Photo journal: Palm wine tapper

The wine comes from the very top of a mature palm tree. It has to be at least 3m tall.

I climb the tree using this belt, which I make from a palm leaf.

I have to make a new belt every eight days or so. I have been tapping palm wine for 30 years and, thank God, I have never fallen out of a tree.

But once, after a big family wedding, I was too drunk to climb up the tree.