The Richat Structure, also called the eye of Africa, was first thought to be the site of a large meteor impact. It was actually found to be a 40 kilometre wide, deeply eroded dome. It is located in the Sahara desert and is visible from space.
This is the third and last edition of Overland Trip I Want To Take- explaining theoretical road trips that I’ve recently planned out. The series was inspired by a trip I’m currently planning, but generally I always fantasize about crazy journeys while I have free time. Hopefully in the next few years I’ll take one or more of these and then be able to post about the actual trip!
If I had a choice (and all the money and all the time and guaranteed safety) this is the tour that I would take. West Africa is one of the few parts of the world left for me to explore and so I’m eager to learn about it, see its people, experience its culture, and visit its sites. That said, there are a few reasons why I haven’t made the trip and why it might be hard to do. These reasons are: language, safety, and cost/time.
Language: Most countries in West Africa are French + local language speaking. I don’t speak French. What actually bothers me with French is that I can understand so much of it because I speak (conversationally) Spanish and Italian. So when I hear French I have a natural impulse to listen to try to figure it out. Usually though, I can’t, and that is frustrating. This would be easy to overcome by having a French-speaking travel companion. I’ll keep it in mind.
Safety:Though I generally think I travel smart and am thus not too worried about security threats, this is a bit of a volatile part of the world, I don’t have too many contacts there, and again, not knowing the language adds another risk.
Cost / Time: I put these two together because they’re very dependent on one another- the longer you travel, the more it costs. Traveling overland in West Africa takes a long time because of inefficient roads, lots of borders, and also because cities are so close, the buses stop more often. The itinerary below would take, I imagine, a couple months. Furthermore, though food and hotels generally aren’t too expensive (7 West African countries are on the list of 20 poorest in the world), there is one big expense: visas. Each of the 15 countries in the circular tour below require a visa, with an average cost between them at more than $100- it’s close to $2000! Furthermore, these aren’t visas on arrival- these are visas where you have to go to an embassy beforehand and apply, have a waiting period, etc. Because many of these are small and generally poor nations, there aren’t many embassies around. The best process would be to start in one of the bigger nations in the region (i.e Senegal, Ghana, or Nigeria) and apply from there.
All of this together makes the trip a little bit of a tough sell. Splitting it up into two or three trips would probably make more sense. Either way, it would be important to start somewhere for a couple weeks where you could apply for the other visas, have the money and time to endure all the waiting and bureaucracy, and likely have a French speaker. Because of this, I’ve cut the itinerary up into three parts (red, yellow, and pink) and added the blue as ways they could, theoretically be combined.
Lagos to Abidjan
This would be the easiest section for me to do as English is widely spoken in both Ghana and Nigeria, most of these countries are rather safe, and the road connections are quite straight-forward. The trip could start in Lagos, Nigeria- Sub-Saharan Africa’s largest and one of the fastest growing cities. Nigeria, thanks to oil, has been quickly developing in the recent past, and is now seen as one of the main centers for business in Africa. The route from Lagos to the next locations, the two narrow countries of Togo and Benin, would be quick, only a few hours between each main point all the way to Accra, Ghana. Ghana is the country in West Africa I most want to visit, as I have many friends from high school there and it is famous for its old British colonial forts and a wonderfully preserved jungle. The final jaunt on this section would be a half day trip from Ghana to the Ivory Coast (or Cote d'Ivoire) and its fascinating capital- Abidjan. The second largest city in West Africa, Abidjan has an interesting developmental history as it has somewhat shrunk from past economic and political heights in the past 20 or so years. Supposedly it still holds the charm of a once regional center that is trying to fight its way back.
Monrovia to Dakar
This route would likely be easier (visa wise) starting in Dakar. Either way, this will be a complicated path as the countries here are more of the unknown and tense ones in the region / world. Though Liberia and Sierra Leone both being English-speaking may be useful, they both have long and somewhat recent histories of violence. In many ways this actually makes the nations safer, as disarmament has taken place and people are trying to get over their painful past. Liberia would be great to see as it was actually founded by freed black slave from the USA and it’s capital, Monrovia is named after James Monroe. Moving up North would be the two Guineas: Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Guinea supposedly has next to no transport infrastructure, so that could a be a harrowing journey trying to navigate through the rather large and diverse nation, but hopefully there would be a way to have some experiences there and then make it to Guinea-Bissau, one of the few Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa (the others being Angola, Mozambique, Sao Tome and Principe, and Cape Verde). The final stretch would be through the tiny nation of Gambia, another English speaking nation, and then on to Dakar, Senegal. Along with Accra, Dakar is the city I most want to see in West Africa, one Christmas a Senegalese friend of mine from boarding school came to spend the holidays with my family, she cooked one night and if what she made then was any indication of what I’d eat in Dakar, I’d go just for the food! Another incentive is that one of my advisors from university works heavily in Senegal and so I’m sure I could talk to some inspiring individuals there.
Nouakchott to Niamey
This part of the trip is really exciting to me because it is through the land that combines French West Africa with the Arab North Africa, though in a much more “untouched” way than people might think of in Morocco, for example. Being a desert region also remind me of my current home, Abu Dhabi, and so it could be eye-opening to see how others (less gaudy than the Gulfis) live in this harsh terrain. Though some might find this section crazy because of the three insanely long (24-50hr) bus rides that would be required, anyone who has read this blog for a while knows my strange obsession with long bus rides, especially in Africa. In fact, the buses might be the highlight of the trip, as much of the things to do in these countries is admire the landscape. The first bus from Nouakchott, Mauritania to Bamako would be the longest, with stories of 2-3 days including breakdowns… From Bamako, Mali it would be great to go up and visit Timbuktu, but currently rebel factions have a hold of it and travel in the North is not advised- hopefully that would change. The next two buses, from Bamako to Ouagadougou (pronounced Waa-gaa-doo-goo) and then onward to Niamey, Niger, would entirely cross Burkina Faso- going from the lush Volta region, through to the Arid west. The final stop, Niamey, is a low lying desert city with a nice river that (along with the mosques) are the main point of interaction. Though the cities along the way may be less than stellar, I think this section would be full of things to learn and reflect on: the identity of Islam in Africa, political economy of landlocked nations, and lots of introspection on those long rides.
So there you have it! A crazy tour through West Africa. If anyone wants to fund it (trip cost + salary deduction for missed time), speaks French, and is a good companion- let me know!
Bonus Trip: In each of the three parts, I’ve included a bonus trip that I haven’t thought through very much at all, but would still like to take. Todays bonus is- The Caucuses and Central Asia. This would be a two part, really requiring a flight in the middle, but a nice jaunt around Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia and then a trip through a few of the stans: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan (the three most prominently on my list) would be really mind blowing since I hardly know ANYTHING about the culture in any of these locations.
A land yacht pilot grips one wheel to steer and one to control sails in the Sahara Desert, Mauritania, November 1967.Photograph by Jonathan Blair, National Geographic
I’ve been inactive for a while, dealing with more important…more time consuming things. I’m currently on pace for a downtown apartment this March, potentially being hired on at my job within the next 2 weeks (I’ve been very busy), and working on some other stuff.
And yes, a nigga laptop screen is still cracked to this day. I just haven’t really made the time to fix it. With my apartment situation soon, I plan to finally get that fixed then and also buy an iMac. I have over 50 drafts right now and plenty more source material sitting around elsewhere (also thank you for 4,600 followers in less than a year of activity, appreciate yall). I’m also going to be starting a Patreon to help push this forward. I’ll have details on that within the next few months, so stay tuned.
Now, in regards to the title: I am Nigerian. Which region and ethnic group we come from, I don’t know this accurate of information yet. I have ancestry within the Senagambian region, Ghana and the Gold Coast. I’ve known a lot about/done a lot of research into genealogy, African archaeogenetics, ethnography, historiography, etc. over the years, and within most of what it happens to be related to, Nigeria has always been a main focus; Igbo, Hausa, Biafra, Sokoto (Usman dan Fodio/Nana Asma'u–two of my biggest interests), Fulani, and Tuareg berber-related things specificially. Among other things. So this came as no surprise to me. My friends I discuss this type of stuff with always joked that I was Nigerian, for w.e reason. I made it my educated guess several years ago, and I also correctly predicted my Y-DNA haplogroup as well maybe 4 years ago; it’s part of a huuuuuge archaeogenetics project I’ve helped a good friend on for years.
