Burkina Faso, formerly Upper Volta, is a landlocked country in West Africa. Burkina Faso is one of the friendliest – and until the late 2010s, one of the safest – countries in all of Africa. Even before the unrest that made travel to the country unsafe, it received only a few tourists per year, and was an excellent destination for anyone interested in seeing a beautiful West African country and exploring African culture and music.
WARNING: There is widespread civil unrest and extremist activity in the parts of the country to the east and north of the town of Boulsa, and along the border with Mali. Western governments advise against all travel to that area, including to the W National Park. The UK Foreign Office advises against all but essential travel to the rest of the country.
Capital: Ouagadougou
Currency: West African CFA franc (XOF)
Population: 19.1 million
Country Code: +226
SEE
REGIONS
CENTRAL (Ouagadougou, Volta Delta). The country’s population center, home to the mostly Christian Mossi and the national capital.
Gando Primary School. Modern Architecture Buildings
Kabore Tambi National Park
Crocodile Lakes. See the crocodiles at one of the crocodile lakes outside of Ouaga, on the road to Bobo-Dioulasso.
TIÉBÉLÉ. Village
Cour royale de Tiébélé Tentative WHS: (24/01/2012)
African Cities
KOUDOUGOU
OUAGADOUGOU World Capital World City and Popular Town
Also known as Ouaga (pronounced “wa-ga”), is the capital city. It’s in the center of the country, in the area known as the Mossi Plateau. Restaurant in Ouagadougou…Le Gondwana. Very good food and really neat African atmosphere.
National Museum
National Museum of Music
Ethnographic Museum (Moro Naba Palace)
Grande Mosquée de Ouaga 2000
Ouagadougou Cathedral
Ouagadougou Zoo
Central Market
Memorial to the Martyrs
Place des Nations Unies Monument
Thomas Sankara’s statue
SOUTHWEST (Black Volta Region). The lushest and most culturally diverse section of the country.
World Heritage Sites
Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso
Tiwega iron furnaces located only a few kilometers from Kaya (the Google coordinates were worthless – its real location is 13.087748, -1.144837). There was a signpost along the main road, but in the labyrinth of dirt roads there was no chance of finding these ovens on their own.
Must get permission at the nearest village and visit in their vehicle with a guide (usually the headman) as one cannot go in a normal car – 10-minute drive and 5-minute walk. The place where the ovens is sacred. Women who could not become pregnant.
The stoves were used in the XIVth century and very quickly abandoned. From one batch, 15 to 25 kilograms of pig iron were obtained, and 10 times more coal (I guess charcoal) than ore was put into the furnace. The temperature in the oven was about 1600 degrees, and the obtained pig iron was also cleaned in much smaller furnaces. The most interesting was the way the ore was found – the best way was to walk barefoot, because the ground in a place with iron ores was so warm that even the locals were not able to tread on it. Another way is observation of nature – apparently there is a kind of bush that grows in the close proximity of iron ore.
Kaya was theoretically located on the border of the no-go zone, but the taxi driver at the Ouagadougou airport assured that it was safe. We agreed for 50,000 CFA (around EUR 70) for the trip. The road to Kaya took us two hours and did not look like a road through a country with a terrorist threat. For over 100 kilometers, we did not see any police checkpoint (incidentally, perhaps that is why it is easier for extremists to act here). We got to Kaya and the town positively surprised me – it even has a museum (although it did not work, you could at least see or buy some local craft).
Ruins of Loropéni. Near Gaoua — hardly a pleasant town, a UNESCO World Heritage site 2009. The ruins of Loropéni span 11 km square includes an array of stone walls that date back at least a thousand years forming an ancient fortress, the best preserved of ten in the flat area. As of yet, the ruins have revealed little about their past, as much of the archaeological site has yet to be excavated.
The settlement was occupied by the Lohron or Kulango people and prospered from the trans-Saharan gold trade, reaching its height between the 14th and 17th centuries AD. It was abandoned in the early 19th century and has largely been left to nature’s whims.
Already, bits of the settlement have been lost to time. Centuries of wind, rain, and bushfires have weakened the walls that remain.
