Travel Guide

Places To See

Grande Mosquée

The Grande Mosquée, built in 1893, is an outstanding example of Sahel-style mud architecture, with conical towers and wooden struts (which both support the structure and act as scaffolding during replastering).

Although entry is forbidden for non-Muslims, it's the exterior that is so captivating, especially at sunset when the façade turns golden and the faithful pass by on their way home or to the neighbouring well, often pausing for prayer in the mosque en route. A powerful sense of community life revolves around the mosque. The quiet and shady grounds in the immediate vicinity are interspersed with shelters and prayer mats for worshippers, and add to the charm of one of Burkina Faso's most memorable sites.

Gorom-Gorom Market

Gorom-Gorom's Thursday market is the most colourful in Burkina Faso, and one of the best in all West Africa. Its charm lies in the fact that it's an authentic local market, drawing traders from all around the surrounding countryside. As such, its focus is entirely local, and tourists are simply part of the menagerie.

You'll see a variety of Sahel and Sahara ethnic groups at the market. The Tuareg are easily identified by their long flowing robes (boubous), indigo turbans and elaborate silver swords, and can often be seen riding proudly on their camels or haggling in the animal market over the price of camels and goats. The Tuareg's former slaves, the Bella, have taken over many of their erstwhile masters' skills in leatherwork, and both the men and the women favour black or grey gowns with wide belts of richly decorated leather. You'll also see Songhaï farmers and Fulani herders (who wear the distinctive, conical straw hats). But it is the Fulani women who most catch the eye. Elaborately dressed, you can recognise them by their vivid, multicoloured dresses and complex hairstyles - usually braided and decorated with silver threads, tiny chains and colourful beads. These women carry their wealth with them in the form of beads, bracelets, heavy earrings or necklaces, many of solid silver with dangling Maria Theresa dollars.

Pre-Departure Information

When to go?

As with most of West Africa, the best time to go is weather related. November to February are the cooler months of the year, although the dusty harmattan winds might temper your enthusiasm between the months of December and February.

Film enthusiasts won't want to miss Fespaco, Africa's premier film festival, which runs in odd-numbered years. The cultural festival begins early April.

Travel Visa Overview

Visas are required for all visitors to Burkina Faso.

Electricity

220V

50Hz

Electrical Plugs

European plug with two circular metal pins

Health Information

Malaria

This is a serious problem in Burkina Faso.

Weather Information

Burkina Faso's tropical climate sees little relief from the heat, with dense humidity making things particularly squirmish from May to October. The dusty and dry months yield days above 40°C (104°F) and sandy harmattan winds blow incessantly between December and February. The hottest time of the year is between March and June when the mercury can rise well above 40°C in the capital.

History and Culture

Pre-20th Centure History

Much of Burkina Faso is populated by descendants of the Mossi empire, founded when a band of horsemen from nearby Ghana galloped through at the turn of the 15th century. Unlike other African countries that governed through non-hierarchical village systems, the Mossi organised a blue-blooded empire that even The Firm at Windsor Castle would be hard pressed to match. They developed courts of law, administrative bodies, ministerial positions, and a cavalry to protect the realm. The latter proved to be critical in resisting the hostile advances of their Muslim neighbours and explains why, even today, Burkina Faso is one of the few West African countries that's not predominantly Muslim.

Things remained relatively stable in Upper Volta (as it was then known) until the French began nosing around in 1897. Having already moved into the neighbourhood, they decided to bring a little imperial je ne s'ais quoi to the area by subdividing the region more times than an acre block in Manhattan. Bits of Upper Volta were given away to Mali, Niger and Côte d'Ivoire with all the sang froidof a generous thief. The final nail in the coffin was the blackbirding of natives from Upper Volta to work on French plantations in neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire.

Modern History

For the next 60 years Côte d'Ivoire remained the precious princess of the region and Upper Volta the poor and ugly second cousin. When outright colonisation finally started to lose its sex appeal in the middle of the 20th century, Upper Volta was one of the most vocal in calling for the return of independence. In 1960, Maurice Yaméogo, himself a Mossi, was elected as the country's first president. Unfortunately Yaméogo confused electoral success with a mandate to do as he pleased. A set of disastrous economic policies, coupled with a liberal attitude toward corruption, led to riots and demonstrations by the general populace. In 1966, a military-led coup ousted Yaméogo from office for, among other things, feathering his own nest with public funds.The power vacuum created by Yaméogo's absence ushered in nearly two decades of coups and counter coups, culminating in Captain Thomas Sankara, a young left-wing socialist, taking over the reins.

Sankara turned out to be something of a maverick. Showing a flair for the public flourish, he renamed the country Burkina Faso (which translates as 'country of honest men' or 'country of the incorruptibles'), and immediately set about implementing a set of radical socialist policies. In blitzkrieg style, he immunised every child against measles and yellow fever, trained home-grown doctors for every rural village, built over 350 schools, reduced ministerial privileges and overspending, started building a railway line to the Niger border, and painted Ouagadougou a non-Marxist white. These unabashedly socialist policies made him a hero to the general populace but did nothing for his standing among the elite. There was a collective intake of breath in the well-to-do circles when he slashed ministerial salaries by 25%, and tribal leaders worried that his habit of consultation with the people at a grassroots level undermined their traditional authority.

Western countries, too, did a fair bit of brow-furrowing and hand wringing over Sankara's friendship with Gaddafi - that and the fact that he was never shy about denouncing western imperialism. Predictably, he didn't last long. In an et tu Brutus moment, Sankara's comrade and close advisor, Captain Blaise Compaoré, staged a successful coup that ended with Sankara being taken to a spot outside Ouagadougou and shot. Compaoré immediately restored the status quo, reinstating government salaries to pre-Sankara levels and cutting food subsidies. But these measures have only emphasised a feeling of malaise in Burkinabé society. The disgruntled citizens miss Sankara, the United States are miffed over Burkina Faso's meddling in the affairs of its neighbours, and there appears to be a general lack of direction in the government.

Recent History

Relations with neighbouring Côte d'Ivoire have suffered recently due to the expulsion of some 12,000 migrant Burkinabé farmers who are now refugees in the environs of Gaoua. The civil war that has effectively isolated Burkina Faso from its southern neighbour has been a blow to the economy, particularly in the south of the country. Although new links are being forged with Ghana, Burkina Faso's future prospects are still in large part connected to a train of events transpiring southward.

In 2005, Compaoré changed the rules allowing him to run again for president and, with the opposition in disarray, he duly won.