Basically, my father’s Y-DNA came back, as I was confident, haplogroup E-V38, subclade being E1b1a. E-V38 in ancient times is thought to have spread originated, in what I’d assume is paleolithic times, in East Africa, but later got to West Africa specifically from the Middle East/Levant. I haven’t gotten to my research projects regarding the anthropological landscape of the ancient Middle East, but now I will! This haplogroup is found primarily amongst Nigerians (Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, Yoruba, etc.), Tuareg Berbers of Niger and Libya specifically, Senegalese, and Ghanaians (Asante, etc.) among others albeit in smaller quantities. Also, from what I read recently from a study of Moorish remains in Northwest Africa, it was also present amongst the Moors of antiquity as well. E-V38 is also the haplogroup of Pharaoh Ramesses III, subclade also being E1b1a, iirc.
My mother on the other hand is an odd discovery! From her mtDNA I inhereted the maternal haplogroup L0a1a, which is common in Southeast Africa among people/regions such as Ethiopians and in southern Yemen (my guess is admixture with Ethiopians during the period throughout the kingdoms of D'mt and Saba/Sheba, and the Axumite empire), Mozambique, etc., but also present in small numbers throughtout Northwest/West among the likes of Tuaregs and something like 1 to 5% of Guineans. Oddly enough I grew up with a lot of Eritrean people (one of those “two families collide into one” type of deal that goes back generations; also by marriage). Grew up going to coffee ceremonies at elders’ homes and eating injera and mesir, lol. Still do once or twice a week to this day. Haplogroup L also happens to be the oldest mitochondrial lineage in human history, iirc, being the offshoot of Mitochondrial Eve in southern Africa. That and Nelson Mandela’s haplogroup.
Lastly, I want to be cultured more on where I come from. If anyone could assist me, this would be AMAZING! Fr family somebody get me hip.
Nigeria specifically my knowledge of Nigerian history and culture extends to topics/specific subjects like: food ofc, the region’s archaeology, indigenous architecure, a lot about Igbo people/culture, Ile-Ife (but not much more than that about Yoruba), Fula people, Shehu Usman dan Fodio+Nana Asma'u and the Sokoto Caliphate, Hausa people, Asante/Ashanti people/empire (Ik a but on the Gold Coast century long conflict with the British), some northern politics relating to Shaykh Ibrahim Zakzakay/etc., the civil war and Biafra, Songhai Empire (Askia, Sonni Ali, etc.), ik a lot of Tuareg berbers in the north, the Benin empire (bronzes, Walls of Benin, etc.), Kanem-Bornu, etc.
Idk much about recent history, culture, society or any of that. Nothing political much either (aside from Shaykh Zakzakay’s situation, memes from Nigerian films, and Big Man Tyrone on youtube).
Oualata (also known as “Walata”), located in Southeast Mauritania, is one town out of a string of 4 in total, coined by UNESCO as the Ksour (ksar - singular, ksour - plural; a Maghrebi Arabic term meaning “fortified village”) of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata. The city of Oualata became a popular caravan city, a trading hub, between the 12th and 16th centuries CE. [1] Today it is renowned for its decorative vernacular houses.
The medieval Moroccan traveler and scholar, Ibn Battuta, wrote of his stay in Oualata in his Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354, saying:
“Thus we reached the town of Iwalatan [Walata] after a journey from Sijilmasa of two months to a day. Iwalatan is the northernmost province of the Negroes, and the sultan’s representative there was one Farba Husayn, ‘farba’ meaning deputy [in their Ianguage]. When we arrived there, the merchants deposited their goods in an open square, where the blacks undertook to guard them, and went to the farba. He was sitting on a carpet under an archway, with his guards before him carrying lances and bows in their hands, and the headmen of the Massufa behind him. The merchants remained standing in front of him while he spoke to them through an interpreter, although they were close to him, to show his contempt for them. It was then that I repented of having come to their country, because of their lack of manners and their contempt for the whites.
…Later on the mushrif [inspector] of Iwalatan, whose name was Mansha Ju, invited all those who had come with the caravan to partake of his hospitality. At first I refused to attend, but my companions urged me very strongly, so I went with the rest. The repast was served–some pounded millet mixed with a little honey and milk, put in a half calabash shaped like a large bowl. The guests drank and retired. I said to them, ‘Was it for this that the black invited us?’ They answered, ‘Yes; and it is in their opinion the highest form of hospitality.’ This convinced me that there was no good to be hoped for from these people, and I made up my mind to travel [back to Morocco at once] with the pilgrim caravan from Iwalatan. Afterwards, however, I thought it best to go to see the capital of their king [of the kingdom of Mali, at the city of Mali].”