Batie area (border with Ghana and Ivory Coast) – XL
Deux Bales National Park
Cascades de Karfiguéla. Beautiful waterfalls in a tropical paradise. Walk through an avenue of mango trees and over a jumble of rocks to see the falls.
Dioulas Tribe
La Mare aux Poison Sacres de Dafre. Not far from Bobo-Dioulasso is the ‘sacred fishpond of Dafra’. Locals come here to sacrifice chickens to the fish, which have, understandably, grown huge.
Koumi – typical Bobo village. Time seems to have stood still for centuries. See young female’s initiation place.
BOBO DIOULASSO
The country’s second largest city, located in the southwest. Home to the Bobo tribe, this town has vibrant markets, and music and dancing wherever you go.
Recommended tour guide: Ismael Sawadogo +226 76 45 85 71, only tour guide in the city that speaks English.
Sya, centre historique de Bobo-Dioulasso Tentative WHS:(24/01/2012)
Musee Communal Sogossira Sanon
Bobo-Dioulasso Grand Mosque. Explore the mud mosque in Bobo-Dioulasso. An imam’s son can serve as your guide. Remove your shoes at the entrance. Dress modestly. Women should be prepared to cover their heads, although this is not always requested. You will need to pay admission (CFA1,000), give a tip to the guide and give a tip to the kid who guards your shoes while you are inside.
Cathedral of our Lady of Lourdes
Bobo Dioulasso Market
Old Kibidwe artisan’s market. Blacksmiths, potters and dyers
BANFORA
Banfora Cascades. There is a beautiful hike alongside the waterfalls outside of Banfora. The admission price is one or two thousand francs. Be careful not to spend too much time in the water – tourists occasionally catch bilharzia, also known as Schistosomiasis, from swimming in the falls. The locals will tell you that swimming will not make you sick, but it can.
La réserve de Biosphère de la Mare aux Hippopotames de Bala Tentative WHS: (24/01/2012). Near Banfora is a lake (more of a pond, actually) where you can take a trip out on a pirogue to see the hippos. Do not expect too much. Often all you see of the hippos is ears sticking up out of the water. Remember, hippos are dangerous animals who do not like being bumped by pirogues that get too close, so be careful. This will cost two or three thousand francs per person.
Sindou. A couple of hours west of Banfora is Sindou, with the Sindou peaks. These soft rock formations are somewhat like the North American hoodoos. They are needle-like peaks that have shaped by wind erosion into unusual rock formations. The Sindou peaks are a great spot for a short hike or a picnic. A guide is not necessary to find your way around but can tell you many fascinating facts about Senoufo culture and the time when the village, which is now at the base of the peaks, used to be located up on the plateau. Look out for the thorned plants on the plateau – the Senoufo imported them from Mali to use the thorns to make poisoned arrows. Admission is CFA1,000. You will need to give the guide a tip.
NORTH BURKINA FASO . Dominated by the Sahel, home to the Fulani and Tuareg populations of the country.
EAST BURKINA FASO (Sahe, Centre-Nord, Est provinces) Arid, mostly Muslim, and home to the country’s most visited National Parks.
World Heritage Sites
Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso
W-Arly-Pendjari Complex
Tentative WHS
Les gravures rupestres du Sahel burkinabè : Pobé-Mengao, Arbinda et Markoye (24/01/2012)
Les nécropoles de Bourzanga (09/04/1996)
Botou area. XL:
Bani: The Grand Mosque. Elaborate mosques in Bani near Dori on the road to Ouaga.
KAYA African City
OUAHIGOUYA African City
FADA N’GOURMA African City. Gate to the national parks of the southeast.
Botanical Gardens: Fada N’Gourma: Bantia Botanical Gardens
HISTORY
Until the end of the 19th century, the history of Burkina Faso was dominated by the empire-building Mossi. The French arrived and claimed the area in 1896, but Mossi resistance ended only with the capture of their capital, Ouagadougou, in 1901. The colony of Upper Volta was established in 1919, but it was dismembered and reconstituted several times until the present borders were recognized in 1947.
