See also:
Mauritania Page
Tindouf Piste to Algeria

Nearly 20 years after I last drove it, Mauritania’s Railway Piste is becoming an Overlander’s Thing. If nothing else it’s a short cut (in distance only) from the coast to the interesting Adrar highlands east of Atar without having to schlep down twice the road distance via Nouakchott or now, Benichab (saving 200km).
They say the ore train linking Nouadhibou port with the iron mines inland at Zouerat no longer offloads vehicles at Choum, where it can stop for just a few minutes westbound when full. Motorbikes might be quickly manhandled on and off. Otherwise you might load or offload a car at Zouerat (12–16hrs), even though asphalt now extends there from Choum. SNIM has no formal reservation system, booking website or even a station. There will be a yard at each end with a ramp.

Coming up from Atar and riding the loaded ore train as a passenger between Choum and Nouadhibou has also becoming a youtuber’s rite of passage (below). You’ll find loads of self-agrandizing vids on social media. There’s even a backpackers’ guide to Mauritania as well as organised tours, some in rudimentary sleeper wagons, while the hardcore cower on the mineral wagons for free, choking on iron ore dust. Bring a Covid mask.

As for the piste, while navigation in either direction is straightforward with the rail track always to the north, it can still be hard work as you cross successive dune cordons in the east before you reach the road at Choum, 115km north of Atar.
Alone on a moto this is quite a step if you’ve just cruised down the balmy Atlantic Highway through Morocco. It’s a lot hotter down here and riders have crashed or burned out and needed rescuing or escorting out. Even with the easy nav, think twice about tackling it alone on a heavy bike. You can buy drum fuel and water from the shantytowns alongside the track marked on the map above.
North of Ben Amira village (KM360), the granite monoliths of Ben Amira are well worth an excursion, though don’t stray too far north to the PFZ border. And don’t expect Choum to be any kind of Shangri-La, though there is fuel and an auberge here.
Some say the terrain get easier further south from the tracks, but there’s no way of dodging the long band of the Anezal dunes of the eastern half. They are mostly low, rolling sand mounds, not a full-on crested dunes, but the soft sand, occasional drop-offs, ruts and heat will work your engine hard. In whatever direction, bottom line is you just have to plough your way through, seeking out the easiest tracks or terrain.