Cameroon

In northern Cameroon, the rivers look like wide sandy roads for most of the year.

The rivers are called mayos. Only in the rainy season, a few months a year, does water flow on the surface. In one of the region’s largest cities, the dry riverbeds become part of town for the rest of the year. Young people play football, herders drive oxen, sheep and goats, and onions, millet and maize are grown along the riverbeds. Sand is dug up and becomes the city’s houses.

But the river hasn’t gone. The water keeps flowing through the sand, a little way down in the riverbed. Dig a hole, and you’ll reach it. In the dry season, it’s often the only source of water for the people living along the rivers.