BY THE OPTIIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM
A stampede of towering zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, and monkeys is winding its way through cities across Africa and Europe—but this isn’t wildlife on the run. It’s The Herds, a large-scale public art project using life-sized animal puppets to ignite emotional engagement with the climate crisis.
The 12,400-mile journey began in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on April 10 and will culminate in the Arctic Circle this August. Over the span of four months, The Herds will visit 20 cities, from Lagos and Dakar to Casablanca, Paris, and Oslo.
“The idea is to put in front of people that there is an emergency—not with scientific facts, but with emotions,” said Sarah Desbois, producer of The Herds in Senegal.
From Little Amal to a stampede of puppets
This initiative is the second major undertaking by The Walk Productions, the London-based nonprofit behind Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee girl who has become a global symbol of human rights and displacement. Since 2021, Little Amal has traveled to 166 towns across 17 countries, welcomed by two million people on the streets and tens of millions online.
Now, The Herds carries that legacy forward, merging art, climate consciousness, and community participation.
“The idea is that we’re migrating with an ever-evolving, growing group of animals,” said co-founder and artistic director Amir Nizar Zuabi. “It’s an urgent artistic response to the climate crisis, a living, breathing call to action.”
A community-powered spectacle
In each city, the project invites local residents to participate. At every stop, local volunteers are trained to build animal puppets using prototypes and guidance from the Cape Town-based Ukwanda Puppetry and Designs Art Collective, which crafted the first herd using recycled materials. Organizers estimate that more than 2,000 people will be involved in puppet-making by the end of the journey.
In Lagos, Nigeria, more than 5,000 people turned out to join events staged by over 60 puppeteers. In Dakar, Senegal, the bustling streets of Médina were overtaken by more than 40 puppet animals, with the following day bringing the spectacle to the nearby fishing village of Ngor.
“We don’t have a tradition of puppetry in Senegal. As soon as the project started, when people were shown pictures of the puppets, they were going crazy,” Desbois shared.
Climate, creativity, and migration
The project draws a poignant connection between environmental issues and forced migration—a theme often highlighted in the stories shared during Little Amal’s journey. Zuabi and his collaborators see climate change not only as a looming threat, but as a lived reality that is already displacing people across the globe.
By framing the issue through community-built art, The Herds offers an alternative to climate communication that’s typically dominated by data and policy debates. It creates space for emotional connection, local ownership, and artistic expression.
A journey toward change
After its stops in Morocco, The Herds will cross into Europe, visiting Spain, France, Italy, England, Denmark, Sweden, and finally Norway—where it will reach the Arctic Circle in early August.
“Through the beauty and ferocity of these life-size creatures, we aim to spark dialogue, provoke thought, encourage engagement, and inspire real change,” Zuabi said in a press release.
As the puppets move northward, they carry with them the voices, stories, and hopes of the communities they’ve passed through—turning sidewalks into stages and streets into spaces of transformation.
