Blogs from Hauts-Bassins, Burkina Faso, Africa - page 2

For the last month I’ve been back in Satiri teaching. It’s still hot, but it must be getting a little better because I’ve been able to sleep at night. We’ve even gotten a little rain! After just a couple of showers, everything became instantly greener. The harmattan dust was rinsed from green leaves, mangoes ripened to yellow-orange fruit, and the flamboyant tree on the corner bloomed with hundreds of small red flowers. The villagers call these the “mango rains:” a little drizzle every week or two, just to rinse the dust off the mangoes. In a few more weeks, the real rains will come. In the meantime, mangoes are in season. The tree branches are weighed down with the fruit, which reaches softball-to-football size. People tie long poles together, reach high up on the tree ... read more

In addition to Belize, Bhutan, Brunei and Burundi any list of countries you don't know anything about should include Burkina Faso. In the centre of West Africa with close to no natural resources, annual famines and a corrupt pseudo-democracy jerking the rudder of this landlocked sinking country - it doesn't promote itself as paradise. On our initial itinerary, five days were set aside to transit the country, but after eight days in the anti-picturesque capital; Ouagadougou and eight more days in the second-largest city; Bobo-Dioulasso, we had made some small amendments to our schedule. In terms of sights or activity there's not much to neither see nor do. We rented motorbikes and went to the Kou forest park, swam in a waterfall and rented a canoe for a tranquil lake trip to see some hippos. Other ... read more