Playa de Ballota, Spain

The Ballota Beach, itself shaped like a shell, is located in a protected landscape near the village Llanes in the Asturias region of Northern Spain. It is surrounded by bushes of eucalyptus which aroma fills the air on hot summer days. The island located right in front of the beach is home to the population of European storm petrels. These seabirds cannot survive on land because of predatory creatuers such as cats and rats.

Port in Essaouira (السويرة)

Monday Market in Djenne

Passages of Essaouira: carpets, pottery and lamps

 

Mara Bagga Yorro / animal body parts market in Bamako, Mali

In traditional beliefs animal body parts hold powers which can be used for healing, divinations or other magical practices involving bribing or otherwise pleasing entities from another world.

Ian Edwards from Department of Anthropology at University of Oregon describes his fieldwork in Mali in his blog Adventures in Bamako. It features very interesting photos Mr. Edwards took during his research on wildlife market in Bamako.

These photos were taken by me in Bamako at Mara Bagga Yorro, an illigal animal body parts or "fetish" market, admittedly marked on a map in the Rough Guide West Africa, but definitely not waiting there purely for a tourist gaze. There are many ingredients available. Among others: 

skulls of birds, dried chameleons, cola nuts and shells

porcupine spikes, horns and herbs

heads of rodents and other small mammals

crocodiles and lizards