I remember reading in a West Africa guidebook that Noudhibou, which is the north-most city in Mauritania, is one of the region’s major traveller’s crossroads. According to the guidebook Busua in Ghana, Bamako in Mali and Cotonou in Benin are others.

To me, Noudhibou – a dusty and unappealing little town – didn’t merit this distinction. Until we were turned back from the border earlier this week and headed back to the city, tails between our legs.

Following us at the time were two Irish travellers on motorbikes – Jeremy and Keith – who had just arrived from Morocco and were starting their journey to Cape Town. We guided them to the Baie de Levrier, our favourite overlander camp in the city.

Jeremy & Keith: part of the growing group of Irish travellers who are slowly colonising West Africa

The camp is run very vocally by the cantankerous Ali, a self-proclaimed ‘nomad’ who claims that the city is “plastic” and vastly inferior to the desert – yet who has owned the place for the past 15 years.

Ali, in a particularly bad mood.

During the time we were there the Aberge played host to an ex-US Army Arab and his French girlfriend, two Chinese travellers who speak neither English nor French, a strange Frenchman who looks like a yogi and never leaves his room and numerous convoys of European retirees whose transport of choice is the Toyota Prado with an Italian-made roof tent.

On one particular day earlier this week we took the Irishmen to see Cap Blanc lighthouse while we waited for the border to cool down. When we returned we saw that Rainer and Fritz had arrived at the camp.

Now Rainer and Fritz are both German but they had only met that morning at the border. Rainer collects crystals and chunks of meteorites on his travels in the Sahara that he sells at flea markets in Europe.

Stone bravely checks out the chunk of meteorite Rainer keeps around his neck while Jeremy the Irishman, perhaps wisely, keeps his distance.

Fritz left Germany 11 months ago and is just wandering around Africa. He may head towards Ethiopia; he may make for South Africa.

Rainer and Fritz are normal German dudes. Fritz smiles a lot and Rainer talks all the time and has a penchant for tight pants, but otherwise they’re normal. Except for their choice of transport.

Fritz and Rainer: proof that, in Africa, the size of your equipment is inversely proportional to the size of your cajones.

Rainer drives a Citroen 2CV – which looks like the car Noddy would have driven before he graduated to a Noddy Car – all over the desert. He says that it drives better on deep sand than a 4×4.

And Fritz, well Fritz drives a scooter. That’s right, the man is driving a scooter across Africa. He straps a pack to his back, wedges an extra bottle of fuel between his legs and buzzes around the continent. Unbelievable.

Africa, Fritz-style. The Man and The Machine… What’s not to love?