Travel Guide Mora

The large, long village of Mora, with its pretty streets shaded by trees native to India and Burma, known as "neems" (which, for the record, yield fines from which a precious oil is extracted, long the beauty secret of Northern women and now featured on the front pages of women's magazines the world over).Mora, then, is the capital of the Wandalas. Located some 30 km from Nigeria, to the east of the Mandara Mountains, and some 60 km from Maroua, it is best known for its Sunday morning market, undoubtedly the finest in the region. Not to be missed!You'll meet tanners, potters, tailors, weavers, blacksmiths and more. As in all artisans' haunts, these vendors crowd around travelers, displaying hand-woven fabrics, pottery, swords, bracelets, babouches, bags made from crocodile, snake or cheetah skins, and much more. And so begins the sacred ritornello of haggling and customary palaver.In the market square, near which there is a river (dried up outside the rainy season), the healers lay out on the ground the ingredients needed for all the concoctions that are supposed to cure all ills: dried herbs, roots, flowers and leaves...