Independence from France came to Upper Volta, later renamed Burkina Faso, in 1960. From 1984 until 1987, it was under the leadership of Thomas Sankara, otherwise known as the Che Guevara of Africa. Sankara’s regime proved to be very popular, as he averted much of the power and influence of the World Bank and IMF, encouraging worldwide aid to fight disease. Most of his programs were successful, though not successful enough to protect the country from political turmoil. He was ridiculed in the West for his authoritarian rule, banning free press and trade unions. In 1987, a coup led by Blaise Compaoré, a colleague of Sankara, toppled the regime and executed Sankara, citing deterioration of relations with foreign countries.
Between 1987 and 2014, Blaise Compaoré led the country. Things did not improve during his years in office, and many of Sankara’s policies for stability and economic growth were largely dismantled, making Burkina Faso one of the poorest countries in the world. Political unrest has worsened, insurgency by Islamist groups has risen, and the government had lost control of much of the east of the country by early 2019.
PEOPLE
Burkina Faso’s 14.4 million people (2006) belong to two major West African cultural groups—the Voltaic and the Mande (whose common language is Dioula). The Voltaic Mossi make up about one-half of the population. The Mossi claim descent from warriors who migrated to present-day Burkina Faso from present-day Ghana and established an empire that lasted more than 800 years. Predominantly farmers, the Mossi kingdom is still led by the Mogho Naba, whose court is in Ouagadougou.
Burkina Faso is an ethnically integrated, secular state. Most of Burkina’s people are concentrated in the south and centre of the country, sometimes exceeding 48/km² (125/sq mi). Several hundred thousand farm workers migrate south every year to Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. These flows of workers are obviously affected by external events; the September 2002 coup attempt in Cote d’Ivoire and the ensuing fighting there meant that hundreds of thousands of Burkinabé returned to Burkina Faso. A plurality of Burkinabé are nominally Muslim, but most also adhere to traditional African religions. The introduction of Islam to Burkina Faso was initially resisted by the Mossi rulers. Christians, both Roman Catholics and Protestants, comprise about 25% of the population, with their largest concentration in urban areas.
Few Burkinabé have had formal education. Schooling is, in theory, free and compulsory until the age of 16, but only about 54% of Burkina’s primary school-age children are enrolled in primary school due to the relatively great expenses of school supplies and school fees and the opportunity costs of sending a child who could earn money for the family to school. The University of Ouagadougou, founded in 1974, was the country’s first institution of higher education. The Polytechnical University in Bobo-Dioulasso was opened in 1995. The University of Koudougou was founded in 2005 to substitute for the former teachers’ training school, Ecole Normale Superieure de Koudougou. There is still a very strong oral tradition of story-telling.
ECONOMY
One of the poorest countries in the world, landlocked Burkina Faso has a high population density, few natural resources, and a fragile soil. About 90% of the population is engaged in (mainly subsistence) agriculture, which is highly vulnerable to variations in rainfall. Industry remains dominated by unprofitable government-controlled corporations. Following the African franc currency devaluation in January 1994 the government updated its development program in conjunction with international agencies, and exports and economic growth have increased. Maintenance of macroeconomic progress depends on continued low inflation, reduction in the trade deficit, and reforms designed to encourage private investment. Burkina’s economy has suffered badly because of political troubles, and because it is so poor, about two thirds of the population are forced to go abroad to find jobs.
Holidays: 1 January: New Year’s Day, 3 January: Anniversary of the 1966 coup d’état, 8 March: Women’s Day, 15 August: Assumption, 1 November: All Saints Day, 11 December: Proclamation of the Republic, 25 December: Christmas
GET IN
VISA. A passport and a visa are required to enter Burkina Faso. You generally should obtain your visa in advance, although European Union citizens can obtain visas upon arrival at the airport (CFA10,000). French citizens now require to get a visa in advance at €70 for one entry. If you are not from the European Union, the cost of a 3-month, single entry visa is CFA28,300 and must be acquired in advance of your journey. The Burkina Faso embassy in Washington offers six-month, multiple-entry visas for USD100. US citizens only are eligible for a five-year, multiple-entry visa for USD140.
