‘We have travelled for a month to find grass’: climate crisis piles pressure on Senegal’s herders

Herder Aliou Ndong, left, during the move south, where he has found better grazing for his cattle. Photograph: Andy Hall/The Observer

Perched on the edge of a cart packed with a dozen young goats and pulled by a donkey, Abou Sow drives his family’s convoy at pace. They are heading south, from Senegal’s Sahelian northern landscapes to more fertile land still green after the dry season.

Most of the travelling group are teenagers, or in their early 20s, part of a new generation adopting a pastoralist lifestyle that faces the challenges of the climate crisis and of shifting attitudes towards herders.