5 independent reviews for Mauritania small group holiday

Dear Candy, I hope you are well. Apologies that it has taken some time for us to respond to your feedback about this trip. I’m really pleased to hear that you enjoyed your time in Mauritania and gained a lot from your experiences here. It sounds like you made some fantastic memories. I’m glad that you felt well looked after by your guide and drivers. We always prefer to work with local guides and drivers - not only does this ensure that money stays within the local economy, but also local people know their country best, which really enhances the experience for the group. Unfortunately, the guides at Banc d’Arguin aren’t very experienced with international tourists, so we wouldn’t be completely confident in allowing them to lead one of our groups. That said, we will certainly consider spending more time at Banc d’Arguin on future trips, and see how we can incorporate this into the itinerary. Interaction with local people, and doing this well, is important to us. We try to include meaningful experiences wherever possible on our tours, and when appropriate, take the opportunity to interact with people when opportunities arise along the way. It’s great that you were able to meet a family in the Guelb er Richat, and get an insight into their way of life. Unfortunately, not all local people are open to visits from tourists so we try to strike the right balance with this and make sure that we don't intrude too much. We are very conscious about single use plastic and as part of our responsible travel initiative, we are looking at ways to cut down on this, such as asking our travellers to bring a reusable water bottle which can be refilled during the tour. We do find that people would rather not drink water that has been purified with tablets, so this is a challenge, but it’s an issue that we are taking seriously. Please be assured that any plastic bottles used during our trips are disposed of properly and taken to recycling centres back in the cities, where these exist. I’m sorry that you felt our traveller information was lacking a bit in terms of culture and geography. We provide some information about culture, practical information and a suggested reading list in our country notes for each destination, but try not to overwhelm people with the amount of documentation we provide. Some travellers prefer more detail, others prefer less, and of course personal interests vary. Our guides are really the experts in terms of country knowledge, so they are based placed to inform our travellers during the tour, answer any questions and bring their culture to life. We will definitely consider how we can improve our country notes and pre-departure information going forward, to make them more trip specific. Thank you for mentioning this, as well as your tips on what to bring - we can add some of these to our packing list. Thank you. Kind Regards, Michaela Tart Travel Consultant