Mali to Burkino Faso

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After my 3 day trek in Dogon Country I returned to Bandiagra on Tues 21 Dec to find Neil waiting for me at a campsite just outside of town at Hotel Toguna. Unfortunately his trip had been cut short on day 1 - he'd got stuck in a swamp, used the Diff Lock Gear to get himself out, but then been unable to take it off afterwards. He'd decided to abort his trip, anxious about the possibility of causing lasting damage to the gearbox.

That night, as we swapped stories of our separate adventures, we were surprised to find the campsite fill up with other travellers - the most we'd encountered since leaving Morocco. There was a huge truck with about 15 travellers from the UK, Europe and USA who were travelling to South Africa on an organised tour with Trek Africa. They had a satellite radio receiver and we got to listen into Virgin Radio for a couple of hours which was such a treat after weeks of the world service.

The next morning I hitched a ride on the back of a scooter into town to change some US dollars on the black market, which was great fun, and then we were on our way to the next border crossing.

Having failed to get our visas for Burkino in Bamoko (the embassy had moved from the address in the guide book) we didn't really know what to expect at the border at Koro, but apart from the excrutiating heat it was all relatively straightforward and we got 7 day visas issued on the spot. Stopping at the first little village after the border for a drink, we immediately got a good feeling about Burkino Faso - very laid back & friendly faces everywhere.

We arrived in Ouagadougou (Ouagga), the capital of Burkino Faso on Thurs 23 Dec & decided it was time to treat ourselves, so we splashed out the equivalent of 40 pounds on a posh hotel with swimming pool - Les Palmieres was run by a French couple and was deserted in the run up to xmas, so we had the beautiful swimming pool to ourselves, whilst we waited 24 hours to pick up our visas for Ghana. (The Ghanian Embassy required an unprecedented 4 identical passport photos and 4 copies of a very lengthy application form, which we laboriously filled in by hand). That evening, we decided to try a French restaurant run by an order of Nuns - Restaurant l'Eau Vive - we'd read that their profits went to support their various children's charities, and that the food was excellent and very reasonable. I ordered the 3 course set menu option & Neil went for steak, but was horrified when he was presented with what looked like a raw steak with a raw egg on top of it. We quickly realised that 'Cheval cru' on the menu was horse meat, raw - a French delicacy! We explained our faux pas and asked the good nuns to please indulge us by cooking the steak through please, but on its return it was alas no more appetising & Neil went hungry that evening!

Despite problems with foreign menus, we both really liked Ouagga - there was a relaxed, laid back atmosphere to the city, and it felt very western - much more so than Bamoko (although a policeman tried to get us to pay an on the spot fine for driving through a red light. We knew the light had still been on amber, Neil stuck to his guns & he eventually let us go!).

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Photos

Ouagga
Living it up - eve of xmas eve, Ouagga.