Twenty hours on an ore train
That crosses the entire Mauritanian desert
The train of life
We'll be arriving soon, but let me tell you the story
The main reason of me visiting Mauritania
Was sneaking to this train and living the travel experience on top of it
A journey that is twenty hours long
Where you cross the entire Mauritanian desert
And it's considered the longest train in the world
A 150 wagons that around 2.5 KM long
And it goes for 704 KM per day!
Between Zouérat city and Nouadhibou city
Such a hard journey physically and psychologically
It's cold out here
Full of dirt in the air
- It's for transporting materials
Only
- Not for transporting people
However, many Mauritanians live this experiences around the year
For transport and bread-winning
The plane arrived to the capital, Nouakchott
And our friend, Hamzo Brynn, in the airport
I have entered Mauritania officially now
Country #65
I am in front of Nouakchott Airport
We spent the first few days in Nouakchott
I will share those days in the upcoming videos
But we prepared ourselves to go out on the thirteen hour trip towards Zouérat
That the train goes out from
The entire road is a desert
As you can see
From Nouakchott to Atar
An entire desert
We stopped for a tea break
Mauritanian tea, God bless your hands
My trip in Mauritania searching for an adventurer who is longing for a new adventure
And the companion was Sabbagh!
- Hala walla! (Greetings)
I texted him and he agreed directly
So we will live this trip together In Sha' Allah (In God's will)
You will see the details
We entered a store to buy this outfit which is the traditional Mauritanian outfit
Which is the Darra'a and what was this called?
And we just found a store
And bought a blanket just in case
Because it might be very cold at night on the train
Where are we?
- We are in Atar city
- Of course, after sixteen hours of traveling, guys
- We came to eat
- So tomorrow would be such a big day
So we're hoping for the best
You don't recommend it?
- I don't recommend you go on the train, it's a hard trip
- I have tried it only once
Have you tried it on top or what?
- No, no, no, not on top but inside
- I took a whole wagon
And it was still tiring?
- Very much
Our day started in Zouérat
In this street in the middle of the city
As you can see, the city feels a bit old
We're supposed to get some items now
And get to the train because it leaves from a place around 20 KM far from Zouérat
However, its 11:45 A.M and they're saying the train might leave at 12 noon
- We spent a whole day driving this car , sixteen hours to arrive to this city
- To board the train today
- So we're hoping we wouldn't miss the train
The train leaves at 12 today?
Are you sure?
Are you certain?
- Not sure of it, they told me that
Have you asked the station?
- I did ask them
- From 12, anyone who wants to travel then he can go at 12
- But the train might leave at 12 or even 2 or 3 P.M
The train might leave between 12 and 6 P.M so
It depends on our luck then
We came to the supermarket to buy some items that are easy to eat while we are on the train
Anything we take should be, of course, easy to eat
And doesn't get iron dust all over it
- It's tiring and it's full of dirt
- Why do you want to get tired?
Yeah
Salutations from Mauritania
To Alexandria and AlSaeed
Our Egyptian captain, God bless you
- God bless you, dear friend
He has helped us here
You have really helped
- We are ready and all the items are ready and we have water
- And now we're ready to board the train
But before we continue this video, I need 10 seconds from your time
I just discovered that 70% of people who watch my videos on YouTube are not even subscribed to my channel
So it really does make a difference if you spend 3 seconds to subscribe
And like the video as well
And it really does make a difference, let's go back
- Peace be upon you
How's it goin'?
- How's it goin'?
We just arrived to the place where the train is
And I switched to GoPro because it's impossible to record with cameras on the train
Because it will get lost
The camera is very expensive, let's say our goodbyes to the camera
And hello GoPro
Are we there yet?
- There is a wagon with no iron in it
No, no, we want one with iron in it
The iron wagon or no wagon
Yalla
- They're here searching for rough stuff
Indeed, we're searching for the rough stuff
- Only the rough things
We can't live without the rough stuff
Or then we'll go on a train in France
We have arrived to the train station located in Zouérat
This is exactly the same as the iron wagon but this one is empty, so I want to take a look at it from the inside
This is an example of the wagon that will contain iron, the one we will hop on will be filled
This is how it look
The locals use the train for transporting things other than iron
They put it in the train wagons
And transport it, as you can see we have different things that will be transported to Nouadhibou in two days
You usually find people excited about experiences that are comfortable, nice relaxing
A 5 star hotel for example
We are excited about getting our butts kicked for twenty hours
So I don't know why we're excited
Time was passing by and we started feeling concerned about missing the train
Finding where the train stopped was a challenge
Because there are no stations, it only stops randomly
???
