Western Africa |
| Western Africa | Senegal | Gambia | Guinea-Bissau | Guinea | Mali | Burkina Faso | Cote d'Ivoire | Ghana | Togo | Benin | Niger |
Burkina Faso
6.03 till 18.03.07, 12 days, currency rate 1 € = 650 F (CFA, Western African Franc)
highlights –there are places on earth what we dream about since childhood. When in 30 October 2000 at 3 am I was talking with friend, suddenly I heard name "Burkina Faso", once called "Upper Volta”. Something happened inside me and I started browse the geographical atlas where exactly is this mysterious country. When saying the capital name - Ouagadougou – I almost broke the tongue. I decided that my future travel plans to Africa will include Burkina as my priority goal.
Dreams come true, because I came to BURKINA FASO, celebrating it this unforgettable moment with beer. I didn’t expect, however, that I will stay in capital for longer. Although Ouagadougou, such as the capital city is even acceptable, the reason for our stop here wasn’t so nice. We visited a lot of buildings (but not to admired their architecture), such embassies, offices, clinics, hospitals, etc
After obtaining a fantastic visa "Entante" (described in "visa" Burkina Faso), we had the intention to apply for visa to Ghana. Finally with success (described in the "visa" Ghana), but going back with passports from the embassy my leg pain was increasing. This was infection from ray bite from 30 days ago. Well, I was hardly jumping to the clinic. The next day my swollen leg was going slowly better already, but Ewelina didn’t feel good and brought news from the hospital - malaria! The African hospitals are tragic; doctor sent her anyway to purchase a thermometer and when he saw that is a fever – sent her to private clinic.
We were spending another days in hostel, but fortunately people and atmosphere there was easy going. Regeneration proceeded smoothly, so we decided to departure - but at morning this time Radek unexpectedly announced that he feels weak. There were no jokes, last year the tragic death of young Polish traveler Kinga Choszcz (www.kingafreespirit.pl), was a alert for me and Ewelina and we were taking preventive malaria drugs - once a week Lariam (Mefloquine), (how you see didn’t work perfectly). Radek didn’t take any tablets, so it was necessary to act quickly. I felt perfect (except leg’s pain) but decide to do a control test - the results were surprising, at least for me – in our blood we had malaria falciparum (brain malaria), not treated can lead to death. Upss, so we started treatment with colorful funny drugs (tablets cost 4300 CFA, visit to the private clinic 5000 CFA - all refund by insurance). After 8 nights what we spent in Ouagadougou, fresh and rested, without malaria and leg infection, we went further. Thank to our friends and family for help and mental support in these difficult moments. If the disease would happen far from the civilization, it also should be treated with preventive drugs, but a different kind then the using one (exp. If normally you are using for prevention Lariam, malaria could be treated by any tablets but not Mefloquine). You can always ask the local shamans, who might prepare the tree bark medicine.
Africa is sometimes very strange - a few months before our arrival in Ouagadougou, the military had fight with the police. Started innocently, the second one didn’t let go army for a football match, in revenge they shoot few policemen and got inside the prison and released all criminals - just to show to police who is stronger.
For cinema lovers worth is to go for a 9-day Fespaco Festival Films, showing movies about Africa, from all over the world. It takes place in February in uneven years (in even years in Tunisia).
We return to the tourist trail. First, in Bobo-Dioulasso we admired the famous "Grand Mosque", interesting, as the entire area nearby. Later, we chose to go a little further in the country - we visited the mysterious Mare aux Poissons Sacres where local scarified chickens, kill and cook them, and after feed their sacred sheath-fish. It was quite interesting, especially when practiced among chickens feathers and viscera. Gold and red colour is prohibited in this place.
Then, in the Banfora area we went to the lake, this time our goal was to see hippos. At the gate we paid admission to the park and for a boat ride on Lake Tenglera. We looked, and have seen the playing hippopotamus in the water near the coast. In local minds we were charged for a cruise, so service must be done. If you divide the price per distance we went, it was the most expensive trip in my life (1.5 € for 10 meters). From all African animals not lions, crocodiles or leopards, but the
aggressive hippos kill most people on the continent. They look so cute. Later we hiked in interestingly eroded rock formations in Domes de Fabedougou. Here a guard at once was our guide, and led directly to the good view point. In another point was time for swimming at the Karfiguela waterfalls, not very impressive, but completely relaxing. At the end of a good day, as refreshment, we chose to explore not tourist Lobi tribe villages and their huge houses-fortresses. In some villages, people were more open, others more obtrusively. After returning to Banfora we went for the fantastic "Steak au Poivre” (pepper steak) in a local bar badly named - McDonald.
