Part of the cause of this is deforestation, poor farming methods, coupled with climate change, but also the four-fold increase in the country's population since independence in 1960. This rapid population expansion has led to a rise in the demand for wood and charcoal and more of the previously forested land in now required to cultivate crops to feed the population. As a result whilst there were more than 250 trees per hectare prior to 1960, today there are less than twenty. In fact, 60% of Senegal's forests have disappeared since 1970 mainly for fire wood.

While the Senegal government is aware of the issue and has developed programs to promote water supply including building dams on the Senegal River to ensure an all round supply to those living in its basin and other innovative projects, it's the north of the country where the battle is probably lost and people have simply abandoned the land and moved south in search of secure water supplies. One such area is Ferlo which is now so arid that few can live there save for a few trees and goats. Others have left Senegal altogether by getting illegally into Europe through the Spanish enclaves in Morocco of Ceuta and Mellila (se chart below for these migrant detinations). But, as one would be migrant reflected "The smugglers at the Spanish-Moroccan border who we trusted ripped us off and abandoned us to our fate. So, the only choice we had was to get in, by force, or go back home and become the butt of jokes."

Senegal has the highest population of polygamous marriages in West Africa with most men having more than one wife. In village areas the family, often comprising of ten people, will live within a compound with the male spending time with each wife and children and household tasks being rotated amongst the women. Their day starts with a breakfast of baguettes of bread, followed by a wash in a freestanding, communal concrete building with two tin sides. By mid-morning children go off to school, whilst many girls stay at home helping with chores, and older lads drive carts led by donkeys to collect water from nearby wells. Their day starts with a breakfast of baguettes of bread, followed by a wash in a freestanding, communal concrete building with two tin sides. By mid-morning children go off to school, whilst many girls stay at home helping with chores, and older lads drive carts led by donkeys to collect water from near by wells.

Fathers either work on the land in their millet and sorghum fields or travel to urban areas or even further afield in Europe returning only at weekends or less frequently depending on distance. After completing their household tasks the women of the family will often take food to family members working in the fields before preparing items that can be sold at market such as cooking ingredients. The village day ends with a meal of a little meat on lashings of rice around 9-10pm, then sleep, and ready for the next day. The video above explores daily lie in Senegal in more details, whilst above right pictures of life in Senegal.