Originally Posted by
ironmanjt
Woke up at oh-dark-thirty to check out, and the front desk guy at the hotel was nowhere to be found. I eventually found him in the hotel bar asleep in a chair with his head on a table. To his credit, he woke up pretty quickly, and check-out was reasonably efficient. There was a surcharge for using a credit card, and only visa cards were accepted. As promised the night before, the hotel shuttle was waiting for us and we made the short drive to the airport in maybe 10 minutes. On the map the airport looked a long way out of town, but when I asked the shuttle driver apparently that's the new airport being built by the Chinese...like everywhere else in Africa.
Upon entering the terminal there was an x-ray and metal detector, after which some official people with badges asked for passports and escorted is to the check-in area. Apparently there was nothing official about them at all, and they just wanted a tip for showing you where to check in. Seriously, the airport is two rooms - one for waiting and one for checking in. Did they not think we could figure it out? Eventually they went away without a tip, but they were hassling the woman in front of us pretty hard. She told them all she had was a 20 euro bill, and they took it...and eventually she realized she wasn't getting any change. Amateur mistake!
No problems at all checking in, short wait for immigration and security, then the Angola-style "please come into this room." I managed to get out of it, but it was the currency control room, where they tried to find money on you which you hadn't declared...and take it. Ian got away with no issues and we got to wait in the departure haul which maybe had a couple hundred seats and was buzzing with flies and mosquitos, even at 5am. There were even a couple of stray cats to complete the wildlife scene. Eventually one of the shops opened and was selling bottles of water so we could get rid of the rest of our currency. There apparently was a Mauritania Airlines lounge, but if it's even still in business it was very, very closed at this hour. Instead, we were treated to several people watching loud bollywood movies without headphones in the waiting area. Ugh.
Boarding eventually started about 30 minutes before departure, and was a walk across the tarmac to the plane. I tried to take my phone out to get a photo, but was quickly yelled at by one of the security guys. Ok, I get it, no photos.
Since there's not a lot about NKC airport here on FT, I thought I'd add onto
ironmanjt's trip report with a comment on the new airport that is now operational - for future reference.
The old airport, which is/was right in Nouakchott, has been totally levelled ready for houses to be built on the site... just a couple of blocks left to indicate that it was ever there.
The new airport is about 45 km north of town, on the Nouadibhou road, which is a very good dual carriageway, but mostly empty of traffic.
The airport is positioned a couple of km to the east of the road, in the middle of the sandy pancake-flat scrub that surrounds Nouakchott.
It's a very modern and smart building, but perhaps somewhat over-done for the handful of flights it serves. [there is a carpark with perhaps 500 spaces, of which about 15 were taken when we arrived!]
I was also on the TK flight, but an evening departure today - and the only flight out.
Check-in was, unsurprisingly, quiet.
They only opened immigration and security two hours before the flight. There were 17 passengers boarding in NKC (I counted at the gate) so no queues at security.
I got the same Angola-style currency questions as
ironmanjt. After answering the questions they do the 'keep flicking through passport and staring at you hard in hope that you'll give them a bribe' but you just need to stare right back and they get bored.
I had gone through security once checked in, to get some water and spend my last Ouguiya, so went looking for the shops. Except they hadn't actually been built yet.
In fact, as I looked around, I could only see one person in the whole departures area.
The airport was even emptier than that time I arrived into CPT at 1am. This is a 360 video taken at the top of the escalator from security - click to play on flickr.
With no shops, I thought I'd chance my arm in the VIP lounge, with my A3 *G card; I was told there that it was TK J or TK elites only, but I could pay 5k MRO (about $13); since I was parched, and had some leftover ouguiya, I paid up. Lounge is a bit cooler than outside, has very patchy wifi, some cold drinks and biscuits... but the drink was well worth the cash.
Nouakchott is a fascinating place, but the airport could be improved.