He seems to have met an hateful sentiment against “white” North Africans from someone within the city. Nonetheless, he did not hate the blacks. Also by his own account (and as seen in the next excerpt), this city was inhabited by the Masufa Berbers, a tribe not known much about. The demographics of Oualata, being mostly black, could mean the Masufa are one of the few heavily black Berber tribes (the main most notably being Tuareg people), or they simply could have been the typical “white” Berbers.
University of Georgia historian Timothy Cleaveland notes in his book Becoming Walata: A History of Saharan Social Formation and Transformation (2002), on page 176, that the city was inhabited by a mix of the original Mande-speaking peoples (also inhabited by Soninke people as well), and later migrations of Zenaga-speaking Berbers, followed even further down the line by Arab or “Arabized” nomads. Although, he notes that the composition of the population didn’t change very much. [2]
The famous Israeli historian and expert of African Islamic history Nehemia Levtzion says in his book Ancient Ghana and Mali (1973) on page 147 that “Walata” had a mixed population of [”white”] Berbers and “Sudanese”; blacks. On pages 80 and 158, we read that it fell from its trading popularity to the city of Timbuktu in the second half of the 14th century. [3]
This is what Ibn Battuta had to say of his stay in the city of Oualata, its men and the quality of their women:
“My stay at Iwalatan lasted about fifty days; and I was shown honor and entertained by its inhabitants. It is an excessively hot place, and boasts a few small date-palms, in the shade of which they sow watermelons. Its water comes from underground waterbeds at that point, and there is plenty of mutton to be had. The garments of its inhabitants, most of whom belong to the Massufa tribe, are of fine Egyptian fabrics.
Their women are of surpassing beauty, and are shown more respect than the men. The state of affairs amongst these people is indeed extraordinary. Their men show no signs of jealousy whatever; no one claims descent from his father, but on the contrary from his mother’s brother. A person’s heirs are his sister’s sons, not his own sons. This is a thing which I have seen nowhere in the world except among the Indians of Malabar. But those are heathens; these people are Muslims, punctilious in observing the hours of prayer, studying books of law, and memorizing the Koran. Yet their women show no bashfulness before men and do not veil themselves, though they are assiduous in attending the prayers. Any man who wishes to marry one of them may do so, but they do not travel with their husbands, and even if one desired to do so her family would not allow her to go.
The women there have ‘friends’ and ‘companions’ amongst the men outside their own families, and the men in the same way have ‘companions’ amongst the women of other families. A man may go into his house and find his wife entertaining her ‘companion’ but he takes no objection to it. One day at Iwalatan I went into the qadi’s house, after asking his permission to enter, and found with him a young woman of remarkable beauty. When I saw her I was shocked and turned to go out, but she laughed at me, instead of being overcome by shame, and the qadi said to me ‘Why are you going out? She is my companion.’ I was amazed at their conduct, for he was a theologian and a pilgrim [to Mecca] to boot. I was told that he had asked the sultan’s permission to make the pilgrimage that year with his ‘companion’–whether this one or not I cannot say–but the sultan would not grant it.”
In a quite hilarious situation, Battuta is surprised by this beautiful woman and attempts to flee like a nervous boy. And he does end up leaving the city of Oualata, in frustration, for Mali to see the king, and notes that it takes 24 days to reach if the caravan pushes on rapidly. [4]
Citation 4 is the text provided by Fordham University’s IHSP.
The renowned 15th-16th century Moroccan Berber-Andalusi writer, Leo Africanus, notes in his Descrittione dell’Africathat:
“The fourth part of Africa which is called the land of Negros, beginneth eastward at the kingdome of Gaoga, from whence it extendeth west as far as Gualata.” (pg 124)
“I* my selfe saw fifteene kingdoms of the Negros: howbeit there are many more, which although I saw not with mine owne eies, yet are they by the Negros sufficiently knowen and frequented. Their names there fore (beginning from the west, and so proceeding Eastward and Southward) are these following: Gualata, Ghinea, Melli, Tombuto, Gago, Guber, Agadez, Cano, Cafena, Zegzeg, Zanfara, Guangara, Borno, Gaogo, Nube.” (pg 128) [5]
The last two citations are unrelated pieces written to explain what exactly this “Gaoga” kingdom was, seeing that it isn’t written of otherwise, for anyone interested.
