Hello Ouagadougou.

So off we were and Ouagadougo greeted us with mellow and dry 28° Celsius. We found a great little place to stay at called Pension Micha in the outskirts of the city. The owner was very helpful and a great source for any information. On top she even spoke German, English and French. She had been living in Burkina Faso for many years as an NGO-representative and therefore knew every corner of the country.

Off To Bobo Dioulasso & Banfora.

Since we just had two weeks, we quickly had to decide where to go; we opted for the South West and didn’t regret it for a second. Buses from Ouagadougou run frequently and one could even travel by train to Banfora (twice a week) and further down to the Ivory Coast. We went with the bus to Bobo Dioulasso. Here we settled into Villa Rose, a very nice and comfortable B&B run by a Dutch/Burkina couple.

Our trip continued further South West and after a few bush taxi rides, we arrived in Banfora. This town is the stepping off point to some very extraordinary natural sights like the Karfiguela Waterfalls and Sindou Rock formations. But Banfora especially caught our attention due to its market…

Voodoo, Witches And Fetish.

We always begin our exploration with a visit to the local market. And markets in Burkina Faso will definitely not disappoint you! A lot is on display and people are eager but not super persistent to sell you something.

The most interesting market section was a bit further away from the main section. Here men and women advertise their service in the field of home-made remedies. We could smell the Voodoo fetish market before we actually saw it: a stench of decomposition and an alley of mud-brick houses. The goods on sale here were desiccated heads, feed, insides of monkeys, buffaloes, cheetahs, chameleons, birds and crocodiles as well as varieties of snake skins and bat wings. It was indeed a gruesome gallery of lifeless faces staring at you.

We approached one vendor and pointed to his sign and his offers. He told us he was a traditional healer and could mix us a formula for any condition we might have. We kindly refused his offer, yet his is very original advertising banner caught our attention (see photo below). Instead of buying herbs, spices for our sexual desire, we just bought his banner.

As a matter of fact, these witch doctors are common in Burkina Faso and people still believe very strongly in their healing powers – or rather what we call Voodoo. Western Africa is where Voodoo originated, and where it still plays a significant part in everyday life. But forget zombies, black magic and sticking pins in dolls; real-life Voodoo is an animist belief system and on top also the official religion of Benin (which is based on respect and peace).

The entire experience is essentially benign, though not if you’re a wuss.

Once you’ve consulted a voodoo priest with your sickness, he’ll send you off to market with a shopping list…

In its original meaning, witch doctors were emphatically not witches themselves, but rather people who had remedies to protect others against witchcraft.

Desiccated heads, feed, insides, skin, hair & feathers can be found at the fetish markets in Burkina Faso.

Not only animal parts, but also herbs & spices are an essential part for any witch doctor in Western Africa.

The knowledge of traditional healing methods in Burkina is declining…Some specialists still know much about herbs, roots, and barks and the traditional bonesetters are still consulted in rural areas. Psychological problems are treated through possession rituals.

Traditional healers in Burkina Faso are well respected in the community.

The fetish market experience is essentially benign … unless you’re a chicken.

It wasn’t the plan.

This time, thanks to our guide, the trip was pretty straightforward without any delays regarding engine trouble or flat tyres. After some fast moving hours the car stopped in Loropéni, a place where a UNESCO heritage site is situated. Actually our plan was to travel to Gaoua first and then go back to Loropéni to check out the area, but our plans changed very spontaneously: While waiting for the passengers to disembark, one guy approached us and explained that here in Loropéni there is a nice hotel “Why you want to go to Gaoua first? You can stay here overnight and visit the ruins.” He was very confident and we had nothing to lose anyway. So after some thinking we got out of the bush-taxi. The driver was a bit irritated because we paid all the way to Gaoua, but he didn’t seem to be too bothered after all… While walking through a real African village with huge Baobab & Mango trees and chicken crowing, our self proclaimed “tour guide” showed us the way to the hotel.

Not quite what we expected.

As it turned out after the first quick scan, this “hotel” was rather a renovators-delight. The electricity had blown up a few months ago, so what we got were some rooms with a bed, a huge drum filled with water and squatter toilets outside … and as we expected, we were the first guests since looooong time. Sometimes there is no immediate way out of such situations, and after a quick thought (“we have enough bottled water, some cerial-bars and still a small bunch of bananas“), we decided to make the best out of it.

Turned out just fine.

As it was only 2.00pm, we immediately organised motorbikes to see the ruins of Loropéni. Two locals were more than happy to drive us there. The entire complex is somewhat a scattered array of walls – still impressive though – because these ruins stand untouched since many hundred years.

The Ruins of Loropéni.

