'DO ME I DO YOU', ANOTHER KIND OF 'WAR' IN NORTH-EASTERN NIGERIA

LOCUST RITUAL

In Nigeria's far North eastern Borno State, another kind of war is on, man is biting back against the desert locust. Swarms of migrating locusts seasonally strip the semi-arid region of its scanty vegetation and crops. But Gambo Ibrahim, 27, a locust hunter, says the people of Borno have found a way of converting the desert locust's assault into an annual banquet. They eat the locusts which they call "desert shrimps".

ONE BAD TURN

"In Pidgin English, we say 'na do me i do you'," says Mr. Ibrahim, who has been hunting locusts for 8 years. I mean, yes, the locusts are eating up our crops, but we are also eating them up and making money to boot.

"So both man and locusts are losers, but i think they are worse off because we are eating them. I guess you could say one bad turn deserves another," he says with a chuckle.

HUNTING

"Since the locusts fly and man cannot fly, then if man must catch them, he has to figure out a way to engage the locusts on familiar territory - ground. "The locusts tend to fly at night because it is really cold (temperatures drop to 9 degrees Celsius) and dark. That's when we go after them.

"You need safety boots like these ones I have on, which are actually my dad's cast-off military issue and they serve the purpose well" Mr Ibrahim says.

LIGHT TRAP

"in addition to the safety boots and a minimum of three layers of clothes - jeans is the best - you also need a very powerful torch" Mr Ibrahim explains. You use it to see your way in the sahara at night. The torch is actually also a trap. "The locusts are attracted to it and they literally just come flying into your face and all you really have to do is just pick them off.

MONEY SPINNER

"We then put them in bags and head for the market. A bag of live locusts fetches between $26 and $30. Locusts are simply money spinners", Mr Ibrahim says. Most of our buyers are women who in turn dress the locusts, fry them and sell them to members of the public.

SNACK

"We buy the locusts from the boys,"says Esther Daniel who sells fried locusts in Maiduguri town. After that we remove their wings so they can't fly", she says.