Afrinkong
Nature & LandscapesThe Southwest
Cascades, sugarcane and the Karfiguela falls where the land drops off the plateau.
Photo Vvek Nishant / Pexels
BURKINA FASO · Tourism
The Sindou Peaks
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.
West AfricaRegion
27Tourism experiences
The best cinema and the best masks in West AfricaKnown for
01
Featured destinations
Where the country actually takes you.
Nature & Landscapes
Tenakourou
747 metres in the southwest, and the highest ground in a country that is mostly plateau.
Photo Jay Glenn Recto / Pexels
WaterfallsKarfiguela
Water off the plateau in a series of ledges, swimmable at the bottom.
Photo LekePOV / Pexels
Lakes & RiversThe Black and White Volta
Two of the three Voltas rise here and run south into Ghana.
Photo Alpha Diane / Pexels
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.
Photo Mark Barnwell / Pexels
02
Wildlife & safari
What lives here, and how you see it without disturbing it.
Wildlife
Hippos at Tengrela
A lake outside Banfora with a resident hippo pod, worked by fishermen in pirogues.
SafariNazinga and Arli
Nazinga has one of the densest elephant populations in West Africa and you can walk in it.
Photo ROMAN ODINTSOV / Pexels
Nazinga
A community-run ranch since 1979, and one of the earliest of its kind in the region.
03
Culture & heritage
The part of a country you cannot photograph from a vehicle.
Culture
Sixty Languages, One Cinema
FESPACO in Ouagadougou every two years, and a film industry that punches far above its size.
Mossi, Bobo, Lobi, Fulani
The Mossi kingdoms in the centre, the Bobo and Lobi in the west, the Fulani across the north.
Photo mg shotz / Pexels
To and Riz Gras
To — millet paste with sauce — and riz gras cooked in tomato and oil.
Photo Urian Rivera / Pexels
FESPACO and FESTIMA
The film festival in Ouagadougou, and the mask festival at Dedougou every other year.
Photo G star Media / Pexels
Traditional Arts & CraftsBronze and Masks
Lost-wax bronze in Ouagadougou, and the plank masks of the Bwa and Nuna.
Photo Sani Maikatanga / Pexels
The Ruins of Loropeni
Stone walls six metres high, a thousand years old, from the trans-Saharan gold trade.
Loropeni, and the Living Rest
One World Heritage site in stone, and a mask tradition that never became a museum.
04
Cities & everyday life
Where people actually live between the landmarks.
Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso
A capital that fills for FESPACO, and a second city with the country's best music.
Sudanese Mud and Sukhala
The Bobo-Dioulasso mosque in Sudanese style, and painted Kassena compounds at Tiebele.
Photo mg shotz / Pexels
Local LifeThe Maquis at Night
Open-air bars with grilled chicken and dolo, and a band more often than not.
Family & CommunityElephants You Can Walk To
Nazinga allows walking safaris, which makes it unusually good for older children.
Photo ROMAN ODINTSOV / Pexels
05
Adventure & outdoors
For travellers who would rather walk it than watch it.
Adventure
Cycling the Southwest
Burkina is a cycling nation. The Tour du Faso runs every year and the roads are flat.
Photo Valdans Media / Pexels
Outdoor ExperiencesThe Sindou Ridge
Scrambling routes through the fins, best in the last two hours of light.
Photo Rachel Claire / Pexels
Modest
Good hotels in Ouagadougou and Bobo, and a lodge or two near Banfora.
Photo Andrea Musto / Pexels
06
Travel inspiration
The frames people come home with.
Photography / Scenic ViewsMasks in Motion
FESTIMA, where the masks are danced rather than displayed and the dust is part of it.
Photo Miguel González / Pexels
Hidden GemsTiebele
Kassena compounds painted in black, white and ochre geometry by the women of the household.
Photo Huu Huynh / Pexels
Why Visit This Country
Why Burkina Faso
The masks, the music and the cinema, in a country that has never traded on scenery.
Why Burkina Faso
The masks, the music and the cinema, in a country that has never traded on scenery.
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