Photos of the Week: Nouakchott Fish Market
The Nouakchott fish market is busy and chaotic. If you show up in the afternoon, around 3pm the fishermen and women, who are actually almost entirely Wolof, will be racing frantically back and forth from the boats with the catches of the day. The waters off the coast of Mauritania are some of the richest in the world, and there is always a flurry of activity here. Aside from the people and the market itself, the beautifully painted pirogues are worth some photos.
I was warned that going to the Nouakchott fish market with my camera might get me into some trouble. They said that officials don’t want tourists taking pictures of the fish laying on the beach because they think it will hurt their sanitation image with countries that buy the fish, like France. However, I never ran into any problems and in many cases actually had people asking me to take their photos.
These are a couple of images from the fish market in Nouakchott. Enjoy!
Brendan van Son
Author: Brendan van Son is a travel writer and photographer from Alberta, Canada. He has visited 6 of the 7 continents and more countries than he has the desire to count. Check out his profile on Google+. for a little bit more about him.
This is awesome, man! You’re the first blogger I’ve come across who’s made their way to Mauritania…well, second. I read another AGES ago but can’t for the life of me remember who it is…Anyway, fully loving the colours on the boats, and glad that your camera didn’t get you into trouble!
Tom @ Waegook Tom recently posted..Seoul’s Grand Palaces: Part Two
Tom – I think the others were probably “Amateurs in Africa” they were the ones that inspired me to do the trip on the iron ore train. Such an epic place. Amazing country that doesn’t get it’s due.