Benin

"On the roads in the North, in Natingou and at the Niger border, you can come across nomadic Peul shepherds. Lions fear their magic and spare their herds. Peul women are majestic and reputed for their knowledge about plants. They trade them on the side of tracks, elegantly laying at your feet the stacks of medicinal roots that they’ve been balancing on their heads. When they go on their way again, if you manage to get hold of a pinch of sand that their basket has rested upon, your lifelong happiness is ensured.

But no one ever manages to. With a swift foot movement, they disperse this paradisiac powder in the air and the spell vanishes. If they get caught out, they themselves are punished with unending happiness… No act is insignificant when you live with the Harmattan winds."

Extract from Carnets de voyage, 2000, Éditions Gallimard