The Fulani are an ancient people, traditionally nomadic, who live across much of sub-saharan Africa. They are very different to the surrounding African peoples, tending to be tall and thin, with reddish skin and thin noses and lips. Cattle are central to the Fulani way of life. A cow means joy, growth and security. The family drink milk, and the wife can make butter and trade it for millet. Little by little the cow will produce a herd, the pride and joy of any Fulani.

The 'jooru', chief of the cattle market, is sitting in a wicker chair under a makeshift shade-shelter. He surveys the market through the opening in his copious turban. Several other men are also sitting there on a straw mat, exchanging desultory remarks about the cows in front of them. "Di pooyi koy." They are very thin. "Si a foofi ngeen, nge bobboto." If you blow on that one there, it will fall over.

The youngest herder present, Amadou, is making tea, using green tea leaves and a small bag of granulated sugar. His small teapot is balanced on a wire stove. The water boils over occasionally and hisses on the glowing charcoal.

This village is three kilometres from the border with Mali, and has a fairly barren, Saharan aspect. Its weekly cattle market takes place on a sandy plain just a short walk from the grass huts and mud-brick mosque.

Amadou raises the teapot above his head and tilts it. A column of sweet green tea falls neatly into one of three little glasses on a plate in front of him. With a sudden flourish he rights the pot and places it on the plate. He opens the lid, tips the tea back into the pot and closes it. A sudden swirl of wind fills the air with dust and fine sand. Cows jerk their heads and blink. The herders scowl and blink and shield their eyes. Some of the 'storks' revert momentarily to two legs.

When the air is still, Amadou lifts his teapot again, even higher than before. The thread of liquid spatters into a glass, a head of white froth forming on the murky tea. Amadou replaces the pot, hands the glass up to the jooru. "Bismillahi." In the name of God. The jooru takes the glass, nods. "Bismillahi." He drinks and hands back the glass.

There is a commotion twenty yards away. A bull has broken away from its group. A young man in short robes dives onto its tail and hangs on there as it bucks furiously. Two other men run in to help: one slips a noose of rope around the bull's back right leg, and tugs on it. Another tries to get near the front right leg, leaping back and forth to evade the lunging horns.

As the frenzied animal crashes to the ground, Amadou raises his teapot and deftly pours again. The jooru turns to an elderly herder standing at his side. "Soodoobe CÔte d'Ivoire ngaraay." The buyers from the Ivory Coast have not come.
"Ayyo, be ngaraay. Na wuli toon faa hannden" Yes, they have not come. It is still 'hot' there.

He refers not to the weather but to the war. The animal markets in the north of Burkina Faso used to depend largely on buyers coming up from the Ivory Coast, one of Burkina Faso's more prosperous neighbours. Since the current Ivorian civil war started back in October the border has closed and Ivorian buyers have stopped coming to Burkina Faso's markets, with an immediate and disastrous effect on animal prices. Cows which only last year used to fetch 100,000 CFA (£100) are today being sold for 40,000 (£40).

Moreover, poor rains last year have caused a severe shortage of grass in the whole region. No one wants to take on animals which they cannot feed. These herders standing in clusters under the hot sun are waiting for a buyer who will probably never arrive.

Amadou pours the last glass of tea and offers it around the group. Everyone in turn replies, "Mi yari." I have drunk. Amadou shrugs and downs the tea himself. He picks up a plastic beaker of water and washes the glasses and the plate and the outside of the pot. He fills up the pot with water and settles it back onto the charcoal stove. One of the herders murmurs, "Njahen yeeso." Let's go.

They don't move.

---

In 2004 four UK cattle-farmers visited Gorom-Gorom and Menegou to see Fulani cattle-rearing first-hand and compare notes with their Fulani counterparts. Read about their trip