In a Burkina Faso village, crocodiles are childhood playmates

For the people of Bazoulé, a village near Burkina Faso's capital, sharing a pond with over a hundred crocodiles is everyday life. A 2016-2017 survey counted 268 of the reptiles living there. Children grow up swimming in the same water, and Pierre Kaboré, the head of the village's crocodile caretakers, recalls doing so himself as a boy. Local legend tells that these crocodiles arrived with the rain long ago to save their ancestors, and villagers say they are more than neighbors—it's not unusual to spot someone sitting calmly on one.

What would be the hardest part of growing up alongside crocodiles?

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