I spent two days in the camp where thousands of people lived while they tried to reach England.
Every day in Calais, people tried to cross the Channel, hidden in lorries or on trains and ferries. Thousands lived in a camp on wasteland near the Eurotunnel terminal: around 6,000 in October 2015, according to the local authorities.
Most came from Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Afghanistan, and each community had its own area. The camp had become a small town, with schools, churches and shops. Several people told me they felt safer here than in the countries they had left.
Afghan and Iranian exiles called the woods where they camped jangal, Persian and Pashto for forest. Volunteers and journalists heard “jungle”, and the word brought its imagery with it: wildness, danger, people made exotic, almost animal. These pages go back to the word they used.
The authorities ended the demolition of the camp in October 2016, and its residents were sent by bus to reception centres across France. Many of them had first crossed the Mediterranean.
