Mauritania, Pink flamingoes

The Banc d’Arguin is a landscape of sandbanks and shallows which in 1816 was responsible for the shipwreck of the French frigate La Méduse, an event that inspired Theodore Géricault’s famous painting Le radeau de la Meduse (The Raft of Medusa, 1818–19). Between migratory birds, including Camargue flamingoes and other species from Siberia, and marine mammals such as baleen whales, killer whales, and dolphins, there are some 280 species in this nature reserve, which became a national park in 1976 and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1989. The richness of the Banc d’Arguin’s fauna is said to result from the combination of true underwater grassland and the phenomenon of “upwelling” of cold, nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean to the surface. In addition, this long stretch of 12,000 square kilometers (4,600 square miles), situated on the Mauritanian coast between Nouâdhibou in the north and Cape Timitris in the south, is virtually uninhabited. Only a few village encampments of traditional Imraguen fishermen can be seen here and there. How much longer can it escape the tourist influx?