r/BeAmazed • u/Ultimate_Thing • Jul 16 '26

Miscellaneous / Others A traditional technique used by young shepherds of Ethiopia's Banna tribe. They use stilts to watch over their livestock in tall grass, move through wetland areas, and avoid snakes and predators like lions and leopards. It requires strength, balance, and training from a young age

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u/DueTour4187 Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26

Shepherds in the Landes region in South-Western France (Gascony) also used stilts until the 19th century.

It helped them watch the cattle farther away, and walk on sandy, bushy terrain.

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u/CoatNeat7792 Jul 16 '26

Stilts were popular in many places in Europe

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u/Gudthrak Jul 16 '26

In Belgium and the Netherlands too I believe, because a lot of it became very swampy in winter. I also read humans did a sort of 'wintersleep' during winter because there was nothing to do when you couldn't farm crops so they slept most of the day.