Burkina Faso
Boys bicycle over vibrant red dirt. Rock formations poke up in towering spikes. Hippopotami skim the surface of lakes. People work to the sound of the drum. Art, music, and cinema surround. Markets buzz with color. Scooters swarm in cities. Businesses close and people go en repos in the heat of noon to three.
In a land with an estimated 70 different languages, two join together to make the name of the landlocked West African country Burkina Faso. “Burkina” means “upright” in the Mossi language and “Faso” means “fatherland “ in Dioula. Burkina Faso is the land of the upright (honest) people.
Slightly larger than the U.S. state Colorado, Burkina Faso has 21.5 million people compared with Colorado’s 5.7 million. In spite of being one of the poorest countries in the world and the challenges of food insecurities, the people of Burkina Faso, the Burkinabé, are growing at a high rate with an estimated birth every 42 seconds. Childbearing women average six births. The majority of the population is under 25. Although there are a lot of people, the lifestyle is not urban. 2.9 million live in the biggest city, the capital Ouagadougou, known to locals as “Ouaga” (Wah-gah). The second largest city in the scenic west, Bobo-Dioulasso, known to locals as “Bobo,” has just over 1 million people. The third largest city, Koudougou just west of Ouagadougou, has 87,000 people. With only about 5 million people in the “big” cities, 16 million people spread throughout the rest of the country, typically living in circular compounds within villages. Looking at a map, it seems there is a village very few miles or so, even in the stark Sahel desertlands of the north.
The white stallion is the national symbol of Burkina Faso. Legend tells that the mother of the Mossi people, Princess Yennenga, gave birth to the first Mossi man, Ouédraogo, a name that means “stallion.” The Fulani people have this saying: “A horse is your wife, your car, your colleague, your best friend.”
Football, also known as soccer, is a widely popular sport and cities and towns have football stadiums.
Electricity is in short supply with frequent outages. Efforts are underway to increase solar power yields.
Development of resources and reversal of desertification is a high priority. To read more, select Yaramoko Gold Project, Ouagadougou and Burkina Faso – Greening the Sahel Desert across Africa.
For an in depth guide to the vegetation and terrain of Burkina Faso, select The Forests of Burkina Faso. It’s worth a skim to see the maps.
Once a relatively safe country free of conflict with Muslims and Christians living peacefully together, the infiltration of armed Muslim extremists beginning around 2015 changed everything. Frequent terrorist attacks, kidnappings, and child soldiers trained for violence make Burkina Faso an unsafe place as of 2021, not only to travel, but to live.
To read more about terrorist violence over the past six years, select:
Unknown Militants Attacked A Burkina Faso Village And Killed More Than 160 People
Child soliders carried out Burkina Faso massacre
Survivor of Burkina Faso massacre ‘They killed a baby and left its mother alive’
Burkina Faso mosque attack kills 15 worshippers
Armed men attack Burkina Faso mosque, kill at least 16
Burkinabé Music
Music and storytelling are interwoven. Music is such a big part of every day life that it accompanies work.
Still thriving, traditional Burkinabé music is full of intricate layers of repetative rhythms of voice or instrument.
It is known for drumming and Balafon, a type of wooden xylophone.
The Kora, a 21 stringed instrument, the Djembe drum, made from a single piece of wood, and the Balafon are vital parts of the traditional music.
The Bendré drum is a membranophone made from gourd with the top cut off and covered with a goat or sheep skin.
N’goni is lute instrument.
To listen to traditional Mossi music, select Traditional Burkinabé Music and Badini Karim dit Yegdyanga.
Volta Jazz was founded by Idrissa Koné in Bobo-Dioulasso and became popular in the 1970s. The curfews and restrictions on musicians of militant president Thomas Sankara starting in 1984 are said to have stopped the progress of Volta Jazz and other music and art in Burkina Faso. To read more, select When Burkina Faso Vibrated With a New Culture.
The popular music of Côte d’Ivoire is prevelant in Burkina Faso. Zouk, Zouglou, and Coupé-décalé, with electronic dance beat and percussive rhythm.
Burkinabé Film
There is a film school in Ouagadougou and every other year the capital city hosts the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO). African film winners receive the Golden Stallion of Yennenga. Ouagadougou has a plaza in honor of film directors called la Place des Cineastes.
Sotigui Kouyaté was a famous griot actor from the Mandinka people who became a well known in both football and film.
Griots (Djeli) are traditional nomadic storytellers, historians, musicians, and poets.
Fanta Regina Nacro is one of African’s females filmmakers who studied in both Ouagadougou and at the Sorbonne in Paris and runs her own film production company.