“The 11.130m2 property, the first to be inscribed in the country, with its imposing stone walls is the best preserved of ten fortresses in the Lobi area and is part of a larger group of 100 stone enclosures that bear testimony to the power of the trans-Saharan gold trade. Situated near the borders of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo, the ruins have recently been shown to be at least 1,000 years old. The settlement was occupied by the Lohron or Koulango peoples, who controlled the extraction and transformation of gold in the region when it reached its apogee from the 14th to the 17th century. Much mystery surrounds this site large parts of which have yet to be excavated. The settlement seems to have been abandoned during some periods during its long history. The property which was finally deserted in the early 19th century is expected to yield much more information.” ~ UNESCO

Ruins of Loropéni, Burkina Faso | This was my guide for the day. The motorbike was still in repair minutes before we drove off as you can see. It’s a bit of a miracle that we made it to the ruins and back… I was already prepared for another bush-taxi adventure.

Ruins of Loropéni, Burkina Faso | Reminded me a bit of Angkor Wat (on the small scale of course) in Cambodia.

Ruins of Loropéni, Burkina Faso | The ruins might not look like the most attractive sight, but the atmosphere in the area was one of a kind.

Ruins of Loropéni, Burkina Faso | Getting around the ruins gave me the feeling of being in a maze…

After a couple of hours, Orodara came into sight and just before the village, we spotted a nice looking hotel – turned out later that it was a really good choice to go for this one; we had a huge room with a nice balcony on both sides. But since the bus continued driving, we needed to make our way back there. It was definitely too long to walk with all our luggage, therefore we stopped a passing donkey cart. The cart driver was more than surprised to have “blancs” (means white people) as load, but the money we offered convinced him to take us on…

Orodara was a small town with a big market and quite a lot of merchandising going on, where lots of trucks on their way to Mali passed through. We spent a few hours walking around, buying fresh mangoes, bananas and oranges and enquired about possibilities of continuing to Banfora. We were told that this was only possible with a “taxi brousse“. So we made a reservation at the “bush taxi“stand for the next day.

On this donkey cart we were on our way to the hotel in Orodara, Burkina Faso.

Fresh oranges and the most delicious cashew nuts at the market in Orodara, Burkina Faso.

Transporting dead pigs on a motorbike in Orodara, Burkina Faso.

Ready, Set, Go!

A gut feeling told us to be prepared for such a trip, so we stocked up on bananas, baguettes and water. The distance to Banfora is only 80 kilometres on a gravel road, so that – normally – shouldn’t be a big deal for a good car. But bush taxis tend to always need major repairs, and then 80 kilometres can turn into a great distance. Our bush taxi looked exactly like all the others: a lot of luggage on the roof rack, some goats stuffed between a motorbike and lots of baskets of chicken. It was fully loaded, to get the maximum out of the trip. 20 fellow passengers with some kids sitting on their mothers laps. Children travel for free, but don’t get extra seats, so it gets pretty tight.

The kilometres started passing and the taxi stopped from time to time to let someone out or to take on new travellers. There was always a great movement on the roof with loading and unloading, so there was no chance of taking a little nap…

Big Bang Theory.

As if the noise level wasn’t already high enough with the engine being at the end of one’s rope, the constant, very loud & full of vim and vigour blabbering of our fellow passengers in local lingo, was definitely a challenge for our eardrums. While we where trying to figure out what in God’s name they where all talking about, it was abruptly quite after a big BANG followed by the cars standstill. But the silence didn’t last very long … maybe only a gimps of a second, because everyone seemed to know what happened: A broken tyre was the reason. When looking at it, we wondered how it actually made it this far…

The driver apologised to us for this interruption but we weren’t really bothered. The tyre was quickly off and we pointed at the 2 spare tyres on the roof … but these were flat as well. Our input if these tyres were just for decoration didn’t really help to ease the situation. But Africans are used to such incidents, so the boy in charge took the flat tyre and drove off with the next passing motorbike. Now it was time to wait; we and all other passengers settled under the nearby trees to get some shade. Some fell asleep instantly and we opened our “lunch bag” to have a nice bush pick-nick.

Bush taxi-break-down Nr. 1 in Burkina Faso.

Ready to get a new tyre for the broken down bush taxi in Burkina Faso.

This wasn’t going to be our day.

Surprisingly enough, it didn’t take too long for the guy to return out of nowhere with the repaired tyre. It took 5 more minutes to put everything back in place, and then we continued our journey… But not for long. After only 10 kilometres, another tyre went flat – or to put it the right way: it was ripped into pieces. The driver started swearing in his local dialect and the boy in charge got the broken tyre off and disappeared again with the next passing motorbike.