If coming by land, EU and US citizens are able to get a seven-day single entry visa for CFA10,000 at the border. As of July 2010, at the border with Ghana at Paga, they increased the price to CFA94,000, payable in cash (and the exchange rate offered at the border was 10-20% lower than market rates). No passport photos were required. They only were able to issue a 90-day visa. 2 passport photos and a yellow fever certificate are required (border crossing at Paga, in July 2010, did not ask for yellow fever certificate). Border police said that CFA10,000 visas were still available, but back in Accra. Border police also said that the 90-day visa was convertible at no cost to a 5-year visa for a US passport in Ouagadougou. Visas may be extended to 3 months multiple entry at the Bureau de Sureté de l’Etat which can be found in most major cities. To get the extension you should arrive before 09:00 (again with 2 passport photographs) and collect your passport again that afternoon.
Upon arrival, you may be asked to prove you’ve been vaccinated against Yellow Fever if you are travelling from within Africa. Failure to provide proof may result in either being forced to receive the vaccination at the airport, for a fee, or be refused entry into the country.
At the Burkina Faso embassy in Bamako, Mali, a 30-day visa costs CFA 25,000 = 45 USD
At the Burkina Faso embassy in Accra, Ghana, a 30-day visa costs GHS 146 = 30 USD and you get it on the same day. You need two passport photos.
By plane. Flights are available through Abidjan, Brussels, Casablanca, Dakar, Niamey, Paris on the following carriers: Air Algérie, Air Burkina, Air France, Air Ivoire, Brussels Airlines, Royal Air Maroc. US flights : Brussels Airlines is part of ‘Star Alliance’ and Royal Air Maroc also offers some US flights departing from New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Turkish Airlines has some of the best fares from Europe to Ouagadougou.
Air Burkina is the national carrier and offers a number of flights within West Africa and to Paris. Air Burkina is part of Celestair which also owns stakes in Compagnie Aerienne du Mali and Uganda Airways. Planes are for the most part new and well maintained. Flights timing is unreliable but, once in the air, service is good. Like many African airlines, although flights may indicate only one destination, ie a direct flight from Ouagadougou, there are often multiple stops along the way to pick-up and drop-off passengers.
Upon arriving at the carousel at the Ouagadougou Airport to claim your luggage, a number of men in uniforms will want to take your luggage out for you. They will expect to receive about CFA500 (USD1) per bag (at least from an expat). It is difficult for them to exchange anything other than a USD20 bill. Euros are a bit easier for them to change, but it is best if you bring exact change in CFA francs.
By train. There is a 517-km railway stretch from Ouagadougou to the Cote d’Ivoire border. Count on about a 48-hr train trip from Abidjan to Ouagadougou, and slightly less than 24 hr for the trip from Bouake to Banfora.
By bus. You can also take the bus in and out of Burkina Faso to and from the neighboring countries of Ghana, Mali, and Benin.
GET AROUND
By bus. There are buses and vans (cars) to Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Togo. There is a train service for the Abidjan-Banfora-Bobo-Ouaga route. Hitchhiking is not common. Rent a bike (~ CFA3000) or a moto (~ CFA6,000) to get around locally.
By car. Even wealthy Burkinabé who own cars do not use them to travel between major cities, but opt for buses instead. The major routes between Ouagadougou and other cities are in good condition; taxi drivers can be erratic.
Language. French is the official language and the lingua franca between ethnic groups; however, you will find out that, outside the big cities, most people do not speak much French. Many African languages of the Sudanic family are widely spoken. The most common language is Mooré. Start the day with some Moore (the language of the Mossi).
SEE
Laongo is home to a variety of sculptures by local and international artists. The park’s scattered pieces of granite have been transformed into beautiful works of art.
Festivals. Burkina Faso is the home of music in West Africa.
