By the time warm season sets in (which is now) and the seasonal lakes have all dried up, the pressure on the wells and the precious ground water increases.
It takes many hours for a nomad clan to water all their animals, but it is an amazing sight to see!
Layer by layer: Humans, zebu cows, donkeys and colourful sheep (unlike goats, their tales go down)
Spot those cute little donkey foals in the middle?
Human activity in the midst of all those critters
A big white bull waits to be served
The human carriers enjoy a group hug!
With that, we zoom out into the open again, leaving the visitors of the well to resume their business!
I hope you enjoyed the tour! For other corners around the world, check out My World.
34 users commented in " When Water Grows Scarce "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackOh the donkeys are so lovely in their hug photo. And the baby donkies, wow takes a lot to beat that for cuteness. Hugs
AHA! You, too, distinguish between sheep and goats by the direction the tails point. Lots of people haven’t noticed that difference.
These photos are great and make me appreciate having a sufficient amount of water.
Never again will I complain, whine, or otherwise snivel when slogging through our muddy pastures. Water! Essential for life, a growing scarce resource.
I appreciate how so many animals of such variety remain calm and respectful as they wait their turn. Beautiful pictures.
Amazing sight! The animals seem to be very patient as they wait their turn for water.
Wow, that is definitely a sight to see! Neat that the sheep put their tails down…thanks for educating me on that one. I thought they were goats.
Also, those little donkeys were very sweet!
Amber
what a sight…amazing. and the animals are are so calm and awaiting their turns for water.
WOW! thats alot of animals for such a small watering hole. Do they all belong to one group? Or are there more than one clan there?
wow, these are some very special photos! Would be awesome for National Geographic, I tell you!
Very interesting. And so completely different from my word. Thanks for sharing.
It’s amazing how patient the animals are, waiting their turn. The group hug and the baby donkeys are really cute.
I remember well the scarcity of water there and how I felt about this when I returned to my salon.That is a huge group of diverse animals!
Thanks for the reminder and the view today~
Kac
Wow, great entry.
Beautiful photos.
Have a wonderful week
Mary Elizabeth
What a wonderful and interesting post!! And I love your photos and the animals! It’s so delightful to learn about so many different places, cultures as a result of computers and blogs! Thank you so much for this one! Look forward to next week!
Amazing photos. It’s a lesson for humans. The animals now how to behave.
That’s a wonderful post. You have given a new perspective to life in Niger. Thanks for the post.
I think this is as far from my world as I could get. A real sight to behold and a lesson to not take what we have here for granted
Esther: That truly is an amazing sight.
Wow!!And I thought we’ve been having a 3 year drought,here in Florida!Amazing!
We have so much water here and are so careless with it. I loved this post, seeing all those animals, especially the donkeys.
Great photo-story, Esther! The scene is completely timeless. If it weren’t a photograph, it could easily have been decades if not centuries ago.
Fascinating, and wonderful photos. I espcially like number 3. This a completly random comment, and you might do it already, but have you ever considered selling calendars or some such with Niger photos…
Wow. Such a lot of animals to water with only a soft hand held bucket. If each drink as much as a horse per day….whew! That’s a lot of water…and time!
It’s interesting how all the animals wait patiently, without being corraled.
I adore those long ears. I’d love to have one or two of my own.
~Lisa
How interesting and amazing how all those animals look so patient, waiting their turn. My goats will trample a person for a but of corn. (not that they are hungry they just have no manners). They could learn a few things about waiting your turn from those animals. (And a few things about how lucky they are to have water & hay/browse on demand 24/7 too). I will never take water for granted again.
We get so much rain in New york city and we live in these concretes building i just hope this rain will go to Niger.
What a different life there!
Great shots shared. Such patient animals!
aww….donkey hugs!!
Du har alltid så fantastiska foton på livet i din del av världen.
De där hornen är verkligen imponerande på oxarna.
Åsnor är mina favoriter och så väldigt söta de är när de står och kramar om vandrandra med sina huvuden.
Några av bilderna fick mig att tänka på Noaks ark. De är på något sätt bibliska.
Esther, this is a magical post with Noah’s ark assembled at the oasis. Just beautiful photos of the animals. That number of animals usea great deal of water. We had to sell our sheep at the beginning of ast summer because all our dams were dry, even one of our bores has failed. It has been a long dry 6+ years of drought.
Wow, that is amazing!!
That is an amazing sight. You definitly don’t see that around here. The donkeys hugging is adorable.
Goodness. Who knew you’d have to line up to water you animal? How many times a day do they do that? Those are interesting and great shots. Love the big white bull and those massive horns! Thanks for always eloquently sharing your little corner of the world with us!
Gosh, what a mission to get all those animals watered! It does indeed make one realise how important water is. Great shots you took!
Esther what a wonderful post, your piccies are fabulous. They brought to mind the animals lined up two by two to enter the ark, amazing!
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