Hippopotamus hunting

A documentary directed by Djingarey Maiga, Jean-François Schiano, Yves Billon.

Synopsis

You can’t just casu­ally kill a hippo– you have to fight it!” A tra­di­tional hip­popota­mus hunt is orga­nized at the bend of the Niger in Mali. It is har­pooned with spears attached to floats, as it was done reg­u­larly only a few years ago. The hip­popota­mus weighs from 3 to 4 tons and can sup­ply meat for a vil­lage for almost a year. So for the inhab­i­tants of Ouatagouna, all hopes are con­cen­trated around this ani­mal. “In order to carry out this tra­di­tional hunt, every­one must agree, every­one must be of the same mind.” The Sorko believe that the hip­popota­mus is the shrewdest of ani­mals — it knows that the whites now hunt it with guns and it has become very wary.