Our last stop in Burkina -Faso was to see the sacred crocodiles in Bazoule. This was an interesting place and I sat on a crocodile! At the time, this seemed like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. But hindsight has reminded me that this could have been a very bad life choice! Legend has it that the people who lived in this area were plagued with drought and often had to walk 15km for water. Then one day, two crocodiles came wandering through the village. Although the people were frightened at first, the soon realized the crocs meant them no harm. So the people followed the crocs to this spot where they dug out a big lake that immediately filled with water. From that day forward, the people used the water for drinking and washing and the crocodiles lived in the lake. The guides told us that the children swim in the water and the crocodiles wander through the nearby village at night. The two groups co-exist peacefully! The crocodiles are considered sacred, when they die the people conduct a proper funeral for them and they never use their skins or meat. The young boys are trained to feed chickens to the crocodiles when they are about 12. Yes, we did feed them chickens, and yes.... That was a bit barbaric.
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