 Some intrepid travellers hitched a ride (or loaded their cars) eastwards on the Mauritania Railway which brought iron ore to Nouadhibou from the mines inland at Zouerat.From Choum this provided access to Atar, at the foot of the Adrar plateau, scenically and culturally the gateway to Mauritania’s touristic heartland.Around the turn of the millennium the completion of a new inland road linking Nouadhibou with Nouakchott (the first sealed road to cross the Sahara from north to south), as well as the advent of inexpensive charter flights from France directly to Atar by Point-Afrique, helped inexpensive fly-in tourism gain a foothold in Mauritania.