It’s the end of March. Iwalan, the hot season, has started in Northern Mali. I’m not talking about politics now, I’m simply talking about temperatures (in the shade) of over 45°Celcius / 110°Fahrenheit. The first time I ever spent the hot season in the Sahara, I learned how to drink two litres of water in under a minute, and how to eat: a lot, and heavy. Your body needs the energy to keep cool under the onslaught of a heat that does not even go below body temperature at night, when you lie outside in the middle of your roof terrace, trying to sleep, praying for a gust of wind. If you don’t eat enough, the feverish feeling you have the whole time because your body has trouble keeping itself on a stable 37°C will become a real fever, you fall sick
