MacDonald says riding one of the world's longest trains across the Sahara was one of her favorite moments of her two-month journey in Mauritania. "It was dirty and uncomfortable but is such an interesting and unique way to travel through the vast desert," she said. (Jody MacDonald)

Growing up in Saudi Arabia, 39-year-old has always had a love affair with the desert. And on a recent two-month expedition to Mauritania, MacDonald truly became intimate with the region's vast desert landscape, riding on open-top cars of a train—the world's longest—across the Sahara Desert to the African country's northwest coast, in search of surf and shipwrecks.

"I have always wanted to spend some time in the Sahara," MacDonald told weather.com. "Stark environments like the Sahara Desert still have so much unexplored areas. These relatively untouched places are so rare these days and hold the very fundamentals of exploration." Mauritania is twice the size of France and 90 percent of its land is within the Sahara, comprised of mountainous dunes shaped and reshaped by winds.

MacDonald started her journey in Mauritania's capital city of Nouakchott, and continued to the interior where she and her team hopped on the world's longest cargo train for a 435-mile journey on the Mauritania Railway. The train, also one of the world's most dangerous,carries up to 84 tons of iron ore to the port of Nouadhibou on the Atlantic, home to around 300 shipwrecks. "[The train] was dirty and uncomfortable but is such an interesting and unique way to travel through the vast desert," said MacDonald.

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Dirt and discomfort were not the only challenges faced by MacDonald and her group on their journey. The travelers also had to deal with the intense heat, ragings winds and even a dangerous sandstorm one afternoon.

"I was out photographing and very quickly the wind started to increase," MacDonald said. "Within minutes, the wind increased to more than 100 miles an hour. I thought my skin was going to scrape off, because of the rain and blowing sand. It felt like sandpaper on my skin. I have never experienced winds that strong before."

The wind gusts were so strong that she was pinned again a truck and its window was broken in pieces, said MacDonald. "It was crazy," she said. "We coped with the harsh conditions by trying not to travel in the middle of the day and wore head scarves to protect us from the the sun and blowing sand. The weather definitely dictates when and where you travel."

Even with all the challenges, the Sun Valley, Idaho-based photographer, managed to capture stunning images of the beautiful but harsh landscapes of Mauritania, its fascinating cultures and communities, including the Imraguen fishermen—and the ghostly shipwrecks that litter its coastline. The country has one of the world's largest ship graveyards since many owners accepted bribes over the years to allow ships to be abandoned inNouadhibou's shallow waters. The rotting sea hulks appealed to MacDonald, however.

"They have so much character and haunting beauty," she said.

Visit for more information on her work.

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