Man who rode the world's most dangerous train reveals how he survived the night
A YouTuber who rode on the world's 'deadliest' train has revealed what it was like to spend the night sleeping on top of an iron ore cart.
Spanning 704 km (437 miles) from the Sahara Desert to the Atlantic coast, the Mauritania iron ore train has become a bucket list trip for hardened travellers over the years.
Unlike your typical train journey, boarding the ore train involves jumping onto an open-top cart and spending up to 24 hours riding alongside loose minerals and any other tourist daring to make the journey.
No seats, no toilets, no shelter and only the food you bring with you.
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It's also technically illegal, although tolerated to a certain extent by mining companies, with any traveller caught by authorities made to pay a fee to sit in the passenger cart.
Despite the trip being illegal, uncomfortable and arguably unethical, it does make for a pretty insane travel story, meaning that scores of people will continue travelling to Mauritania for a chance to jump onboard the cars.
One person who did just that is US YouTuber Drew Binsky, who took the journey with a friend back in 2022.
Sharing his experience on his channel, Binsky called the journey the 'experience of a lifetime'.
How do you sleep on the Mauritania iron ore train?
Spending a few hours sitting on a pile of raw materials in order to get a pic for Instagram is one thing, but sleeping while exposed to the elements is certainly a whole other kettle of fish.
And if you think sleeping on a normal train is difficult, a night under the stars while travelling across the Sahara isn't any comfier.
After eating a dinner of nuts, brownies, bananas and water, Drew and his friend Thomas got turned in for the night.
Although temperatures in the Mauritanian desert can reach as high as 50°C during the daytime, it can be as cold as -4°C at night, which anyone who's been camping will know isn't pleasant to sleep in.
To survive the night, Drew and Thomas wrapped themselves in several layers before climbing into a sleeping bag.
The journey doesn't sound like it was particularly pleasant for the pair, with Drew noting that he only slept for a 'couple of hours' due to the temperature being 'freezing cold'.
"I am completely covered in black," he said. "My breath stinks. I can smell my breath inside of this face mask."
The pair woke up several times during the night, at one point stopping outside a random town, before the sun rose again.
Despite the less-than-pleasant sleeping arrangements, the journey seemed to be worth it overall for the pair, with the content creator saying he was 'having the best time of my life' while looking out across endless dunes.
Brenna Cooper