The beautiful ancient city of Oualata, Mauritania remains a notable tourist attraction today. An hour-long documentary was made about the muralist women of Oualata who decorate these houses, titled “En attandant les hommes”, in 2007 by director Katy Ndiaye.
Seewww.walata.org if you plan to visit. Below are some extra pictures of the city (one of them shows muralists at work). Enjoy.
5. Leo Africanus, The History and Description of Africa and of the Notable Things Therein Contained: Volume 1, pgs 124 and 128, published by B. Franklin, 1896
Oualata (also known as “Walata”), located in Southeast Mauritania, is one town out of a string of 4 in total, coined by UNESCO as the Ksour (ksar - singular, ksour - plural; a Maghrebi Arabic term meaning “fortified village”) of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata. The city of Oualata became a popular caravan city, a trading hub, between the 12th and 16th centuries CE. [1] Today it is renowned for its decorative vernacular houses.
The medieval Moroccan traveler and scholar, Ibn Battuta, wrote of his stay in Oualata in his Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354, saying:
“Thus we reached the town of Iwalatan [Walata] after a journey from Sijilmasa of two months to a day. Iwalatan is the northernmost province of the Negroes, and the sultan’s representative there was one Farba Husayn, ‘farba’ meaning deputy [in their Ianguage]. When we arrived there, the merchants deposited their goods in an open square, where the blacks undertook to guard them, and went to the farba. He was sitting on a carpet under an archway, with his guards before him carrying lances and bows in their hands, and the headmen of the Massufa behind him. The merchants remained standing in front of him while he spoke to them through an interpreter, although they were close to him, to show his contempt for them. It was then that I repented of having come to their country, because of their lack of manners and their contempt for the whites.
…Later on the mushrif [inspector] of Iwalatan, whose name was Mansha Ju, invited all those who had come with the caravan to partake of his hospitality. At first I refused to attend, but my companions urged me very strongly, so I went with the rest. The repast was served–some pounded millet mixed with a little honey and milk, put in a half calabash shaped like a large bowl. The guests drank and retired. I said to them, ‘Was it for this that the black invited us?’ They answered, ‘Yes; and it is in their opinion the highest form of hospitality.’ This convinced me that there was no good to be hoped for from these people, and I made up my mind to travel [back to Morocco at once] with the pilgrim caravan from Iwalatan. Afterwards, however, I thought it best to go to see the capital of their king [of the kingdom of Mali, at the city of Mali].”
He seems to have met an hateful sentiment against “white” North Africans from someone within the city. Nonetheless, he did not hate the blacks. Also by his own account (and as seen in the next excerpt), this city was inhabited by the Masufa Berbers, a tribe not known much about. The demographics of Oualata, being mostly black, could mean the Masufa are one of the few heavily black Berber tribes (the main most notably being Tuareg people), or they simply could have been the typical “white” Berbers.
University of Georgia historian Timothy Cleaveland notes in his book Becoming Walata: A History of Saharan Social Formation and Transformation (2002), on page 176, that the city was inhabited by a mix of the original Mande-speaking peoples (also inhabited by Soninke people as well), and later migrations of Zenaga-speaking Berbers, followed even further down the line by Arab or “Arabized” nomads. Although, he notes that the composition of the population didn’t change very much. [2]
The famous Israeli historian and expert of African Islamic history Nehemia Levtzion says in his book Ancient Ghana and Mali (1973) on page 147 that “Walata” had a mixed population of [”white”] Berbers and “Sudanese”; blacks. On pages 80 and 158, we read that it fell from its trading popularity to the city of Timbuktu in the second half of the 14th century. [3]
This is what Ibn Battuta had to say of his stay in the city of Oualata, its men and the quality of their women:
“My stay at Iwalatan lasted about fifty days; and I was shown honor and entertained by its inhabitants. It is an excessively hot place, and boasts a few small date-palms, in the shade of which they sow watermelons. Its water comes from underground waterbeds at that point, and there is plenty of mutton to be had. The garments of its inhabitants, most of whom belong to the Massufa tribe, are of fine Egyptian fabrics.
