Aoukar or Erg Aoukar (Arabic: عوكر) is a geological depression area of south eastern Mauritania. It is located between Kiffa and Néma, south of the Tagant Plateau. The region is also referred to as Hodh or El Hodh (Arabic: الحوض, lit. 'the Basin').
The Aoukar basin is a dry natural region of sand dunes and salt pans fringed by escarpments on its northern and eastern sides.
Oualata or Walāta (Arabic: ولاتة) (also Biru in 17th century chronicles) is a small oasis town in southeast Mauritania, located at the eastern end of the Aoukar basin. Oualata was important as a caravan city in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries as the southern terminus of a trans-Saharan trade route and now it is a World Heritage Site.
The whole Oualata commune has a total size of 93,092 square kilometres (35,943 sq mi), mostly consisting of desert. The main town is located in the south of the commune.
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