Bush taxi-break-down Nr. 2 in Burkina Faso. Nr. 3 was only a matter of time…

Yet again, a passing motorbike was our only way out…

Time passed and when he came back, he proudly showed everyone the brand new tyre he just bought. Now nothing seemed to stop the car once more. But we cheered too soon, because the one of the two remaining tyres decided that this was his last ride, and we got stuck again. As before, all passengers settled under a huge mango tree and some vendors came along with fresh fruits for sale. After an hour or so, we decided to stop the next passing car to get a lift to Banfora, because it was only about 20 kilometres and we were sick of being stuck in the bush. We were not along with this thought; one of the passengers – a very very old man – joined us as we stopped a Peugeot 404, which had the cargo area turned into passenger seats. Off we were, waving goodbye to our astonished bush taxi driver…

Unfortunately, we were out of luck, because this cars engine sounded weird right from the beginning with hicks and backfires all the way. 3 kilometres before the centre of Banfora, another loud BANG rattled the car and the engine took its last breath. The driver shook his head in despair and this way it for us. We got out and decided to walk the remaining kilometres to our hotel…

After 8 hours of journey time for only 80 kilometres, we reached the hotel “La Canne du Sucre” – a beautiful place with pool – completely exhausted from this bush taxi adventure…

More bush taxis in Burkina Faso:

Fully loaded bush taxi in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso – A couple of tyres in tow just to be on the safe side…

“Bon Voyage” – A Bush taxi in Burkina Faso.

A bush taxi driving though an alley of trees in Banfora, Burkina Faso.

Another bush taxi in Burkina Faso.

And another (smaller) bush taxi in Burkina Faso.

Trucking ia also a very popular way of getting from A to B in Burkina Faso.

Fully loaded truck in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso – Chicken in tow as well.

The French cherish their former colony, while for the rest of the world this country is rather unknown. We actually didn’t plan on visiting Burkina Faso, rather Mauritania or Mali were on our list. But Mali was out of question with all the troubles at the moment and Mauritania didn’t have a consulate in Austria. This was when Burkina Faso showed up on our map. And well, we were definitely not disappointed to have made this decision.

Some things we recommend on doing/seeing:

Ouagadougou.

Ouagadougou greeted us with friendly welcoming people but it was still an adventure itself. We stayed there for a couple of days (at Maison Micha – a beautiful, tidy, quiet, affordable and safe place, run by a German woman) before we continued to Bobo Dioulasso. Public transport is easily available and buses run accurately, so there was no hassle at all.

Bobo Dioulasso.

Bobo Dioulasso has lots of interesting things to see: The Grande Mosque, a unique Sudanese mud architecture which was built in 1880, a sacred fish pond, beautiful villages in the vicinity and a huge market.

The amazing Grand Mosque in Bobo Dioulasso is an impressive representative of the traditional Sudano-Sahelian architecture and the largest building of this style in Burkina Faso. It was built in the end of the 19th century as a result of political deal between local king and Islamic religious leader.

Koro (10km East of Bobo Dioulasso) is an ancient local village built in & around rock formations.

Nowadays the ancient village of Koro is almost completely abandoned, only few locals stick around.

Banfora.

Further south-west, you’ll arrived in Banfora, the stepping off point to the Pics of Sindou, which is a bizarre looking area where you can hike for hours on tracks between high grass surrounded by moon like mountain formations (a guide is compulsory). Another great point of interest are the “Karfiguela Waterfalls”, an array of permanent waterfalls with fantastic swimming ponds. At the starting point, where you leave the car or your motorbike, you walk through an alley of huge trees, which is simply breathtaking to look at. You can continue to Hippo Lake, for a bit of wildlife experience.

Rock formations “Pics de Sindou” just 50km Southwest of Banfora, Burkina Faso.

Burkina Faso isn’t full of natural wonders, but the rock formation “Pics de Sindou” is a must visit when in the area around Banfora.

Walking around the rock formations “Pics de Sindou”near Banfora really gives you the impression of an “out of this world” location.

The Karfiguela Waterfalls the falls are actually a set of smaller and bigger falls, pools, rocks that are all easily discovered by foot.

Before getting to Karfiguela Waterfalls near Banfora, you will pass a lane of huge mango trees.

Hairdresser, Healers & Tailors.

In larger towns, look at the interesting signs that advertise hairdressers and barbers … some will really make you smile. Also, be sure to check out the traditional healers; you’ll find a section of these guys at every market. Of course, markets are interesting too, as they are in every country. After finishing up, maybe you’re ready for a traditional African dress; a tailor will measure you and sew it in a few hours. They do a really great job and it works like a charm on a fancy dress party.

A traditions healer in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.

Market life in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.

A typical Coiffure sign in Burkina Faso.

Bush Taxi.

For the ones of you who really want to spice up their holiday with an easy adventure, simply take a bush taxi instead of your rented 4×4 truck. Expect some blown up tyres and engine failures,  so bring plenty of water in case you really have to spend some hours on a dirt track near the broken down vehicle. Be assured, even the locals want to arrive at their desired destination, so the spare-parts or another vehicle will come, sooner or later. You’ll remember this trip for many years and have some great stories for your grand kids.

A bush taxi ride in Burkina Faso will leave you with lots of memorable conversation material.

If you get to your desired destination without a maintenance stop in between, you’re definitely one of the lucky ones.

Our 2 weeks in Burkina Faso were not long enough, because there’s still the train trip that needs to be done, Tiebele with its painted villages, Nazinga Game Reserve, Parc du W and a lot more, so we’ll be back next year for sure.