The story
Fête de la Traversée des Bœufs de Diafarabé in Diafarabe
The Fete de la Traversee des Boeufs de Diafarabe, the Diafarabe Cattle Crossing Festival, is a centuries-old Fulani transhumance tradition in which herders drive tens of thousands of cattle across the Niger River at Diafarabe in the Inland Niger Delta. Held each year as herds return from dry-season pastures, the event marks the culmination of a seasonal flood-recession grazing cycle and reunites herding families separated for months during the migration.
In the Inland Niger Delta, water dictates the rhythm of life for Fulani herding communities, and nowhere is that rhythm more visible than at Diafarabe, where each year tens of thousands of cattle converge on the Niger River to cross back into the town's grazing lands.