Burkinabé Literature
Burkinabé Literature is rooted in oral tradition through music and dance.
Dim-Dolobsom Ouedraogo wrote a record of the oral history of the Mossi in his book published in 1934: Maximes, pensées et devinettes mossi (Mossi Maxims, Thoughts and Riddles).
Nazi Boni wrote the first Burkinabé novel titled Crépuscule des temps anciens (The Dawn of Ancient Times) in 1962.
In the 1960s, there were a number of playwrights.
In 1998, investigative journalist and manager of the newspaper L’indépendant Norbert Zongo, pen name Henri Segbo, was assassinated in a car bombing while pursing the story of the murder of a driver. His paper exposed corruption in the Burkina Faso government under the presidency of Blaise Compaoré. His novel The Parachute Drop is a chilling fiction paralleling the reality of power hungry Blaise Compaoré’s dictatorship.
Burkinabé Cuisine
Babenda is a stew made with soumbala (fermented locust beans) mashed together with dried fish and cooked with cabbage or spinach.
Tô is a firm white ball of starch made from millet, sorghum, or corn that accompanies meals. Tô is eaten with hands and dipped in sauces.
Riz gras (fat rice) is rice with meat, tomato, onion, and chili pepper.
Kan Kan Kan is a common spice mix made of peanut powder, chili powder, allspice, and bouillon.
Samsa is a street food of fried balls made from ground benga (black-eyed beans) and served with sauces.
Brochettes are meat cooked on a skewer.
Sauce gombo is a sauce made from okra.
Poulet-bicyclette is grilled chicken with carrots and potatoes and was named for the bicyle riders that would bring this street food.
Ragout d’Igname is a vegetable and beef stew.
Dôlo is a local beer made from pearl millet or soghum wheat.
Gapalo is sour milk and millet grain drink.
Bissap is a hibiscus tea with pineapple slices.
Key RIVERS:
Mouhoun (Black Volta)
Nazinon (Red Volta)
Nakambé (White Volta)
Komoé in the southwest
Only Mouhoun and Komoé flow year round.
SEASONS:
Early Dry Season: September to November
Middle Dry Season: December to February
Late Dry Season: March to May
Wet Season: June to September
November to February is the recommended time to visit, getting dustier toward the end of that time.
NORTH – SAHEL
The Sahel is a large region across northern Africa that is south of the Sahara Desert and north of the coast.
The Sahel is a semi-arid, stark terrain where people tend to be nomadic. Drought, famine, and terrorism have plagued the Sahel in recent decades.
The Sahel region of Burkina Faso is home to the Tuareg (meaning “abandoned by God” in Arabic) and the Fulani (or Fula) peoples. The Tuareg are Berber descended semi-nomadic Muslims who wear indigo dyed clothing and are known for men who wear a indigo veil (the Blue Men of the Sahara).
The Fulani, one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa, are a semi-nomadic, pastoral Muslim people.
For a deeper understanding, select the link to read a letter written to the chairperson of the African Union Commission: A letter from African intellectuals on the Sahel crisis and Central Sahel, Burkina Faso.
Starting around 2017, the Sahel has been plagued by terrorist attacks. To find out more, select:
The Social Roots of Jihadist Violence in Burkina Faso’s North
Armed Islamists’ Latest Sahel Massacre Targets Burkina Faso
Understanding Fulani Perspectives on the Sahel Crisis
Burkina Faso’s National Reconciliation No Easy Path
When the Soldiers Meant to Protect You Instead Come to Kill You
Gorom-Gorom, a town in the Sahel, means “You sit down and we’ll sit down.”
Gorom-Gorom has a market on Thursdays with nomadic Tuareg and Fulani merchants from surrounding villages.
Pottery of the Songhai people is sold at Marché de Gorom-Gorom.
Bani is a Sahel village with the famous Grand Mosque de Bani and The Seven Mosques of Bani.
To listen to music, select The Singers of Bani, Burkina Faso, 2007.
Ouahigouya was the capital of the Kingdom of Yatenga in 1757 and is home to the Mossi people.
SOUTHWEST
Mandé languages are predominant in the west.
The Senoufo people, known for their art and music, live in the extreme west.
The Lobi, also known for their art, live in southern Burkina Faso near Côte d’Ivoire.
Mount Tenakourou is on the western border with Mali and is the highest point in Burkina Faso at 2,451 ft (747 m). From the top, you can see three countries: Burkina Faso, Mali, and Côte d’Ivoire. “Tenakourou” means “the hill of Tena.” The village of Tena is at its foot.
Niansogoni is an abandoned troglodyte village from the 14th century just south of Mount Tenakourou and an hour west of Sindou.
