Burkina Faso

Two and a half weeks in Burkina and we have seen and experienced quite a few things.

Down in the southwest of the country we saw our first hippos (and we went twice on that day: once in the morning when they were still rather sleepy and once in the evening when they were active and noisy). We fed some sacred fish. We went to a beautiful waterfall and visited interesting rock formations and also saw a diversity of small villages and local life. With this region, especially Bobo being rather artistic, it was an ideal place for Nico to have his first lesson in Djembé (African drum), which I believe he really enjoyed. Also one of our hotels happened to be near an SOS-children-village, so that we had the opportunity for a visit to see whether donations are well-spent (and I think they really do a good job there).

In the north we then went on a camel ride and slept under the open sky in the dunes and a small traditional village before arriving together with local sales people in Gorom-Gorom on the day of the famous market. A nightly sand storm and a painful behind were included for free in this adventure, so were as well badly stained clothes and a bus trip back to the capital in a bus without windows and chicken falling of the luggage departments above the seats.

Burkina is really a beautiful and divers country with ever so friendly and helpful people. The food is great, so I must admit we also ate quite a few meals of more European nature than African. So we did try local food such as a grain based tô with fresh cow milk in the little village during the camel trip or foutou and tô with divers sauces. Also omelette with buttered bread for breakfast was a delicious alternative to the more European style breakfast that was served in some of our hotels.