Festival International de la Culture Hip Hop (International Festival of Hip Hop Culture)—Ouagadougou & Bobo-Dioulasso; October; Two weeks of Hip Hop performances
Festival Jazz (Jazz Festival)—Ouaga & Bobo; April/May; Features big names from around the continent
Festival des Masques et des Artes (FESTIMA; Arts & Masks Festival)—Dedougou; March of even-numbered years; Hundreds of troupes of mask dancers from across West Africa perform.
Festival Panafricain du Cinema (FESPACO;Panafrican Film Festival)—Ouaga; Feb/Mar of odd-numbered years; Africa’s largest film festival held every other year brings stars and filmmakers from across the continent.
Semaine National de la Culture (National Culture Week)—Bobo; March/April; music, dance, theater, and masquerades fill the air this week in Bobo
DO
Starting in Gorom Gorom, you can take a camel ride out into the desert and even sleep out there on the sand. Guides can arrange this for you from Gorom Gorom and it can be expensive if you do not pick your guides carefully. Take warm clothes and good blankets if you plan to sleep in the desert. Women should bring pants to wear on camels because skirts (especially African pagnes) tend to fall open due to the shape of the saddle.
CURRENCY
The currency of the country is the West African CFA franc, denoted CFA (ISO currency code: XOF). It’s also used by seven other West African countries. It is interchangeable at par with the Central African CFA franc (XAF), which is used by six countries. Both currencies are fixed at a rate of 1 euro = 655.957 CFA francs.
ATMs. In general, most bank machines will accept Master Card and Visa cards, with a PIN. Make sure you have a PIN for your credit card in order to access money from the bank machines.
CUISINE
Any run-of-the-mill Burkinabé restaurant will most certainly have one or all of the following:
Tô = a millet or corn flour based jelly-like dish served with a sauce. Sauces commonly are okra-based (fr. “sauce gumbo” – tends to be on the viscous-side), peanut-based (fr. “sauce arachide”), baobab-leaf-based (not bad tasting, but very slimy), or sorrel-based (fr. “oseille”, another green-leaf, a little sour). You eat this dish by breaking off some tô with a spoon (or, if you want to go local and your hands are washed, use your finger – just remember to use always the right hand, as the left hand is considered “unclean” because it is used for bathroom purposes) and dipping it into the sauce. Definitely an acquired taste.
Foufou = a pizza dough-like ball of starch served with a sauce. Made by pounding boiled ignames (sort of a super-sized version of a yucca-potato hybrid, called Yams in English). The sauce is usually tomato-based. Eaten in the same manner as tô.
Ragout d’Igname = boiled igname in a tomato sauce. A beef and yam stew
Riz Gras = Rice cooked in tomato sauce and flavored stock, often with onion. Sometimes served with extra sauce on top, but not a given.
Riz Sauce (Rice and sauce) = Pretty self-explanatory. White rice usually served with a tomato or peanut sauce.
Spaghetti = Usually spaghetti is served au gras as opposed to spaghetti sauce.
Haricots verts = Green-beans, usually from a can, with tomato sauce
Petits pois = Green peas, usually from a can, with tomato sauce
Soupe = usually chicken (fr. “poulet”), guinea fowl (fr. “pintade”) or fish (fr. “poisson”)
Salade = a salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion with a mayonnaise-based dressing (mayo, vinegar, salt, pepper)
A Burkina specialty is “Poulet Telévisé” aka televised chicken, or roast chicken, since many locals say if you watch the roaster it is like watching TV!
Snacks:
Beignets = (mooré samsa) fried bean flour
Fried ignames, patate douce (sweet potato french fries)
Alloco = Bbq’d plantains
Brochettes = bbq’d meat sticks, or liver, or tripe, or intestines
Porc au four = baked greasy pork bits served with hot sauce (fr. “piment”), salt, and if you are lucky, mustard. Best enjoyed with a Flag beer (to make “champagne”, add some tonic)
Gateau = fried dough. Comes in all sorts of varieties, best when fresh.
Drink
Bisap = cold sweet tea made of the fleshy calyces of roselle (a kind of hibiscus), sometimes enhanced with mint and/or ginger (XOF25-50)
Yamoku, or Gingembre = sweet ginger drink (XOF25-50)
Toédo, or Pain de singe = sweet and “smoothie-like” in texture. Made from baobab fruit.
