Live Music And Incredible Trekking: Northern Ghana To The West Of Burkina Faso

We spent our first couple of nights in Burkina camping by a disused crazy golf course in the grounds of a hotel that extends a warm welcome to overlanders! The pool and steak were most welcome after our drive up through Ghana.

Friday night saw us enjoying Ouaga's great live music scene; first we saw the Burkinabe guitar duo Acoustique 366 perform for a couple of hours. We then moved on to have dinner whilst watching a Griot music festival, which included some entertaining fire eating. Griots are the traditional musicians, historians, and poets of the region; it's a hereditary caste.

Acoustique 366 Perform In Ouagadougou (Martin)

Performers At A Griot Music Festival In Ouagadougou (Martin)

From the capital we drove west to Bobo Dioulasso and enjoyed an evening of watching balafon players and drummers playing whilst we made fools of ourselves on the dance floor. Sunday 6th February was Bob Marley's anniversary, 69 years since his birth. Our host in Bobo, Monsieur Solo, was holding a reggae concert in his memory.....so after a morning exploring town, we spent a relaxed afternoon enjoying the music!

Our Host In Bobo, Solo, Performs Reggae With His Band On Bob Marley's Anniversary

Solo Sings In A Mixture Of French, English
And Local Languages

Two Drunk Men On Stage -
Fortunately A Brief Interruption!

Performing On 6th February, Bob Marley's 69th Anniversary

Leaving the cities behind we headed to the rural south-west of Burkina for a change of pace. We drove through sugar cane plantations to spend the afternoon cooling off at Karfiguela Waterfalls. Sunset saw us at the Domes de Fadebougou, limestone pillars that rise from the flat agricultural area around to form part of a lengthy escarpment.

Driving Through A Sugar Cane Plantation (Andy)

Andre At Karfiguela Falls

Andy Takes The Plunge, With Martin and Kim Behind

The Domes De Fadebougou Shortly Before Sunset

Kim, Martin and Nicky Take A Rest After The Climb

Curtis On The Domes De Fadebougou

The Domes In All Their Glory 

Pipelines Feeding The Sugar Cane Plantation Below

The next morning we drove to Tengrela Lake to see the hippos, Stopping en route to see an enormous sacred Baobab tree. It's hollow inside and so large the whole group could fit inside. The tree's guardian was a real character; he explained the history of the tree, the sacrifices that are made to it, and his role as guardian which has been handed down through generations. We then saw a balafon performance; a balafon is a wooden percussion instrument, similar to a xylophone.

Inside The Sacred Hollow Baobab Tree!

Hippoes At Tengrela Lake (Simon)

Andy With The Tree Guardian!

It's A Pretty Big Tree!

The Guardian Of The Tree!

Lisa and Andre Hug The Beast!

This Man Gave A Great Performance On The Balafon!

Next we headed to Senoufo country, where we camped with a community tourism initiative. The management returns the profits from tourism into local education and health care, which we hope makes a positive contribution in an area where the life expectancy is 47 and the literacy rate around 27%. The local attraction here is the Sindou Peaks, a spectacular group of limestone peaks which were used as a refuge during times of tribal conflict.

Al Among The Sindou Peaks

Curtis And Andre

Paul Heading Out To The Peaks

Most of the group visited a troglodyte settlement high on a close by peak the next day, which was used from approximately the 15th century until the 1980's. It was a refuge for up to 300 people during times of tribal conflict on the plains below. There were many granaries, enabling enough food to be stored to feed the inhabitants for a year at a time. It's position gave a great vantage over the surrounding area. It had no water source beyond run off over the rocks during the rains; water often had to be carried up from below, and we saw a horn that would be blown to warn those collecting water or farming below of incoming attackers.

These Buildings Are Granaries; The Living Space Is Inside

Up To 300 People Lived Here During Tribal Conflict 

Granaries With A Cave Dwelling Behind

Inside One Of The Living Rooms

Food Storage Capacity For Upto A Year At A Time

Paul And Others Climbing Down From The Cliff

On our return that evening the village put on a musical performance for us; mainly balafon and drums under one of the few lights in the village. There can't have been many in the village who didn't join us to dance; first the children had their turn, before the adults cleared space for them to take over. There was a clear hierarchy as to who could dance at what time. Most of us took the stage at one point or another, but I don't think we were among the best dancers at the party!

Paul Frightens The Children With His Dancing!

Dancing To Balafon And Drumming (Andy)

We went on a variety of different trips the next morning, some to a lake for swimming and some to nearby caves. In a village of blacksmiths, we saw rings being made from old reed bar, scythes being made from scrap sheet steel, axe heads being forged and sharpened, and handles being fitted to tools by driving the heated steel head into the wood.

Child In The Blacksmiths Village

Shaping An Axe Handle 

Heating The Scythe, Prior To Mounting It In The Handle

Working The Metal To Shape After Heat Treating

Forging The Metal

Preparing The Metal For The Handle

That night we bought a goat for dinner and decided to call him Derek. Fortunately Derek, the Kiwi farmer with us, was unconcerned by this. A fantastic barbeque followed; cook group 4 redeemed themselves!

Grilling The Goat: Kim Adds Potatoes To The Fire.

Nev And Gary Carve Up The Meat For Dinner

We are now in Cote d'Ivoire, heading south from Korhogo to see the excellent stilt dancers in action and the sights of Yamoussoukro, before we head to Guinea. The next update will likely be from Monrovia, Liberia in a couple of weeks time.