Afrinkong
Nature & Landscapes
The Southwest
Cascades, sugarcane and the Karfiguela falls where the land drops off the plateau.
West Africa · Afrinkong
Burkina Faso
The best cinema and the best masks in West Africa.
FESPACO is the largest film festival on the continent, the Sindou peaks are a forest of eroded sandstone, and the mask traditions of the west are among the strongest anywhere.
Where it is
Africa · West Africa · Burkina Faso
The land in brief
- Spans
- 840 km E–W, 630 km N–S
- Latitude
- 15°N to 9°N
- Borders
- 6 countries
- Sea
- Landlocked
- Best time
- November to February. Check advice — much of the country is affected by the wider Sahel situation.
Also in West Africa
BeninWhere vodun comes from, and the palaces of DahomeyCôte d'IvoireLagoons, forest and the AtlanticThe GambiaA river with a country around itGhanaThe forts, the forest and the highlifeGuinea-BissauThe Bijagos, and eighty-eight islands
Compare Burkina Faso with another countryAll fifty-four, worked through the same twenty-seven categories.When to come
JFMAMJJASOND
November to February. Check advice — much of the country is affected by the wider Sahel situation.
01Highlights
What Burkina Faso is known for.
Six of the twenty-seven, and the ones most people come for. The rest are below — and none of them is filler.
Nature & Landscapes
Wildlife
Hippos at Tengrela
A lake outside Banfora with a resident hippo pod, worked by fishermen in pirogues.
Tenakourou
747 metres in the southwest, and the highest ground in a country that is mostly plateau.
Lakeshore, Not Coast
Landlocked. Tengrela and the Bagre reservoir are where people swim and fish.
Gallery Forest at Banfora
The dome-shaped Sindou woodland, and the fields of sugarcane below the cliffs.
Culture
Sixty Languages, One Cinema
FESPACO in Ouagadougou every two years, and a film industry that punches far above its size.
02Experiences
25 ways to spend the time.
Every country we cover works through the same twenty-seven categories, so you can hold two of them side by side and compare like with like rather than one brochure against another. Compare Burkina Faso with another → The two not listed here are the hero picture and the case for going, which has a section of its own below.
Landscapes
- The SouthwestCascades, sugarcane and the Karfiguela falls where the land drops off the plateau.
- Tenakourou747 metres in the southwest, and the highest ground in a country that is mostly plateau.
- KarfiguelaWater off the plateau in a series of ledges, swimmable at the bottom.
- The Black and White VoltaTwo of the three Voltas rise here and run south into Ghana.
- Lakeshore, Not CoastLandlocked. Tengrela and the Bagre reservoir are where people swim and fish.
- Gallery Forest at BanforaThe dome-shaped Sindou woodland, and the fields of sugarcane below the cliffs.
Wildlife
- Hippos at TengrelaA lake outside Banfora with a resident hippo pod, worked by fishermen in pirogues.
- Nazinga and ArliNazinga has one of the densest elephant populations in West Africa and you can walk in it.
- NazingaA community-run ranch since 1979, and one of the earliest of its kind in the region.
- The Sindou RidgeScrambling routes through the fins, best in the last two hours of light.
People and culture
- Sixty Languages, One CinemaFESPACO in Ouagadougou every two years, and a film industry that punches far above its size.
- Mossi, Bobo, Lobi, FulaniThe Mossi kingdoms in the centre, the Bobo and Lobi in the west, the Fulani across the north.
- FESPACO and FESTIMAThe film festival in Ouagadougou, and the mask festival at Dedougou every other year.
- Bronze and MasksLost-wax bronze in Ouagadougou, and the plank masks of the Bwa and Nuna.
- To and Riz GrasTo — millet paste with sauce — and riz gras cooked in tomato and oil.
- Elephants You Can Walk ToNazinga allows walking safaris, which makes it unusually good for older children.
- The Maquis at NightOpen-air bars with grilled chicken and dolo, and a band more often than not.
Places
- Ouagadougou and Bobo-DioulassoA capital that fills for FESPACO, and a second city with the country's best music.
- Sudanese Mud and SukhalaThe Bobo-Dioulasso mosque in Sudanese style, and painted Kassena compounds at Tiebele.
- The Ruins of LoropeniStone walls six metres high, a thousand years old, from the trans-Saharan gold trade.
- Loropeni, and the Living RestOne World Heritage site in stone, and a mask tradition that never became a museum.
Ways to travel
- Cycling the SouthwestBurkina is a cycling nation. The Tour du Faso runs every year and the roads are flat.
- ModestGood hotels in Ouagadougou and Bobo, and a lodge or two near Banfora.
- Masks in MotionFESTIMA, where the masks are danced rather than displayed and the dust is part of it.
- TiebeleKassena compounds painted in black, white and ochre geometry by the women of the household.
03Why go
The case for Burkina Faso.
Why Visit This Country
Why Burkina Faso
The masks, the music and the cinema, in a country that has never traded on scenery.
Hidden Gems
Tiebele
Kassena compounds painted in black, white and ochre geometry by the women of the household.
Eco Tourism
Nazinga
A community-run ranch since 1979, and one of the earliest of its kind in the region.
Heritage
Loropeni, and the Living Rest
One World Heritage site in stone, and a mask tradition that never became a museum.
04Go deeper
All of Burkina Faso, four ways in.
Who would take youAfrinkong
The ground is ours right across Africa: your vehicle, your driver for the whole journey, and the days shaped around what you came for.
In Cameroon, Uganda and Namibia you travel with companies of our own as well.
Plan your journey →
Begin
Your Burkina Faso starts here.
Tell us the month, or simply the thing you want to see, and a guide who works there will answer.