Dégué = sweet yoghurt mixed with millet balls, sometimes couscous.
Dolo = sorghum beer.
ACCOMMODATION. People go en repos from noon until around 15:00. Don’t expect to get much done around this time. Formal businesses are often closed at this time as well.
Learn. Burkina is a great country if you are interested in learning West African drumming. Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city, is perhaps the best place to learn to drum.
Work. If you are interested in helping to save lives in Western Africa then Burkina Faso, hit by severe drought and poverty in the last decade, would be ideal for a charity-holiday. Medical staff are also sorely needed, so any volunteering doctors would be greeted warmly.
The Peace Corps is active in Burkina Faso and constitutes a large proportion of Americans living in the country.
STAY SAFE
See the warning at the top of this page about civil unrest and extremist activity. As well, be aware of thieves in the big city. Violent assault is rare. Pickpockets and purse snatchers are something to watch out for in big cities, especially in Ouagadougou, where it is recommended not to carry a bag with you when at all possible. The common, cheap green taxis in the big city can sometimes host thieves. Hold on to your purse, and keep your money safely tucked away. If you want to carry around a camera or other item that requires a bag, it is often safer to put it in one of the ubiquitous black “sachets” (plastic bags) that you get when you purchase something in a store, so that potential thieves will assume there’s nothing of great value inside.
Before the unrest, women travelers rarely experienced any problems. Foreigners, especially white foreigners, frequently attracted significant attention, but the interest was mainly an attempt to sell you tourist items or overpriced goods. Indeed, the Burkinabé will show more patience and friendliness to the foreigner than to another Burkinabé, be it in a small village or in a big city.
HEALTH
Yellow fever vaccination is required in order to enter the country.
Malaria is a serious problem, so be sure to begin taking prophylaxis prior to leaving for Burkina and continue taking it while there and, depending on the drug chosen, for some time after returning home.
Cholera vaccination may be required in the event of an outbreak.
Meningitis is also a problem, and vaccination is also highly recommended.
Typhoid is common, as are other water and food-borne diseases such as E coli. Typhoid vaccination is recommended but it is not fully effective so it is still important to take precautions.
Lassa fever and Dengue are concerns, but not more so than in other West African countries. There are no vaccinations for these diseases, so consult your doctor about preventative measures before travelling to the area.
The water is not safe to drink, especially outside the big cities where untreated well water is often the norm. Buy bottled water, and bring a water filter for emergency use if you’re planning on spending time in any villages
RESPECT
You will observe the Burkinabé exchange greetings in what appears to be a shared prayer or ritual. Literally, all they are saying is “good morning, how’s the family, how’s work, how’s your health….” Greeting is a very important part of Burkinabé culture, and the only thing you really need to do here is to make an instant friend.
Ignoring someone and not greeting him or her, however, is taken far more seriously than in western cultures. It is virtually a slap in the face to ignore someone that has greeted you, or to not greet at all. Foreigners can probably get away with being “cold” and “unfriendly” in some settings, but it is a good idea to greet everyone you pass by.
Remember to always use your right hand when eating, greeting, offering gifts, paying for items, etc. This is true in both Muslim and Christian regions, as the left hand is used throughout the country in conjunction with water in place of toilet paper. The ubiquitous colored plastic teapots are filled with water and carried to the bathroom for “wiping.”
Women are often targets of extra attention from men, but catcalls and unwanted advances are not appropriate in Burkina, so don’t be afraid to refuse this attention. In general, people are very respectful to women and foreigners.
