Ben Amera, Monolith in the Sahara, Mauritania

Ben Amera is a single granite mass rising 633 metres above the desert floor in Mauritania, near the Western Sahara border. It is Africa's largest monolith and the world's second largest after Uluru. The lesser monolith Aïsha lies about a 20-minute drive to the west, and the Iron Ore Train track passes 4 kilometres south of Ben Amera.

Ben Amera lies 4 km north of the railway used by the Iron Ore Train between Nouâdibhou and Choûm, and the track to it runs parallel to the rails before crossing them at the 395 km mark. In 1999, a dozen internationally known artists marked the millennium by carving into boulders at the base of the nearby monolith Aïsha, a 20-minute drive west. By December 2018 a small encampment and a security checkpoint stood near the tracks, where a photocopy of a passport usually replaced the old fiches.

The smaller monolith Aïsha lies about a 20-minute drive west of Ben Amera. In 1999 a dozen internationally known artists marked the millennium by carving into the boulders at Aïsha's base, so the two rocks are now linked by that event as well as by their shared desert setting.

No paving exists after leaving the Atar–Zouerrat road, so a 4x4 and a driver hired in Atar are needed for the deep sandy track. The route runs parallel to the Iron Ore Train tracks and crosses them at the 395 km mark, where a small encampment and a security checkpoint stood as of December 2018. A photocopy of your passport usually suffices at the checkpoint.

Ben Amera lies 4 km north of the railway used by the Iron Ore Train between Nouâdibhou and Choûm, and the sandy track to it crosses those rails at the 395 km mark. A smaller monolith, Aïsha, stands about a 20-minute drive west; in 1999 a dozen internationally known artists carved into the boulders at its base to mark the millennium.