Peace be upon you
The place was wrong, the train wasn't there
But at the end, we found a bunch of people sitting and waiting for the train just like us
Yeah
May God bless you
You have done more than enough
We have arrived at last to the place where the train will stop for around 15 minutes and then leave again
So it's 2 P.M now, we will be waiting for maybe four hours or half an hour
There is a group of people
Who are here, they will travel aboard the same train
The majority are Mauritanians
They prepared the tea
- Ready, ready!
Thank youu!
This is Mauritanian tea, it's popular here, it's the country's number one drink
The tea here
Is poured from a cup to another and then another until foam is created
The goal of the foam is
It's a desert nature here so
It's full of sand
And when sand comes on the tea, it gets stuck on the sand on top
And doesn't enter the tea itself
The one who pours the tea is called "Tayyay" (Tea-er)
- Tayyay
So the Tayyay is here with us
It's halal (permissible), yeah? [joking]
- Halal!
Halal!
- Halal, Alhamdulillah
- We don't do forbidden things, Mauritanians are all Muslims, they don't do forbidden things
In Mauritania there are no non-Muslims?
I mean if his mother is from Mauritania
- We have one religion, Islam
Of course, going on the train is not that simple, it's not about just hopping on the train
You need to be well-prepared, 20 hours on a train full of iron and iron dust, it will be harsh, you need to be ready
First of all, we have the snow goggles
So that dust wouldn't enter our eyes
We are wearing the Mauritanian outfit which enables us to cover our face
So that our respiratory tract wouldn't get filled with dust
We have food that doesn't need a lot of hand handling to eat
Things you can eat from the can itself
And we have enough water
That will be enough for the road
We also have blankets
It gets very cold at night
We have been waiting for 2 hours and the train still didn't come
3 hours of waiting now!
3 hours and a half we have been waiting for the train
Still not here!
We are resting
- Check out where we're resting
We're resting on the railway
♪ Zumbalala Zumbala ♪
♪
Oh! It's here, the train is here
After 5 or 6 hours!
Come on, come on, guys!
It was nice meeting you! My loved ones
Run before it leaves
It came today at 6 P.M, very late!
Here, here
- Bismillah (In the name of God)
Bismillah
Yalla
You will see yourself on YouTube
You can find me, my name is Ibn Hattuta
Finally, the train has arrived!
The trip starts soon
Our luck was good and bad today
It was good because the temperature is average
And bad because it's gonna be very cold very soon
The inspector came now, the one behind us
We were concerned about telling us to go down the train
But it was all good
I don't know why we're excited but we are excited
- Excited for the misery
For the rough things we're gonna endure
Peace be upon you!
After all the excitement, seems we are on the wrong train. Run!
The second train stopped near us
This one is the one that contains ore dust
The one we're now on is normal dust!
We're on the wrong train!
Be careful, if the train moves you would fall to your death
We're on the right train now
- We have no time!
- Are you sure we didn't forget anything?
- Hop on, quickly!
We were on the wrong train, this train is the humpphh
Very nice!
- Okay
Very nice!!!
- Nice!
- There's water here?
Yes
The journey of the most dangerous and longest train in the world has started
The train of life
Here it is
Oh dear!
Oh!
- Hiiiiii!
[laughter and excitement]
When it accelerated it resulted in a strong hit
If you were standing on the edge of the train
And then the train accelerates and shakes
You might fall and die
Your end, bye bye
The train started! It started!
I'm concerned if we're on the wrong train
To Nouadhibou
Two to Nouadhibou
And one cup of tea with extra sugar
God bless you, hala
Both trains go to Nouadhibou, thanks to the Lord
Imagine we go on this train and find ourselves in Jordan suddenly
Hello, peace be upon you!
- I'm very happy!
It's legendary!!
What are you doing?
- I'm fixing up the dust to be able to sleep
The dust here is not comfortable for sleeping, we need to fix it up a bit
The problem is that the dust here is wet
So it's hard to make flat
I just tried to uhm pass water from the train and I was concerned about this honestly
But it went all good
The air was going the other way and it took -- Yeee!
And took with it all of the -- whatnot, all of the whatnot
So good night, friend
- Good night
4 Hours later
I don't know what time it is, my phone is off
But it's midnight
And the amount of dust, I wasn't expecting it
It's also colder than I thought but it's reasonable, not bad
Until now, it's acceptable
I'm trying to have my own cocoon
Need your prayers
Oh! Your face! Let me record that
Ouff
The train stopped in the middle of the desert, I don't know why
A car passed just now
Some technical issues might happen on the road that might delay us
I hope it doesn't take a lot of time because it's cold
And full of dust
What did we do to ourselves? I don't know why we came here
[chuckles]
Our night was long
Sleeping is almost impossible
The heaviest and hardest train I have ever traveled in in my whole life
- 150 wagons, around 120 and 130 wagons
- Each wagon holds 90 tons of iron ore
- It's for transporting materials
Only that
- Not for transporting people
- But people here, they transport stuff, or even board it
- But it's not made for people
- It's heavy and hard
- It's tiring and full of dust
- Very tiring!
