I grew up in Mauritania and now live in Switzerland. Between those two worlds, I have built a life shaped by travel, curiosity, and a desire to understand cultures beyond my own. This blog is where I share those journeys, along with reflections on identity, belonging, and what it means to build a life far from home.
First, a small clarification, because it comes up more often than you might think: Mauritania is not Mauritius. Not the island in the Indian Ocean, but the country on the western edge of the Sahara.
It is a place that remains largely unknown to the outside world, which has always surprised me. Even after travelling across continents, I still return home astonished by its richness. Mauritania is a land of storytellers and poets, where culture is lived rather than displayed, and where people carry their history and origins with pride. We are often called the land of a million poets, and words still matter there in a way that feels increasingly rare.
Growing up in a culture also means inheriting its invisible rules, the expectations that shape our choices long before we realise they exist.
Today, by one of life's happy accidents, I live in Switzerland, a country that could hardly be more different from the one that raised me. There are sand dunes back home and snow dunes here. One is known for precision, the other for oral tradition. Moving between them has given me the privilege of seeing both more clearly, and of learning something about myself in the process.
When I first left for Europe to study, a young Mauritanian woman travelling alone abroad was still something unusual. Many people did not understand it. Some thought it was impossible. Looking back, I realise that what felt extraordinary then has become far more common today.
Nothing makes me happier than seeing Mauritanian girls studying, working, and building lives abroad. Over the years, I have received countless messages asking how I convinced my family to let me leave, how I managed to travel so much, and how I navigated the expectations that came with where I was born.
I do not pretend to have all the answers. But if my story can make someone else's path feel a little less impossible, then it is worth telling. That is one of the reasons this blog exists.
The name Chiva In Transit reflects how I often feel: permanently in transit between places, languages, cultures, and versions of myself. Not fully here, not fully there, but enriched by both.
Here, you will find practical travel guides, personal stories, cultural reflections, and occasional essays about Mauritania, Switzerland, and the invisible forces that shape our lives. Some posts will help you plan a trip. Others will simply tell you what it felt like to stand somewhere, meet someone, or see the world differently for a moment.
Above all, I hope this space encourages curiosity. About places. About people. About the assumptions we inherit without questioning them.
Whether you arrive here for travel advice, stories from the road, or a glimpse into a country you may never have heard of, I hope you leave with a wider view of the world, and perhaps a wider view of what might be possible for yourself.
Chiva