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There are some train rides that you’ll never forget. Riding Mauritania’s Iron Ore Train is definitely one of those.
It doesn’t matter if you’re eastbound or westbound—what matters is that this train ride truly embodies the idiom that it’s all about the journey, not the destination.Top Places in Mauritania
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First, a few facts: Operating since 1963, the iron ore train covers 437 miles (704 kilometers) on its journey across the Sahara Desert from Nouadhibou, on the coast, to Zouérat, an iron mine in the center of Mauritania. Consisting of more than 200 carriages and three or four locomotives, the train can reach nearly a mile (about 2.5 to three kilometers) in length and carry 84 tons of iron ore, making it one of the longest and heaviest trains in the world.
But iron isn’t the only thing this beast of a train typically carries. Additional passenger carriages can be attached to the train, but most often, passengers sit on top of the ore. The train can carry road vehicles as well, and if you are self-driving, you have to make arrangements for your vehicle to tag along for…
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