

(CNN) — When planning a honeymoon, many {couples} go for apparent locations like Paris, town of affection, or the Maldives, with its beautiful azure waters.
Few, in contrast to Croatian newlyweds Kristijan and Andrea Ilicic, go for a freight practice carrying wagons of soiled iron ore throughout the baking scorching deserts of Mauritania in northwest Africa.
The couple stumble on 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 rather a lot,” Kristijan instructed CNN through 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 prime of the iron ore-laden practice 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 pictures had been later posted to Instagram, racking up greater than 40,000 likes.
In them, Andrea’s costume may be seen stained with the iron ore carried within the open-top rail wagons.
“Every part was filled with ore,” Kristijan stated. “Garments, air, meals, every part. It was actually a miracle we stored the white wedding ceremony costume (principally) white for the shoot!”
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The large practice can attain round 200 wagons in size.
Antonio Filipovic/Iluminol Digit
Using the iron practice throughout the desert has turn out to be one thing of a ceremony of passage for excessive journey influencers in recent times, often cropping up on YouTube and different social media websites.
It is not for the faint of coronary heart although. The 20-hour journey 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 practice 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 rather a lot to supply,” he stated.
“In a village we visited, native folks managed to shock us with a marriage ceremony in accordance with their native, conventional rituals. Andrea and I had been dressed of their conventional wedding ceremony garments, and it was a two-hour dancing, drumming and singing expertise I am going to always remember.
“Seems like Andrea and I obtained married twice!” Kristijan added jokingly.
“It was actually not a typical honeymoon, but it surely was additionally the journey of our lives!” he provides.