Banfora is a city in southwestern Burkina Faso near a number of scenic natural wonders:
Les Pics de Sindou rock formations that are said to look like the teeth of a saw.
Cascades de Karfiguéla are waterfalls on the Komoé (Comoé) River.
Dômes de Fabédougou, three kilometers from Karfiguéla Falls, are granite rocks that look like mushrooms.
Lac de Tengréla is a beautiful wetland area with hippopotami just outside of Banfora.
Bobo Dioulasso (known as Bobo), Burkina Faso’s second largest city, is its cultural and music center.
Grande Mosquée de Bobo is made of mud bricks with pilasters poking out of it.
Grande Mosquée de Bobo was built in the 1880s, exact date not known.
The Grand Marché of Bobo Dioulasso is vibrant and colorful.
The Mare aux Hippopotames (Hippopotamus Lake), north of Bobo-Dioulasso, was created in 1937 and is home to about 100 hippopotami and many birds.
The Ruins of Loropéni, southeast of Bobo-Dioulasso, has walls that are 1,000 years old.
SOUTH CENTRAL
The Mossi people speak the Mooré language and make up about 40% of the population of the country
Ouagadougou, (Wah–gah–doo–goo) the capital of Burkina Faso, has an important African art fair every even numbered year: Le Salon International de L’Artisanat de Ouagadougou (International Arts and Crafts Fair of Ouagadougou), and is host to the largest film festival in Africa every odd-numbered year: Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO). The Grand Marché is one of the most important markets in West Africa.
In Ouagadougou, there are two monuments to heroes and their names, especially in English, can end up being used interchangeably, so it can be difficult to discern the two sites.
Mémorial aux Héros Nationaux is a an iconic landmark in Ouagadougou that was built at the instruction of President Thomas Sankara in 1987. It was renamed Monument des Martyrs in 2015, but appears to be known by both names today. It is near the palace and has a roundabout (rond-point) circling the tall structure.
Monument aux Héros Nationaux is at the northeastern part of Ouagadougou and has a large bird over a dome with the words “Plus Jamais Ça” (“Never Again That” – or more popularly translated “Never Again”).
Place des cinéastes is another iconic, colorful art structure in the middle of a roundabout.
Moro-Naba Palace reenacts Nabayius Gou (the Emperor goes to war) in a ceremony every Friday at dawn.
Moro Naba (or Mogho Naba) means “king of the world” in Mossi. Since 1681, Ouagadougou is the official residence of the Mossi Emperor. The Mossi continue to have an emperor of their people who continues to exhibit leadership within the country by negotiating peace.
Musée de la Musique provides an opportunity to play local instruments.
There are intriguing mosques and an a cathedral built with reddish mud brick in the 1930s.
Bangr Weogo Park is a wildlife park inside of Ouagadougou.
Sculptures de Laongo, northeast of Ouagadougou, is a celebrated outdoor art display of carved works by various artists.
Parc Crocodile de Bazoulé is just west of Ouagadougou.
For more information about Ouagadougou, select Insider’s Guide to Ouagadougou – singed chicken, potholes, but no plastic bags and Burkina Faso – Adventures in Ouagadougou and 8 Places to Visit in Ouagadougou.
Koudougou is the third largest city in Burkina Faso.
Cour Royale de Tiébélé is the Royal Court of sukhala, beautifully painted houses, inhabited by the Kassena people.
Réserve de Nazinga (Nazinga Ranch Game Reserve), three hours from Ouagadougou, is a great place to see elephants, antelope, monkeys, baboons, crocodiles, and warthogs. Two Canadian brothers set up a 97,000 hectacre ranch that enables viewing of wildlife.
EAST
Pama is near Benin’s Pendjari National Park.
Arli (Arly) National Park was established as a nature reserve in 1954 with elephants, hippopotami, lions, buffalo, antelope, red monkeys, and baboons among other animals.
Falaise de Gobnangou is a stunning area of cliffs, waterfalls, and caves that stretches over 70 kilometers between the parks of Arly (in Burkina Faso), W (primarily in Niger), and Pendjari (primarily in Benin), an area informally called the WAP (W, Arly, Pendjari). It is not located on Google maps.
“W” National Park extends into Niger and Benin as well. It is named for the “W” shape in the Niger River. Elephants, lions, cheetahs, hippopotami, buffalo, antelope, and hundreds of birds live in the park.
For more information, select:
Customs & Cuisine of Burkina Faso
Five Days in Burkina Faso
15 Best Places to Visit in Burkina Faso
Bradt Guides – Burkina Faso – The Author’s Take
Rough Guide – Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso Travel Guide
10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Burkina Faso
