The geography of pastoral mobility: A spatio-temporal analysis of GPS data from Sahelian Senegal

The aim of this paper is to show the contribution of geography to the study of pastoral mobility. While pastoralists of Ferlo, Senegal, have become semi-sedentary, little is known about the mobility of their livestock. In this paper, pastoral mobility is analysed using GPS measurements of cattle movements made by a pastoralist from 1997 to 2000. Based on data from 3 years, a quantification of the extent of movements and mappings of the patterns are made. The results show that cattle walk about 5000 km on an annual basis, and while a great deal of the mobility can be characterised as daily circular movements between the camp and watering points, occasional transhumance is still used to make the most of variable resources.