When Peter Hudson set off for Mauritania, he knew it only as a big blank space on a map of Africa. Travelling from the capital, Nouakchott, hardly more than a desert encampment, he found among the oases and ancient caravan towns a people in harmony with their harsh surroundings, and began to understand something of the emerging nation's confrontation with the This book describes Hudson's travels as he progressed by foot, canal and donkey. Peter Hudson's book A Leaf in the Wind was shortlisted for the 1988 Thomas Cook Travel Book Award.