Allons y : Burkina Faso

After Christmas, during the holiday break, Luis and I decided to be tourists and take a trip to the southwest region of Burkina Faso.  The hilly, green, semi-tropical landscape of the southwest was a stark contrast to our flat, desert-like environment here in the East.  Needless to say, most tourists who come to Burkina head to that side of the country, though we do get our fair share in this region thanks to the safari parks.  I was surprised to see that there really are some nice tourist sites here in Burkina, offering travelers (mainly French) a cheap and easy way to explore a little part of Africa.  Here are some highlights of our trip: 

This was taken just outside of a town called Banfora. The landscape is much greener and hilly in the Southwest.

 

Sugar cane. There are fields of this near Banfora that seem to go on for miles.

 

The Domes of Karfigula - this is a really cool rock formation outside of Banfora.

One of the these domes has a lot more hair; the other is at least a bit more photogenic.

The Cascades of Karfigula - these waterfalls are also just outside of Banfora.

The water from these cascades is used to irrigate the sugar cane fields.

Hippo Lake - also just outside Banfora. Here I am contemplating whether it is truly a good idea to get into a small wooden canoe and traverse a lake in search of the most dangerous creature in Africa.

In between our heads, you can see the family of hippos not too far in the distance.

It was pretty intimidating being so close to these enormous monsters and having absolutely no option to escape.

 

Our guide would have probably been happier if the hippos would have lightened our load a bit.

McDonald's!! Though not quite the Golden Arches, Banfora is famous for having a restaurant called McDonald's that coincidentally serves hamburgers. Luis demonstrates the proper technique of a protein deprived PCV.

We ended up in Bobo-Dioulasso for a New Year's Eve celebration with a big group of Volunteers. Bobo is the second biggest city in Burkina and is the economic capital of the country. It is even more modern feeling than Ouaga.

PS:  We are about halfway done fundraising for our project Camp GLOW.  If you would like to learn more and donate, click here.

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