Shepherds on Stilts

The French region of Landes was once marshy and soft, with terrain that was hard to cultivate and almost impossible to build roads on. The people who lived there were relatively poor, but made do with livestock and stilts. Learning to use stilts at an early age, they used them to cover a lot of territory quickly, looking after their sheep. Even the women walked on stilts. As word spread around the country, the stiltwalkers didn't mind showing off for tourists, or even royalty. Landes is much drier now, but the tradition of stilt walking lives on in illustrations and photographs you can see at Messy Nessy Chic.