossing.

0:20 Well, I'm just about to cross into Mauritania, however,

0:24 I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get turned around because it is late in the day.

0:29 It's almost 5:00 PM.

0:31 The border closes at six.

0:33 I highly doubt that they're gonna let me through.

0:38 (soft music) (speaking in a foreign language) Okay,

0:45 the police officer that said that the border crossing is still open.

0:48 So I'm gonna, I just need to print out my Mauritania visa.

0:53 Once that's done, let's see.

0:57 (soft music) (speaking in a foreign language) Okay,

1:10 so this gentleman has printed me the paper, the visa.

1:14 He doesn't normally print things apparently,

1:16 but he did print it for me and he didn't want any money for it.

1:20 So that was very sweet.

1:21 And oh my god, this might just work.

1:23 You know, I had so many bad things

1:26 about this border crossing that like, you know,

1:27 people arrive really early in the morning at like eight

1:30 or 9:00 AM takes them like eight or nine hours to cross,

1:34 and it's just a nightmare.

1:36 If this works out for me, if this works out for me, this is ridiculous.

1:42 Arriving just before closing time and hoping for the best, very typically me.

1:48 Okay, so I just passed through the very first gate and the officer

1:52 there looked at Vilk and he was like, is that a Malinois?

1:55 I was like, oh no, it's not a Malinois.

1:57 I was like, kind of.

1:58 And he was like, oh, I love those dogs.

1:59 They're so amazing.

2:00 I have one.

2:01 He showed me pictures of his Mallinois puppy, which is so adorable.

2:06 And yeah, now I'm through to the next spot.

2:12 So let's see what happens here.

2:15 I should probably put the camera away though.

2:17 It took a little while to get all my documents

2:19 stamped and Odyssey had to go through a giant vehicle scanner,

2:22 which checks cars for any illegal items,

2:24 I'm guessing, guns, drugs, and human beings being trafficked.

2:28 Eventually I got stamped out of Morocco, but that wasn't the end of the process.

2:32 I almost can't believe it.

2:33 I think I must have gone through the Moroccan side

2:37 in record time because that took me exactly one hour.

2:41 And right now I have to drive over

2:44 to the Mauritania side and do the Mauritania border process.

2:48 But before I do that, I have to go through no man's land.

2:53 There's literally this stretch of about three to four kilometers that's just

2:57 over two miles of a road that doesn't technically belong to anyone.

3:03 And it's chockfull of landmines and trash and yeah,

3:08 it's a little eerie to be here, honestly.

3:11 Just look at this.

3:17 (eerie music) Hey, there it is.

3:32 The Mauritania side of the border.

3:34 Well, I don't have any footage of the Mauritania border crossing

3:36 because a border official deleted all my phone videos from that day.

3:40 I wasn't even filming any buildings or people just myself talking,

3:43 but that was still enough to set him off and almost get me in trouble.

3:47 But eventually I got through.

3:49 My gamble, i.e.

3:50 arriving at the border just before closing time paid off,

3:53 and it only took me two hours to leave Morocco and and to Mauritania.

3:57 I can't believe it.

3:59 At first sight, Mauritania may not look too

4:01 different from the 500 miles of desert that preceded,

4:04 but I know just how special it is.

4:07 I've been here before.

4:08 I rode the infamous iron ore train, stayed with a nomadic family in the desert

4:12 and fell in love with this little known, totally underrated gem of a country.

4:17 I've been wanting to come back ever since

4:19 with my own truck to explore a little deeper.

4:22 But unfortunately, my first hours on the road

4:25 turned out to be more than I bargained for.

4:28 My plan had been to cross the border Guerguerat and drive

4:31 south to the Mauritania city of Nouadhibou to spend the night.

4:34 But things don't always go according to plan.

4:37 Day one in Mauritania and I'm already breaking my number one rule,

4:43 which is do not drive in the dark.

4:47 Well, unfortunately, I haven't had much luck finding good places to stay.

4:53 So I've ended up in this situation.

4:55 One wild campsite that I spotted actually

4:58 ended up being rolled off and inaccessible.

5:02 And then I went to an established campground where there was like six

5:07 dogs just barking at the car and at Vilk and he was barking back.

5:11 It was fucking chaos.

5:12 There was no way that was gonna work.

5:15 So now I'm cruising around in the dark in Mauritania

5:19 where there is potholes and goats and rocks on the road.

5:24 I'm grateful that I was able to cross the border today,

5:28 but I guess the downside is that I'm now

5:31 driving in the dark looking for a place to stay.

5:36 I've only ever broken my golden rule of not

5:38 driving after dark while on an expedition like twice.

5:42 But sometimes you just need to stay calm and adapt your plans to your reality.

5:48 Bad news, this campground doesn't exist.

5:53 It's supposed to be there, but there is just the beach.

