Ouadane or Wadan is a small town in the desert region of central Mauritania, situated on the southern edge of the Adrar Plateau. The town was a staging post in the trans-Saharan trade and for caravans transporting slabs of salt from the mines at Idjil. Ouadane was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996, as part of Ancient Ksour of Ouadane, Chinguetti, Tichitt and Oualata.