Happy Lama Travels eksklusive grupperejser i Burkina Faso foregår i små internationale grupper med lokal engelsktalende rejseleder. Derfor er rejsebeskrivelserne på engelsk.

En lokal rejseleder kender sit land bedre end en dansk rejseleder. Det er desuden vores erfaring at en lokal rejseleder giver dig et bedre indblik i, hvordan livet leves i Burkina Faso.

Passer rejsedatoerne dig ikke eller vil du selv have maksimal indflydelse på dit rejseprogram – Kontakt os hvis du ønsker et tilbud på en individuel rejse i Burkina Faso.

afrika@happylamatravel.com

This tour combines the best of Burkina Faso with a unique cultural festival enabling travellers to witness a very authentic, and seldom seen, part of Burkinabe life. Starting from Ouagadougou we visit the colourful painted villages of the Kassena people, and then head west to see the fortified villages of the Lobi people. We explore Burkina’s natural highlights including the Sindou Peaks, discover the enigmatic Loropeni Ruins and the tombs of Obire, and then head to the town of Dedougou, where we spend two days at the ‘dancing masks’ festival, where villagers from miles around gather for a traditional celebration of dance, song and storytelling – a photographer’s dream. We also visit the friendly city of Bobo-Dioulasso, with its interesting old quarter and impressive mosque. An exciting trip which offers great insights into one of West Africa’s most interesting countries.

Fitness** | Adventure**** | Culture***** | History*** | Wildlife**

Arrive in Ouagadougou, the lively capital of Burkina Faso. Overnight Hotel Azalai or similar.

Ouagadougou
The evocatively named Ouagadougou, Burkina’s capital, grew up around the palace of the Mossi ruler, the Moro Naba, in the 17th century. It is a small and relatively compact city, with about one and a half million inhabitants. Although Ouaga is lacking in a plethora of traditional sights, it gives a great insight into a modern West African city and is a pleasant place to stroll around. It is dotted with small open air bars and restaurants which are very popular meeting places for local Ouagalais and a great place to sit, relax and watch the world go by.

We spend some time exploring Ouagadougou before heading south. We go off road to the village of Tiebele, home to the Kassena people who are famous for their painted houses. We stop at the chief’s compound, a labyrinth of earth built dwellings enclosed within mud walls. The road gets worse as we travel to further Gurunsi villages. Although the houses here are not as visually impressive as those at Tiebele, very few tourists make it here and the sense of breaking new ground is almost tangible. We have excellent local connections here and are welcomed as guests by the chief and his family. We continue on to Po for the evening. Overnight Hotel Tiadora or similar. (BLD)

Please note that depending on timings we may schedule days 2 & 3 in reverse.

Kassena People
The Kassena are a relatively small ethnic group who live both in Burkina Faso and Ghana. They are primarily farmers but the men often use dogs for hunting nearby wildlife. They believe in a supreme creator god, a shrine to which will be found in every Kassena village. Above all the Kassena are known for the murals, patterns and decorations that adorn the outside of their houses. These are often made up of geometrical patterns, representing creatures such as bats, hawks, snakes and tortoises, which hold special significance within Kassena society.

We continue visiting the painted villages of the Kassena before heading west to the small town of Leo for the night. Overnight Auberge de la Sissili or similar. (BLD)

Drive to Gaoua, the main town in the Lobi region. The Lobi are a shy and secretive people but with the help of local guides we visit their fortress style houses dotted around this region, and perhaps see women panning for grains of gold in the rivers and streams. Overnight Hotel Hala. (BLD)

Lobi People
The Lobi are thought to have migrated from Ghana in the 18th century, and their name means literally ‘children of the forest’. Today they live in villages consisting of several fortress style dwellings, excellent protection against slave raids of old. The Lobi follow animist traditions, worshipping fetishes and ancestors, and are renowned as excellent warriors, putting up fierce resistance to French efforts at occupation. The Lobi are still very traditional and adhere to old customs, one of which is their initiation ceremony where young men and women head off into the bush for several weeks, performing secret rituals and speaking a secret language.

Continue exploring the region around Gaoua, including the mysterious ruins at Loropeni, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as the village of Obire with its tombs of previous kings. We continue to Banfora for the evening. Overnight Hotel Canne a Sucre or similar. (BLD)

Banfora
Banfora is a medium sized town in the far south west, not far from Ivory Coast and on the rail line from Ouagadougou to Abidjan. The countryside around is full of sugarcane plantations, the climate in this region being ideal for farming with more rain than other parts of the country.

Out towards the border with Mali lie the Sindou Peaks, jagged fingers of rock pointing into the sky which are sacred to the Senoufou people who inhabit this region. Accompanied by local guides so as not to inadvertently break any local taboos, we take an easy hike through this awesome landscape. We also visit a nearby lake to look for hippopotamus, taking a pirogue out onto the water and getting surprisingly close to these enormous creatures. Overnight Hotel Canne a Sucre or similar. (BLD)

Drive to Burkina’s second city, Bobo Dioulasso. Visit the old quarter of the city, dating back many centuries and with separate quarters for the different religions, such as Moslems and animists, that live here. Bobo’s most famous landmark, and one of the most impressive in West Africa, is its Grand Mosque, a whitewashed mud built building with the typical logs jutting out from all angles. Overnight L’Auberge or similar. (BLD)

Bobo Dioulasso
Bobo, in Burkina’s south west, is the second city of the country and a fantastic place to spend a couple of days. Quiet and leafy, it is home to an excellent live music scene and colourful nightlife. Its name means ‘house of the Bobo and Dioula’ after two ethnic groups that settled here centuries ago. Bobo’s Grand Mosque is one of Burkina’s most impressive sights, a low, whitewashed mud mosque built in the late nineteenth century that is a focal point for the city’s Moslem population. Nearby is the old quarter of Dioulassoba, with narrow winding dust streets, women pounding millet outside their homes, holy fetishes and a river containing sacred catfish. Bobo also has an unusual (and rather underused) railway station, built by the French colonists in an imitation of Sudanese architecture. Bobo is an easy place to find your way around and a very pleasant city for a wander, with large shady trees lining wide boulevards and plenty of pavement cafes to while away the odd hour or two. As well as this, Bobo is a fantastic place to buy traditional arts and crafts at very reasonable prices.

We spend two days in the town of Dedougou, which each year hosts the Festima festival, a celebration attended by more than forty villages from the surrounding area. Each of them is represented by their own group of masks: the famous ‘flat’ wooden masks representing the spirit of the bush. For days the masks dance in the middle of hundreds of people who come from miles away to watch this vibrant celebration. This is an important social gathering for the region and as well as the dances, a market establishes itself and in the evenings the griots (storytellers) compete to display their own unique talents. This is West African culture at its very best and a great opportunity to witness and be part of traditional life. Overnight Hotel Zind Naaba or similar. (BLD)

Return to Ouagadougou with some time for last minute exploration before transferring to the airport. (B)