During an 11-day birdwatching trip in coastal Mauritania (West Africa) we recorded 18 species of Odonata, including two identified only to genus. Five of these are new to Mauritania: Ceriagrion glabrum / suave, Pseudagrion sp., Rhyothemis semihyalina, Tholymis tillarga and Trithemis hecate. We report the first Mauritanian records of Acisoma inflatum, Orthetrum trinacria and Urothemis edwardsii for almost 50 years. At Plage de Ghara we found dead or dying dragonflies of 10 different species on a beach. In pellets of the Blue-cheeked Bee-eater found near a small pond south of Tamxat, Odonata made up 33.6 % of food items.