Burkina
Faso -
April 2008
Route
We entered Burkina from the border with Ghana at Ouessa from where we
drove west to Gaoua and then Bobo-Dioulasso. From Bobo we diverted briefly
south to Banfora and Lac Tangrela before heading to Ouagadougou. Finally
we drove north to Ouahigouya and over the border between Tiou in Burkina
and Koro in Mali. We were seven days in the country.
Visas
We used our Visa Touristique Entente in Burkina Faso (see our Niger
section for details). The immigration officer recognised it straight-away
and we had no questions over it's validity.
Border formalities
and checkpoints
A police officer on the Ouessa Ghana/Burkina border stamped our passports
in but across the road sat two bored customs officers who just signalled
vaguely to where the office might be. We didn't find it. When we exited
Burkina the customs officers wanted to see our temporary import papers
but we acted dumb and they let us pass.
The Tiou/Koro border
into Mali is quite spread out. The first thing you hit on the Burkina
side is a police and customs stop (no barrier) 18km before the border.
The police here act on behalf of immigration. There is nothing at the
actual border. Malian immigration is a further 5km on and is also managed
by the police. Malian customs is in Koro itself on the main road.
General
driving conditions
The main highways are well maintained; the dirt roads are a challenge
in places but road building is in progress. There are less vehicles
on the road (so less dangerous idiot taxi drivers etc) but many more
mopeds, bicycles and livestock. This is most noticeable in Ouagadougou
where you need to have your wits about you to avoid hitting the weaving
bikes.
Specific driving conditions
All times are 'time moving' from our GPS and so are driving
times only.
- Ouessa to Gaoua
– 1½ hrs on very good tar. Peage on the Diebougou-Gaoua section: 200FCFA.
- Gaoua to Bobo
– 5 hrs on dirt piste. There are three ways you can do this: straight
across from Gaoua to Banfora and then up; back up to Diebougou and
across via Nisseko; or right up to Pa and across on the highway to
Bobo. The latter is what the locals advise as it is all good tar.
We took the middle route and at the time they were fixing the road
so we drove mostly on the diversions which were very slow and very
dusty.
- Bobo to Lac Tengrela
(via Banfora) – 1 hr on good tar followed by 25 minutes on dirt road.
- Bobo to Ouaga
– 5½ hrs on good tar. Peage of 800FCFA
- Ouaga to Ouahigouya
- 3 hrs on good tar. Peage of 400FCFA
- Ouahigouya to
border - 40 mins on dirt piste.
Accommodation
Camping is generally
in hotel grounds. Bush-camping would be possible in many places, particularly
along the Diebougou-Bobo road and in the north where it is less populated.
- Gaoua is very
difficult for accommodation. Hotel Poni, next to the market, is the
only place to camp in town but the place is a thoroughfare and the
shared ablutions are an abomination. Hotel Hala is out of town on
the Diebougou road and the rooms and food were expensive with no camping
available.
- In Bobo we stayed
in two places: Pacha, which is within reasonable walking distance
of Bobo centre and has good facilities, and Casafrica, which is just
as good, cheaper and more central. There is no security at the latter
and so you get a few hawkers and beggars coming in. Pacha is 2km west
of town on Rue Malherbe.
- In the Banfora
area you can camp at both the waterfall and Lac Tengrela. The camping
at the waterfall is in the car-park slightly away from the falls but
the camping at the lake is beautiful. There is a family who have set
up a cafe under some mango trees and they let us camp for 1000FCFA
(extra to the 1000pp entrance fee which you only need to pay on your
first day). They have made a very basic open-air toilet and shower
cubicle but there is no water other than the lake. We got a moto-taxi
from them to visit the falls for a day. Lac Tengrela: N10.38.879;
W04.50.214
- Ouaga - OK Inn
is behind the truck park in the south of the city and has loads of
space to camp. It's free and there is a swimming pool and good ablutions,
although the reception staff are very snooty. Other overlanders have
told us that you are obliged to eat in the restaurant but we weren't
told this by OK Inn. However we ate anyway and didn't regret it as
it was one of the best meals we've had in Africa (and pretty reasonable
at around 4,200FCFA for a main). N12.20.100; W01.30.824
- Ouahigouya -
Hotel de la Liberte was central and allowed camping in the car-park
at a reasonable price. N13.34.848;
W02.25.595
Music
Burkina is every bit as important to West African music as Mali and
Senegal, especially the drummers who work throughout the region. The
music museum in Ouaga is excellent with inhouse musicians, who after
your visit demonstrate how each instrument is played in a special auditorium.
Bobo is littered with excellent venues, ask at the French cultural centre
or anyone who comes up to hawk you souvenirs or music CDs, although
the most popular is Les Bambous.
Food, water
and beer
There was good fruit and veg in most town markets and bargain mangoes
between Banfora and Bobo (note that they dry up further north). Restaurants
to recommend are: the 4 Seasons restaurant in Gaoua (300m up from the
market on the Diebougou road), Dan Kan in Bobo, where we ate great cous-cous
and sauce for 500FCFA (check the speacials board rather than the menu),
and the restaurant in OK Inn. If you are a meat eater, try to have some
beef whilst in the country.
We got cleanish
water at all the places we stayed apart from the lake. The two Burkina
beers to choose from are So-b-bra and Brakina, which has a startling
resemblance to Biere Niger.
Money and
fuel
We used our visa debit card in ATMs in Gaoua, Bobo, Ouaga and Ouahigouya.
Fuel stations are frequent and diesel is cheaper in the south (583FCFA/66p
per litre) than in the north (603FCFA/69p per litre).