Their women are of surpassing beauty, and are shown more respect than the men. The state of affairs amongst these people is indeed extraordinary. Their men show no signs of jealousy whatever; no one claims descent from his father, but on the contrary from his mother’s brother. A person’s heirs are his sister’s sons, not his own sons. This is a thing which I have seen nowhere in the world except among the Indians of Malabar. But those are heathens; these people are Muslims, punctilious in observing the hours of prayer, studying books of law, and memorizing the Koran. Yet their women show no bashfulness before men and do not veil themselves, though they are assiduous in attending the prayers. Any man who wishes to marry one of them may do so, but they do not travel with their husbands, and even if one desired to do so her family would not allow her to go.
The women there have ‘friends’ and ‘companions’ amongst the men outside their own families, and the men in the same way have ‘companions’ amongst the women of other families. A man may go into his house and find his wife entertaining her ‘companion’ but he takes no objection to it. One day at Iwalatan I went into the qadi’s house, after asking his permission to enter, and found with him a young woman of remarkable beauty. When I saw her I was shocked and turned to go out, but she laughed at me, instead of being overcome by shame, and the qadi said to me ‘Why are you going out? She is my companion.’ I was amazed at their conduct, for he was a theologian and a pilgrim [to Mecca] to boot. I was told that he had asked the sultan’s permission to make the pilgrimage that year with his ‘companion’–whether this one or not I cannot say–but the sultan would not grant it.”
In a quite hilarious situation, Battuta is surprised by this beautiful woman and attempts to flee like a nervous boy. And he does end up leaving the city of Oualata, in frustration, for Mali to see the king, and notes that it takes 24 days to reach if the caravan pushes on rapidly. [4]
Citation 4 is the text provided by Fordham University’s IHSP.
The renowned 15th-16th century Moroccan Berber-Andalusi writer, Leo Africanus, notes in his Descrittione dell’Africathat:
“The fourth part of Africa which is called the land of Negros, beginneth eastward at the kingdome of Gaoga, from whence it extendeth west as far as Gualata.” (pg 124)
“I* my selfe saw fifteene kingdoms of the Negros: howbeit there are many more, which although I saw not with mine owne eies, yet are they by the Negros sufficiently knowen and frequented. Their names there fore (beginning from the west, and so proceeding Eastward and Southward) are these following: Gualata, Ghinea, Melli, Tombuto, Gago, Guber, Agadez, Cano, Cafena, Zegzeg, Zanfara, Guangara, Borno, Gaogo, Nube.” (pg 128) [5]
The last two citations are unrelated pieces written to explain what exactly this “Gaoga” kingdom was, seeing that it isn’t written of otherwise, for anyone interested.
The beautiful ancient city of Oualata, Mauritania remains a notable tourist attraction today. An hour-long documentary was made about the muralist women of Oualata who decorate these houses, titled “En attandant les hommes”, in 2007 by director Katy Ndiaye.
Seewww.walata.org if you plan to visit. Below are some extra pictures of the city (one of them shows muralists at work). Enjoy.
5. Leo Africanus, The History and Description of Africa and of the Notable Things Therein Contained: Volume 1, pgs 124 and 128, published by B. Franklin, 1896
The Art of Africa is a casualty of colonial exploitation, surviving principally in the museums of other countries. ~ Nadine Gordimer
“My objective in this work is to document an extraordinary art form - vernacular art and architecture in West Africa - that is not transportable and therefore not seen in museums around the world. It is an attempt to capture the unseen Africa, a glimpse into the homes and into the spirit of very proud and dignified peoples. In much the same way as I photographed the art of Ndebele women, I have drawn on my personal affinity for the art itself, for methods, design and form, rather than the socio-anthropological or political realities of a people or continent in dilemma. These images portray a unique tradition of Africa, a celebration of an indigenous rural culture in which the women are the artists and the home her canvas.”
I made a similar blog post to this a while back, about the vernacular architecture of Oualata/Walata, Mauritania (in fact, the second and last photos are of Oualata).
You can read it here (not sure why, but when I format the link to my post in that text, it keeps redirecting to some old blog for whatever reason):