The adventure was our goal
And to feel and live a trip many Mauritanians live on a daily basis
To provide for their day
And after a couple of hours failing to sleep
The sun rose
🥱
Good morning
It's calm, the train stopped in the middle of the desert, I don't know why
Look at me, look at how my face looks
When I woke up
I was surprised
Wow!
Waiting for the sun to rise and temperature to get higher
To become a bit more at ease
But look where we're at, in the middle of the desert, on the train of course
I don't know why the train stopped again, I hope it didn't break
I saw the driver going down the train and going to the rear
Look at my face
Oh my!
I didn't imagine this, and this is with wearing the goggles and the textile on my face
And my face is fully covered
Oh Sabbagh what are you doing?
Nunu? (potty)
Unethical, don't look
The train has stopped
In the middle of the desert
I don't know what they're doing
It might be ruined or something, it has been an hour
And AlHeiba came to greet us
Remember him, from yesterday?
AlHeiba, and Muhammad
Right?
- You're going to Nouadhibou
- Eat and bathe
- And when you sleep, all of this trip will feel like a dream
Yeah, for real
- For real
A nice dream or a nightmare?
- A dream uhm, [laughs] in between
Between this and that
- A trip full of fatigue
Yeah, it is
We got tired, Oh Muhammad!
- Indeed
Wait a minute
You went from Nouadhibou to Zouérat yesterday
- True
And you're going back now?
- Going back
Why do that to yourself?
- To go to work
This is your job
- Needing the money
And you go back to Zouérat tomorrow?
- When I finish in Nouadhibou
- I would take the train back
Really?
- True
- Mauritanian guys, from Nouadhibou to Zouérat
- They don't have a problem with it, they go by train and come back by train
- They have been doing this since they were kids
We found other people, foreigners, on the train with us
We didn't know so, we thought we were the only ones
But we found others
- How was your trip, guys?
- Really good, but cold
- Will you do it again?
- Yes, yes, definitely
Yes?
- Yes, yes!
Really?
- Yes!
Why?
[laughter]
See you
Bye-bye
God bless you!
Like an artist
That's how you wrap it correctly
Unlike the mess I have done as a wrap
The train is stopped in the middle of the desert and the reason is
That one of the wagons got de-attached
It got ruined
So they went to get a technician for it
It's clear they have gotten someone to fix it so I hope the train starts because look at this
Look at my face, it's enough, look at my face
[satisfying crunches]
The food is mixed with iron dust
And iron is good for the body, so it's not a problem
- It increases the iron in your body
Yeah, it's good
In the last hours, we sat watching the beautiful desert and villages we passed by
These villages that are not able to live without this train
That sends them the water
And the goods
And helps them transport
This is why it's called the Train of Life
It wasn't built for such a purpose
But it became an important part of the life's of people it passes by
Ohh!
3 more hours remaining
We're close
We go to Nouadhibouuu!
[cheering]
Wooo!!
At last! ✌
More than 20 hours
I can't believe it!
This regions has taxis, there's a taxi
Taxiiii!
How's it goin'?
[welcoming]
♫ Music ♫
We arrived to the hotel finally
We found an hotel called Valencia
It's nice and friendly
It's the first time we see ourselves in the mirror
- What's goin' on!
What's that? Who are those guys?
- We are other people
Who's the brother?
As if I have kuhl on
- Look at my mustache
And the beard
Bro, we look like sh!^
It keeps recording by itself
I swear it wasn't me who started recording
I have it in my pocket and it started recording by itself
Not my bad
But as long as it started recording by itself
We arrived and we cleaned ourselves, as you can see my face looks normal again
And we are in Nouadhibou in Mauritania
The train adventure is over now
I hope you enjoyed it
Sabbagh was the partner
- Guys, I swear it was such an amazing experience
- And I expect that Kassem and I will be on an adventure again
In God's will
You will find Sabbagh's page in the description box
May God increase your travels!
See you in the next video!
Peace!
Subtitles by Omar Younes
Hello
I am Ibn Hattuta
If you like this video
Share it
And subscribe to the channel
So that you would follow my trip around the world
- Because it contains a magnet
- And there's a magnet here too
Oooh!
- Here, and here
The iron dust is on it
It's also covering your face
Why though?
Because we are magnets!
[laughter]
That's dedicated to AbuRob
[laughter]
Magnet 🧲