5:59 It looks nice enough, but I don't really know what the rules are

6:03 here about around camping at the beach near a city,

6:08 and I don't want to get the knock at night.

6:12 What is the alternative?

6:14 The alternative is to drive an hour north in the dark in a new country.

6:27 Get there at 10:00 PM I am just so tired

6:39 and I know Vilk is completely fed up with today.

6:43 Yeah, I know you're fed up, huh?

6:46 And we both want today to just be over.

6:48 Well, I don't think I'm gonna have any

6:50 luck finding a campsite around the city here.

6:54 So let's go and drive for an hour until we

6:59 get to the dunes where there is definitely wild camping.

7:07 That's why we don't drive after dark here.

7:19 (eerie music) The thing that's probably the most scary

7:26 about driving at night here is the other cars.

7:29 So the road is quite narrow and in some

7:32 places it's covered with sand on the side,

7:34 and then the drop on either side is quite rough and high.

7:42 And when cars come from the opposite direction, they're passing by really close.

7:48 You know, I'm really trying my best to stay right on the edge of the road,

7:51 but I have no guarantee that they will.

7:54 So it's a little terrifying.

8:00 I do not want to be doing this ever again.

8:05 So basically I had found a location on an over

8:08 landing app that I claimed to be a quiet, wild campsite behind a big dune.

8:13 I was headed there since that was my best shot

8:15 at finding a safe and peaceful spot for the night.

8:17 But actually getting there wasn't so straightforward.

8:21 Are we offroading in the pitch black?

8:24 Yes we are.

8:25 Why not?

8:26 In the desert in a new country?

8:30 Without knowing where I'm going.

8:33 Why not?

8:35 Because some person on an over landing app says

8:39 that there is a good spot to camp nearby.

8:43 Do we trust them?

8:45 Not really.

8:47 Do we want to trust them?

8:49 Yes.

8:56 Okay, we've made it.

9:00 I can't believe we've made it.

9:02 Or actually, I actually managed to find a spot to camp that feels good.

9:08 We're in Mauritania.

9:11 We're Mauritania.

9:15 (Vilk barks) What did you find, buddy?

9:17 Why is that?

9:19 Did you have a long day?

9:21 Are you just...

9:22 It's just plastic buddy.

9:25 (laughs) Oh my God.

9:35 I think we're both so exhausted that we're losing our minds and I

9:41 feel like I've just lost my mind because this place looks freaking unreal.

9:48 We're camped in the embrace of a massive dune.

9:54 I know you can't see this right now.

9:57 I'm gonna have to show you tomorrow morning.

9:59 I can see this place perfectly well

10:01 by the moonlight 'cause you've got a beautiful full moon,

10:05 but I don't think the camera can capture it quite as well, so.

10:15 (soft music) Good morning from Mauritania.

10:37 We're here.

10:38 I can't believe it.

10:40 So last night didn't exactly end on a super high note.

10:46 However, I think I ended up in just the right place

10:49 because when I said that I'm sleeping in the embrace of dune,

10:52 this is what I meant.

10:54 Hey buddy, Vilk.

10:55 How do you feel about this place?

11:00 (soft music) Wanna run down the dune?

11:20 Yeah?

11:21 You wanna run down?

11:23 Wanna run down to the truck?

11:26 Okay, let's go.

11:27 Let's go.

11:42 We made it.

11:43 We made it.

11:45 Good boy.

11:46 Good boy.

12:09 So while my coffee's brewing,

12:10 I thought I'd show you guys my like morning nutrition slash supplement routine.

12:17 Don't worry, none of this is sponsored at all.

12:19 I'm not even gonna show you any brands.

12:22 I just wanna share with you some of my boujee ways.

12:27 This is just self-care on the road basically,

12:31 but I thought it might be quite interesting since it's one

12:35 of the very few routines that I do have while traveling.

12:38 First and foremost, for immunity, bee pollen and honey,

12:43 I mix those two with warm water and mix for a nice beverage every morning.

12:48 Then I've got Maca.

12:50 Maca is basically like ginseng.

12:53 It's this Amazonian super food.

12:55 I got this one in the Colombian Amazon.

12:59 And basically this I use to help me elevate my mood

13:03 just to feel bright and fresh and positive every single day.

13:08 And then I take a spoon, a big tablespoon of olive oil every single morning.

13:13 This one's from Morocco and then I've got these two supplements.

13:17 I'm gonna hide the brand on these 'cause it doesn't matter.

13:21 Creatine for muscle growth.

13:23 Yeah, and collagen for strong bones and joints and hair and nails.

13:31 I'm not sure if it really works on my hair and nails,

13:35 but I like to think that it works on the other things.

13:38 So there we go.

13:39 This is my supplement routine and it's one of the few ways

13:42 that I'm able to actually keep up some kind of routine on the road.

13:46 So that's nice.

13:47 (bright music) Honestly, I think one of the best things about taking all

13:57 of these supplement things is that because I mix them all with water,

14:03 by the time I have my morning coffee, I will have drank like half a liter

14:07 of water and that's gotta be a good thing, right?

14:12 Another part of my routine out here is having my morning coffee and journaling.

14:16 So much happens every single day on the road,

14:18 and I just wanna make sure I remember as much as possible.

14:22 I know that these journals will eventually form the backbone of my next book,

14:26 which I'm already ideating in my head.

14:28 Yes, I know my first book hasn't even come out yet, but it is coming so soon.

14:33 Anyway, it is time to leave the embrace

14:35 of the dune and officially start Mauritania leg of Expedition Sahara.

14:41 This is my route plan over the next couple of days.

14:45 First, I plan to spend a night camping

14:46 at the Atlantic Coast and then drive to the Capitol

14:49 Nouakchott where I'll be able to pick up

14:51 a drone to document the rest of the journey.

14:56 Okay, I've just found a shop.

14:57 I'm gonna stop here, get some bread,

15:00 maybe a cold drink, and then we'll keep going.

15:04 We'll keep going south.

15:07 Well, this is a pretty interesting spot.

15:11 Okay, unfortunately, this place only has rice and meat, no bread, no drinks.

15:19 They said that the next store is in Chami, which is 50 kilometers away.

15:26 How are you feeling about all this, buddy, huh?

15:29 It's so crazy.

15:30 (speaking in a foreign language) All right, let's get to that store.

15:41 Mauritania is fascinating.

15:43 It is 90% desert, and so I guess it shouldn't come

15:46 as a surprise that it's one of the least densely populated countries on Earth.

15:51 This place definitely has a kind of a wild west vibe to it,

15:57 which is really cool.

16:00 It's really interesting.

16:03 You can fit the whole of the United States east coast inside Mauritania,

16:06 but it only has 5 million inhabitants.

16:10 Mauritania is a very interesting place to drive around in because,

16:15 oh God, the potholes are so deep,

16:20 not because of that, because you're literally just

16:23 driving through these big empty stretches of desert

16:28 and then once in a while you'll pass

16:31 by a settlement and there's just some makeshift shacks,

16:35 you know, maybe a shop, maybe not, maybe a mosque, maybe not.

16:41 But you're kind of like looking around and you're like, what?

16:44 Who lives here, you know?

16:45 It makes you wonder like who lives out

16:47 here so far from any shops from urban centers?

16:55 Just along a very, a very empty stretch of road in the desert.

17:03 Okay, I made it to a store, also a gas station.

17:09 Let's grab some cold things.

17:12 Oh, this looks really good.

17:14 Look at this amazing bread that they have.

17:17 This is actually surprisingly good choice of all kinds of delicacies.

17:21 Oh, they've got Fanta, they've got melon milk.

17:26 (speaking in a foreign language) (soft music) All right,

17:50 we made it out of town, and I'm currently headed that way towards the ocean,

17:57 where I hope it's gonna be a little bit

17:59 cooler and where I'd love to spend the night.

18:01 But the track that leads there is all sand.

18:04 Some of it packed.

18:05 Some of it's soft.

18:06 Either way, we're gonna have to air down the tires.

18:14 Okay, all done.

18:16 Let's keep going.

18:22 I know that some of you might wonder,

18:24 how on earth do you navigate when you're in the desert and there's no road?

18:28 Well, in this particular instance, I knew I had to head west,

18:32 so I had my map out with the compass right there,

18:35 and I tried to follow all tire tracks that headed in that direction.

18:39 It's not an exact science, but I love the challenge.

18:42 And eventually I got to the coast.

18:46 Well, the first proper campsite in Mauritania.

18:50 It's pretty spectacular because over there you can't see it,

18:54 but I can over there is the Atlantic Ocean.

18:57 And we're gonna go for a swim in just a few moments.

19:00 But first I'm gonna open up the awning to give us a little bit more shade.

19:06 And then we're gonna go swim.

19:08 Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes to all of this.

19:14 (bright music) Oh wait, I forgot.

19:22 I have to lift the roof first,

19:24 otherwise I won't be able to open up the rooftop tank.

19:42 This is amazing.

19:44 I am jumping right in.

19:47 (laughs) Paradise.

19:56 Paradise.

20:05 Come on.

20:12 Vilk is like, I don't know about these waves.

20:14 They look suspicious.

20:16 (laughs) What a treat to just be able to chill

20:23 in the water after so long in the desert.

20:26 Vilk and I loved it so much.

20:29 And in the next episode, I get my hands on a drone again,

20:32 which means I'll finally be able to show

20:34 you guys the true scale of these places.

20:36 And of course, I'm about to experience another breakdown more on that next week.

20:42 (bright music)