Experiences
Taste Babenda
Witness the Moro-Naba ceremony
NOMAD MANIA Burkina Faso – Central (Ouagadougou)
Borders
Burkina Faso-Ghana
Burkina Faso-Togo
Modern Architecture Buildings: Gando Primary School
World of Nature: Kabore Tambi
Festivals: FESPACO Film Festival
Villages and Small Towns
TIÉBÉLÉ
Tentative WHS: Cour royale de Tiébélé (24/01/2012)
African Cities
KOUDOUGOU
OUAGADOUGOU World Capitals World Cities and Popular Towns
Airports: Ouagadougou (OUA)
Museums
National Museum
National Museum of Music
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Ethnographic Museum (Moro Naba Palace)
Religious Temples
Grande Mosquée de Ouaga 2000
Ouagadougou Cathedral
Zoos: Ouagadougou Zoo
Markets: Central Market
Monuments
Memorial to the Martyrs
Place des Nations Unies Monument
Thomas Sankara’s statue
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NOMAD MANIA Burkina Faso – Southwest (Bobo Dioulasso)
World Heritage Sites
Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso
Ruins of Loropéni
Tentative WHS: La réserve de Biosphère de la Mare aux Hippopotames de Bala (24/01/2012)
Borders
Burkina Faso-Cote d’Ivoire
Burkina Faso-Ghana
Burkina Faso-Mali
XL: Batie area (border with Ghana and Ivory Coast)
World of Nature: Deux Bales
Festivals: FESTIMA
Waterfalls: Cascades de Karfiguéla
Tribes: Dioulas
African Cities
BANFORA
BOBO DIOULASSO World Cities and Popular Towns
Tentative WHS: Sya, centre historique de Bobo-Dioulasso (24/01/2012)
Airports: Bobo Dioulasso (BOY)
Experiences: Southwest (Bobo Dioulasso)
Museums: Musee Communal Sogossira Sanon
Religious Temples
Bobo-Dioulasso Grand Mosque
Cathedral of our Lady of Lourdes
Markets: Bobo Dioulasso Market
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NOMAD MANIA Burkina Faso – East (Sahe, Centre-Nord, Est provinces)
World Heritage Sites
Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso
W-Arly-Pendjari Complex
Tentative WHS
Les gravures rupestres du Sahel burkinabè : Pobé-Mengao, Arbinda et Markoye (24/01/2012)
Les nécropoles de Bourzanga (09/04/1996)
Borders
Benin-Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso-Mali
Burkina Faso-Niger
Burkina Faso-Togo
XL: Botou area
Religious Temples: Bani: The Grand Mosque
World of Nature
Arli Burkina Faso
Pendjari
African Cities
KAYA
OUAHIGOUYA
FADA N’GOURMA
Botanical Gardens: Fada N’Gourma: Bantia Botanical Gardens
WORLD HERITAGE SITES Burkina Faso
1. ANCIENT FERROUS METALLURGY SITES OF BURKINA BASO
The 5 locations in different provinces of Burkina Faso’s, comprise fifteen standing, natural-draught iron ore smelting furnaces, slag heaps, several other furnace structures, mines and traces of dwellings. Blacksmith traditions are still alive today.
Douroula. In the Sahelian zone, it dates to the 8th century BCE, is the oldest existing iron production facility in Burkina Faso.
Iron production technology was already widely disseminated by around 500 BCE.
Tiwêga (only site close to Ouagadougou near Kaya), Yamané, Kindibo and Békuy (none of these show on Google Maps) all have remarkably well conserved iron ore smelting furnaces. They are massive production sites that, through their scale, illustrate the intensification of iron production during the second millennium AD, at a time when Western African societies were becoming increasingly complex. Iron ore reduction –obtaining iron from ore – is no longer practiced today but village blacksmiths still play a major role in supplying tools in various rituals and perpetuate ancestral rites and social practices to carry on traditions still alive today.
No furnace has been dismantled, moved or damaged by vandalism. Only the furnace base at Douroula with the earliest dating has been physically protected.
Tiwega iron furnaces located only a few kilometers from Kaya, northeast of Oagua (the Google were coordinates worthless – its real location is 13.087748, -1.144837). There was a signpost along the main road, but in the labyrinth of dirt roads there was no chance of finding these ovens on their own.
Must get permission at the nearest village and visit in their vehicle as one cannot go in a normal car – 10-minute drive and 5-minute walk. The place where the ovens is sacred and can only visit with the head. Women who could not become pregnant.
