North Africa Nature Journal

North Africa's Mauritania African nature journal includes one of the top places to visit in Africa for bird watching and green sea turtle nature observation. 

Mauritania Africa Nature Journal 

North African Green Sea Turtle

Mauritania is located in Western Africa between Senegal and the disputed Western Sahara. The around 1.2 million hectare or 3 million acre Banc d'Arguin National Park became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1989. The African national park is a vast area of islands, marshes and coastline for African green sea turtles. 

Mauritania's population is concentrated in the cities of Nouakchott and Nouadhibou and along the Senegal River in the southern part of the large mostly desert terrain of the country. 

Banc d'Arguin is located on the Atlantic desert coast of Mauritania, midway between the main cities of Nouakchott in the south and Nouadhibou in the north. 

Banc d'Arguin is a vast area of islands, marshes and coastline.

Banc d'Arguin is one of the most important zones in the world for nesting and overwintering birds. Between the months of August and December, birds from Africa, northern Europe, Siberia and Greenland nest in the park. Also, the endangered green sea turtle migrates long distances to nest on the shores of Banc d'Arguin Mauritania.

Ones who gather life

Mauritania Africa Native Imraguen People

The very small population of Native Imraguen or “the ones who gather life” people mostly live in seven villages within the parks area. Imraguen people maintain their traditional cultural heritage, based exclusively on catching fish using traditional methods. 

Fishing techniques are unchanged for the Imraguen including the unique of working with dolphins to catch fish. Dolphins and the Imraguen people work together to catch groups of fish similar to the fishermen in Laguna, Brazil where dolphins herd fish towards the fishermen standing near the shore ready with nets to pull in the haul.