| town | site | price in F | €/ pp | duration | note | comments |
| Bobo - Dioulasso | Poissons Sacres | 500 F/ 4per | €0.2 | 15' | Ok | entry fee and guide, donation as much as you wish |
| around Banfora | Tenglera Lake | 1000 F/ per | €1.5 | 30' | worth | entry fee and boat |
| Karfiguela Waterfall | 1000 F/ per | €1.5 | 1 h | Ok | ||
| Domes de Fabedougou | 1000 F/ per | €1.5 | 30' | Ok | entry fee and guide | |
| Loropeni | Ruins | 500*F/ per | €0.8 | 15' | no good | bargained from 1500 F |
| €5.5 |
accommodation –nice backpackers in Ouagadougou, delicious street restaurant behind the wall, and sometimes the owner is doing a common meal. In Banfora the Red Cross gives a dormitory, simple and cheap. In Gaoua we found sly boot and we had to little fight for our rights - until we explained the situation to his mother - respect for elders in Africa is visible.
| town | hotel and address | N | accommodation | price per night | €/ pp | note | comments |
| Ouagadougou | Foundation Charles Defour, LP | 8 | dormitory and double room | 3000 F/ person | €4.6 | 7 | fan, mosquito net |
| Bobo-Dioulasso | Hotel le Cocotier, LP | 1 | double room | 5500*F/ room | €4.2 | 6 | fan, mosquito net, shower |
| Banfora | Rouge Croix | 1 | dormitory | 1500 F | €2.3 | 5 | mattress |
| Loperini | hotel under construction | 1 | room | 4000 F/ room | €3.1 | 4 | house under construction |
| Gaoua | 1 | room | 2500 F/ person | €3.8 | 5 | fan | |
| 12 | €50.2 (12) |
transport –rather everything is ok, no hassle and not extra charges for luggage. Tickets can be booked in advance. Only for a bus ticket to Ivory Coast we had to fight for a good non-white price. It was difficult when getting conflict information, and, you must be careful to not let the bus to departure without you, leaving you stuck for the next two days. Later we learned that the majority of locals paid 5,000 CFA for this trip, and we bargained from 10,000 to 7,500 CFA - this time we didn’t success much.
| day | destination | transport | price in F | €/ pp | duration | km |
| 54 | Koro - Ouahigouya | data in Mali | 51 Mali + 40 | |||
| 54 | Ouahigouya - Ouagadougou | bus | 2500 F/ per + 500 F/ 3 persons bag | €4.1 | 2,5 h | 182 |
| 62 | Ouagadougou - Bobo-Dioulasso | bus AC | 6000 F | €9.2 | 5 h | 356 |
| 63 | Bobo Dioulasso - Dafra (Poissons Sacres) + return | taxi | 4000*F/ 4persons | €1.5 | 2x 30' | 2x 16 |
| 63 | Bobo Dioulasso - Banfora | bus | 1300 F | €2.0 | 1,5 h | 85 |
| 64 | Banfora - nearby atractions | hire car with driver |
10000*F/ 4 persons | €3.8 | 0,5 days | 40 |
| 64 | Banfora - Loropeni | minibus | 3500 F | €5.4 | 3 h | 158 |
| 65 | Loropeni - Gaoua | minibus | 1500 F | €2.3 | 1,5 h^ | 39 |
| 66 | Gaoua - Bouna (Cote d'Ivoire) | bus | 7500*F | €11.5 | 9 h | 65 + Ivory 97 |
| city transport | taxi | 3900 F/ 3 persons | €2.0 | - | - | |
| €41.8 | 997 | |||||
visa – we applied for our visa at the border, quick and easy for 10.000 CFA, valid for 7 days. This was good saving, because in Bamako we could get it for 28.000 CFA. In Ouagadougou in the main police station we went to extend our visas (supposedly for free), but to our surprise we got information about the application possibility for a tourist Entante visa valid for the countries: Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Niger and Ivory Coast. Generally it was not easy to obtain, many embassies already told us that such a visa does not exist anymore. We met up with the French Consul in Bamako – he called to Paris and announced us that the visa is already not in use anymore. The same answer we heard in the Togo, Niger and Burkina embassies. We heard only that Togo Embassy in Accra issue this visa. In Ouagadougou we gave 25.000 CFA and within 12 hours we obtained a visa - another word we saved time, money and blank pages in the passport. This visa is valid for two months and allows for a single entry to all 5 of these countries. Even after leaving the system of these countries, such travel to Ghana in our case, a visa does not lose validity.
Burkina Faso has the embassies in Senegal, Mali, Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast.