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Saved: November 30th 2021
Banfora, in the southwest corner of Burkina Faso, is unlike any terrain we have seen thus far. Large fields of irrigated sugar cane, lakes, waterfalls, green fields and Drumheller-esque rock formations.
The bus journey was uneventful, except for the young man that I was sitting next to, who spoke excellent english and was explaining the sugar cane crops to me. As we neared Banfora he told me he was getting married the following Saturday and he invited us to his wedding! We would have went, but we didn't stay long enough in Banfora. We arrived into Banfora with the four guys that we met in Ouaga - Robert and Paul (Canadian brothers), Ian (Scottish) and Matthew (British). They are off to stay at a different hotel, where the other Paul (Scottish) and Johanna (Swedish) are staying. We choose the cheaper, more central hotel and we are very happy for it as we get a free breakfast and less mosquitoes! And there is a very cute (albeit skinny) resident kitten.
We are either overly optomistic or not very bright, but we decided to try our luck at "renting" bikes and mopeds again. The first day we rented bicycles and
Large Hippoes
Lake Tengréla hippoes, very large!set out for Lake Tengréla just outside of Banfora, which is supposed to have hippoes. The bikes were newer and in better shape than our last rentals, Peter's bike even had matching seat and bar pads - very fashionable!! Our bike ride was lovely, although a little longer than expected because we missed the lake turnoff. In the end it was great to see more of the countryside as we saw men plowing the fields with pairs of oxen. The lake was a treat as we were the only people there, besides the locals that live there. Included in the admission price is a pirogue trip. The pirogue is small and has no motor, only one young boy with one paddle. We decided that just being on the lake would be enough if we didn't see the hippoes, it was quiet and so nice just to be near water for a change. In the distance we could see "rocks" in the water that turned out to be hippoes. Our young guide took us closer and closer and at one point we were a little nervous that we were too close. We could hear their grunts and groans, see them watching
us and we were able to take some great photos. It was pretty special being the only ones out there. After we ate a lovely avocado, tomato, and cucumber sandwich under the mango trees beside the lake, we slowly made our way back. We were almost all the way back when Peter's back tire blew, but we were able to get it fixed nearby in less than 10 minutes, and we were on our way again. We were very happy with our rented bikes this time around!
The following day we joined up with the other 6 travellers and rented a taxi to take us out to Sindou Peaks (about 50 km from Banfora). Unfortunately Johanna was ill, so she couldn't join us, but the rest of us set out in the grey, drizzly morning to the peaks. The taxi was old and falling apart as usual, and the ride a little tortuous in the very back where Peter and I shared the seat with Paul 2. The other boys are a lot taller than us, so we sacrificed for them. The peaks are really unique in the surrounding landscape. They are a sandstone type rock, carved out by
Lake Tengréla
Laini and Peter in a small pirogue on the lake, near very large hippoes. We were a little nervous at one point ... the elements. Again, we were the only ones there and we quickly spread out amongst the rocks to explore. From the higher up peaks the views over the surrounding area were stunning. I hope the photos can do the view some justice. The boys have a little different style of travel than we do, so we only ended up at the peaks for only two hours and then we were on our way back again. The taxi driver seemed to have something to prove on the drive back as he drove like a bat out of hell. I still have the bruise on my head where I connected with the roof of the car as we hit one particularly bad bump. We were all pretty happy to get out of the taxi at the end. That evening we headed out to a local restaurant to watch the European Football Championship game with the boys. Football (soccer) is huge in Africa and the next day the Manchester United supporters were celebrating their teams win.
On the third day, we rented mopeds, or mobylettes as they are called here. Our destination - the Cascades de Karifguéla and the Domes de Fabedougou.
The boys had rented mopeds on the day we went to the lake, and they had nothing but horror stories about the bikes breaking down. We decided to chance it as the guy at the hotel had brought one by to show us and it looked in decent shape. We set out on a back road with the direction from the hotel and with the help of the locals along the way we reached the Domes without incident. Just as we arrived at the Domes, a fellow was sitting beside his broken down moped and we stopped to help. Peter was able to help him get his bike fixed and we sent him on his way, feeling happy about our good deed. While Peter was helping the fellow, I was keeping his goat and chickens company - the chickens were tied up in a canvas bag and the goat was tied up inside a small box - very different to how we would transport livestock in Canada!
The ride to this area was really eye-opening for me. We rode past large fields of irrigated sugar cane and right across the road there are men and women working the land
by hand - no oxen, just with hand tools. The dicotomy of this scene really struck me as being uniquely African. As we puttered along we also saw a relatively new John Deere tractor plowing the field across from the teams of oxen doing the same. It was the first time we distinctly saw the difference between the rich and the poor in agriculture.
The Domes were very similar to the the Sindou Peaks, and the sun was high with little shade in the Domes. We wandered around for a bit, then headed off for the waterfalls at Karifguéla. The falls were a real treat! The surrounding area is so lush and green, and the falls flow all year round unlike in other areas of West Africa. We can only imagine how spectacular the falls would be during and after the rainy season. We climbed up to the top of the falls, enjoying the view from different points. At the top we stopped for another yummy avocado, tomato, cucumber sandwich and then climbed into the water to cool off. It was so much fun playing in the waterfalls and pools, we realized we have not been near water for
a very long time. The water was refreshing, but it was no Alberta glacier-fed river! It was hard to drag ourselves away as we were again the only people around. As soon as other people started to show up we decided it was time to make our way back down. The ride back to Banfora was uneventful and restored our faith in renting transportation again in the future.
We have been living off of avocadoes and mangoes these days as they are plentiful and delicious. We stopped on the way home to eat ripe mangoes in the shade of a giant mango tree. Really should have eaten them at the falls as you really need a shower after you eat a mango! The avocadoes are enormous here, we didn't know what they were at first because some of them are equivalent to 4 or 5 avocadoes we get in Canada. We first got addicted to the avocado sandwich in Ouaga, and have been recreating it at every opportuinity. The land is so lush here, the fresh veggies are amazing and so very, very cheap. Yesterday we enjoyed an enormous green salad topped with our homemade avocado/guacamole and the total
Millipede
This big boy is about 7 or 8 inches long. Snack anyone? cost was under 2 dollars. We walked away feeling very full and in need of a nap! The friendly hotel staff helped us to make this happen as we did not have a large enough bowl for all our fixings.
It is now time to say goodbye to Burkina Faso and head off to Ghana. We will be travelling into the far northwest corner of Ghana to a couple of game reserves in hopes of seeing more animals. We'll keep you posted!
Lots of love,
Laini and Peter
p.s. we have arrived in Wa, Ghana safely and are in search of coffee - even Nescafe at this point .... so far we have not had any luck and I'm going into withdrawal ...
Laini's Favourite Sign in Ghana thus far:
"Trust My Fingers Hair Salon"
**Please feel free to post a comment or send us an email - we are a little lonesome for home these days and love to hear from our friends and family!
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Charlene
non-member comment
Good to see more pics of you 2 together. Did you eat the milipede???They are a delicasy in China you know LOL.