The stoves were used in the XIV-th century and very quickly abandoned. From one batch, 15 to 25 kilograms of pig iron were obtained, and 10 times more coal (I guess charcoal) than ore was put into the furnace. The temperature in the oven was about 1600 degrees, and the obtained pig iron was also cleaned in much smaller furnaces. The most interesting was the way the ore was found – the best way was to walk barefoot, because the ground in a place with iron ores was so warm that even the locals were not able to tread on it. Another way is observation of nature – apparently there is a kind of bush that grows in the close proximity of iron ore.
Kaya was theoretically located on the border of the no-go zone, but the taxi driver at the Ouagadougou airport assured that it was safe. We agreed for 50,000 CFA (around EUR 70) for the trip. The road to Kaya took us two hours and did not look like a road through a country with a terrorist threat. For over 100 kilometers, we did not see any police checkpoint (incidentally, perhaps that is why it is easier for extremists to act here). We got to Kaya and the town positively surprised me – it even has a museum (although it did not work, you could at least see or buy some local craft).
2. THE RUINS of LOROPENI
The ruins of Loropéni are an ancient heritage site near the town of Loropéni in southern Burkina Faso. The site, which spans 11,130 square metres (119,800 sq ft), includes an array of stone walls that date back at least a thousand years forming an ancient fortress, the best preserved of ten in the flat area. As of yet, the ruins have revealed little about their past, as much of the archaeological site has yet to be excavated.
The settlement was occupied by the Lohron or Kulango people and prospered from the trans-Saharan gold trade, reaching its height between the 14th and 17th centuries AD. It was abandoned in the early 19th century and has largely been left to nature’s whims.
Already, bits of the settlement have been lost to time. Centuries of wind, rain, and bushfires have weakened the walls that remain.
In 2009, the ruins of Loropéni were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s the first World Heritage Site within Burkina Faso, and it’s hoped this prestigious title will fuel some funding for further research and excavations.
3. W-ARLY-PENDJARI COMPLEX also known as the “WAP Complex”, is a transboundary Natural UNESCO World Heritage Site in Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger covering:
Arli National Park in Burkina Faso. 760 km2 (290 sq mi) with a wide variety of habitats: gallery forests of the Arli and Pendjari rivers to savanna woodland and sandstone hills of the Gobnangou chain. It is home to around 200 African elephants, 200 hippos and 100 lions. There are also buffaloes, baboons, red and green monkeys, warthogs, and various antelopes, such as the western hartebeest and roan antelope. There are also bushbucks, duikers and waterbuck. The park was earlier a habitat for the West African wild dog.
The park can be accessed via the N19 highway via Diapaga (in the dry season also via Pama). Arli National Park has several pools, such as Tounga where there is a waterhole and there are two pools which are often visited by up to twenty hippos.
Pendjari National Park. 2,755 square kilometres, lies in north western Benin, adjoining Arli. Named for the Pendjari River, the national park is known for its wildlife and is home to some of the last populations of big game like the African forest elephant, West African lion, hippopotamus, buffalo, and various antelopes in West Africa. The park is also famous for its richness in birds.
The hills and cliffs of the Atakora range make the north-west one of the most scenic areas of Benin. 2017 it was officially inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
W National Park. Major national park around a meander in the River Niger shaped like the letter W. The park includes areas of the three countries Niger, Benin and Burkina Faso, created in 1954, and since 1996 has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
10,000 km2 largely uninhabited by humans, having been until the 1970s a Malarial zone of wetlands formed by the delta of the Mekrou River with the Niger, broken by rocky hills.
Plants. 454 species of plants including two orchids and tiger bush plateaus.
Large mammals: aardvark, baboon, African buffalo, caracal, cheetah, African bush elephant, hippopotamus, African leopard, West African lion, serval and warthog. The park provides a home for some of West Africa’s last wild African elephant. However, the rare West African giraffe, today restricted to small parts of the Niger, is absent from the park. The W Park is also known for historic occurrence of packs of the endangered West African wild dog, although this canid may now be extirpated from the area. Northwest African cheetah has 25 individuals.