Situated in West Africa, Mauritania has borders with Algeria to the northwest, Western Sahara to the North West, Mali to the east and south, Senegal on the southwest and the Atlantic Ocean on the west.

There are three distinct geographic regions in Mauritania; a narrow belt along the Senegal River Valley in the south, where soil and climatic conditions permit settled agriculture; north of this valley, a broad east-west bank characterised by vast sand plains and fixed dunes held in place by sparse grass and scrub trees; and a large northern arid region shading into the Sahara Desert and characterised by shifting sand dunes, rock outcroppings and rugged mountainous plateaus with elevations of more than 1,500 ft. The country is generally flat and the coastline indented; the Senegal River and its tributaries are the only waterways.