When planning a honeymoon, many {couples} go for apparent locations like Paris, town of affection, or the Maldives, with its gorgeous azure waters.
Few, not like Croatian newlyweds Kristijan and Andrea Ilicic, go for a freight prepare carrying wagons of soiled iron ore throughout the baking sizzling deserts of Mauritania in northwest Africa.
The couple come across their uncommon post-wedding expertise having already visited scores of locations world wide as journey influencers — Kristijan has clocked up a minimum of 150.
“We actually noticed so much,” Kristijan advised CNN by way of electronic mail. “This time, it needed to be one thing fully completely different. And we discovered it in… Mauritania!”
The climax of their journey was a daring photoshoot on high of the iron ore-laden prepare because it rumbled throughout the desert on its 700-kilometer (435-mile) journey from the mining city of Zouérat to the Atlantic port of Nouadhibou.
The photographs had been later posted to Instagram, racking up greater than 40,000 likes.
In them, Andrea’s gown will be seen stained with the iron ore carried within the open-top rail wagons.
“All the things was stuffed with ore,” Kristijan mentioned. “Garments, air, meals, every little thing. It was actually a miracle we saved the white marriage ceremony gown (largely) white for the shoot!”
Shock celebration
Using the iron prepare throughout the desert has develop into one thing of a ceremony of passage for excessive journey influencers in recent times, repeatedly cropping up on YouTube and different social media websites.
It isn’t for the faint of coronary heart although. The 20-hour trip entails temperatures reaching greater than 45 levels Celsius within the day and and under freezing at night time. Winds additionally whip up iron ore mud.
Clambering aboard the 200-wagon prepare can be fraught with hazard.
Regardless of the hardships of their honeymoon photoshoot, Kristijan says the journey to Mauritania exceeded expectations as a welcoming and “underestimated touristic vacation spot,” regardless of attracting few vacationers.
“It actually has so much to supply,” he mentioned.
“In a village we visited, native individuals managed to shock us with a marriage ceremony in accordance with their native, conventional rituals. Andrea and I had been dressed of their conventional marriage ceremony garments, and it was a two-hour dancing, drumming and singing expertise I am going to always remember.
“Appears like Andrea and I acquired married twice!” Kristijan added jokingly.
“It was actually not a typical honeymoon, nevertheless it was additionally the journey of our lives!” he provides.