A magnetic playground for wannabe explorers, Mauritania has vast dune fields, giddying canyons, eye-popping plateaus, a wild stretch of coast and enough oases to calm the most stressed minds.

In Mauritania, wild coast meets Saharan dunes. Desert, rocky plateaus and sand dunes are Mauritania’s signature landscapes but the country also boasts 700 kilometres of shoreline, including the Banc d’Arguin National Park, one of the world’s greatest bird-viewing venues and a World Heritage natural site.

Of Mauritania’s estimated 3.2 million inhabitants, about 60 percent are Moors of Arab and Berber descent. The other major ethnic group consists of black Africans, who are ethnically split into two groups.

Mauritania’s main resource has traditionally been iron ore, which currently accounts for nearly 40 percent of total exports, but the discovery of oil reserves in 2001 could bring a new impetus to the country’s economy. The nation’s coastal waters are among the richest fishing areas in the world but overexploitation by foreigners is a major concerns.