December 5- 9 2007

Adventure to the heart of Northern Burkina!

December 5 2007, our 4 x 4 vehicle arrived at my door to pick me up with my luggage. But I still had to give instruction to my house help for the cleaning, then dash to school to drop off Rémi on my bicycle. At8:10 I was ready and set to go, having left a detailed 3 pages note to Ludovic on the kitchen table, since he will have the responsibility of looking after Rémi and Roxy while I am gone. One, two, three – go! Off we go and our adventure to the sand dunes of Burkina begins once I get in the car, slam the door and leave a trail of dust behind. With our driver Issaka, we then goes to pick up Antoine and Geraldine who live nearby. Then we are off downtown to get the René family of 5 before we head north on the road in the direction of Dori.

The road is paved and in a perfect straight line on the horizon, and on each side we have a very dry landscape of yellowed tall grass, bushes and small trees. The trip goes nicely and after about 2 hours we stop in Bani village where there is a nice mosque made of banco (mud and hay bricks).  So we get off and visit the sights around the monument, meeting town folks who flock around arriving tourists. They take out their basic handicrafts of painted wood and weaved grass… but nothing striking enough to buy.  The kids surrounding us are so thin, dirty and some have huge bellies. It’s hard to see them like this knowing that there is not much we can do, at least not in a sustainable way.  Should we give them money and encourage them to expect this from tourist?  We were allowed to enter the mosque which had inside hundreds of columns and few windows, giving a cool yet sombre atmosphere.  The floor was dirt and it was not an open hall like most temples (churches or Buddhist) so quite different.  The construction material of mud makes it fit into the environment perfectly along with the houses also made the same.   This was definitely a nice opportunity for some fine photos…

Once the visit of the area over, my camera batteries died on me and my lens stayed open.  Damn it, this always happens!  I quickly returned to our vehicle to get new batteries but of course, they were in my backpack on top of the car.  I tried to get to it but instead, I dropped my camera in the sand. When I picked it up, I noticed that some grains were lodged in the lens and tried to blow them off.  Instead, I blew them into the lens! Result – my camera would not close its lens and would shut off automatically.  No more pictures and we are just beginning our trip!  I was so upset at having been so negligent but then I had to resign myself to not having my pal along for this trip.  We drove off and stopped a bit further in Dori to have lunch at around 2 pm.  We were pretty hungry by then and ordered safe food – spaghetti and French fries!  And then, the restaurant staff went off to the market to buy the ingredients!  Once they returned, then they had to peal and cut all the potatoes, so more than one hour later we finally ate.  At around 4 pm, we got back on the road to reach our first destination – Gorom Gorom! 

The whole family of Rissa Camp site was there to greet us warmly. The father and patriarch of the family business was kind and warm, so we quickly felt at ease and relaxed.  They were used to cater to tourists with special food, purifying water, hygiene, etc. The camp site recently got washed away by floods which made international news (July) so they lost all the bungalows, refrigerators and equipment. One bungalow was left standing with 2 beds and the René family settled in.  The same day, they had built a tent made of branches and set up 2 beds, and this is where I slept along with Antoine and his girlfriend. We all had a nice supper with mutton couscous which was delicious.  With no electricity and only oil lamps and after a long journey, we all decided to head to bed early.

The next day, up at the crack of dawn with tea, instant coffee, bread with jam.  We quickly washed up one at a time with a bucket of cool water then we were ready to begin our adventure - we had to get to a hill for 8 am to see the camel caravans arrive for the Thursday market.  Once there, I was surprised to see a hill made of large rocks that seemed to have fallen from the sky in an otherwise very flat landscape with few bushes and small trees. I had imagined sand dunes and camels coming down like in a great African movie.  Instead, we saw donkey carts, motorbikes and bicycles pass us by, but no camel.  So with our driver we headed to the market, and there we found cattle and yes, many camels.  These creatures are so graceful and majestic and it was just too cool to see them, and yep have my pictures next to one!  The Gorom-Gorom market which I had heard so much about was a bit disappointing.  Yes, we saw many different ethic groups wearing colourful outfits for Peuls and Touaregs.  But there was not much shopping to be done…

We had lunch with salad, fried sweet potatoes and watermelon.  Then in the afternoon, we drove on to destination no 2 – Oursi.  The whole trip was organized by the Rissa family, so father and son followed us there. Again, dry landscape getting sandier and once at the site, only one round building and the out house at the back. Spagetti with vegetable sauce for dinner and with a few tips from yours truly, the noodles were not overcooked which is often the case in Burkina – soggy noodles!  Good food by a camp fire and a nice warm beer (no refrigeration for miles).  When we arrived, we had helped to set up the beds made of branches  under the stars, which is where we all slept.  It was actually chilly during the night, and in the morning I even wore a long sleeve shirt PLUS a sweater.  Amazing!  But soon the sun got warm and I peeled one layer after the other till I got down to the usually shorts and T-shirt.  So the plan was to visit an archaeological site turned into a museum in the middle of nowhere commented by a tour guide.  Then we headed for a pond to see rare wild birds but saw more cattle by the hundreds by the water.   

Then came one of the high points of our trip – visit to the sand dunes!  They seem to materialize out of nowhere but we cheerfully climbed them and jump off, having a great time at this.  It was also an amazing photo opp to immortalize these precious moments. Then off we went again back to the camp site for lunch, then departure in the afternoon for destination no 3 finale – Gandefabou, still up north a tad more!  Again, dry landscape with very few houses or life, except for the odd goats that would hop around eating the yellow grass. And then there were these huge stones that looked like they had been placed there on top of one another by great giants.  Some of them truly amazing as we wondered “how they got there” so we took many good pictures.  At the end of the day we arrived in Gandefabou, a large semi-desertic plain with round tents made of weaved grass. We each had our own so we quickly settled in.  For dinner we had marathon chicken, but there actually was some meat and it was tender.  A first in this country for sure! Camp fire to relax, more warm beer and the mood for our trip was well into all of us…

The next day, the second high point of our trip, the biggy that we had all been waiting for – the camel ride!  The beasts were all there waiting for us and we hung around taking photos, trying to get close but not too close, curious yet a bit fearful of the potential reaction to us. Then the guides came and one at a time, we got on.  I was surprised to see that they need two people to hold the camel, one for the head and the other for the body as we clumsily got on.  And this, as the beasts wails loudly as if we were forcing it into submission, us the master and it our slave, yet we were only scared tourists!  But we all did really well even the 6 and 9 year old kids who had their own camels.  We were not simply going for a one-hour ride – we had a mission to reach Deo market!  So we finally set off a bit late at 9 am as the sun was just starting to get hot.  Soon, each one of us got comfortable with the camels and we all named them – mine I called Boris.  This was definitely a unique experience for each one of us.  We had to be careful to avoid the trees with long thorns and from time to time we tried to get them to go a little faster.  An expert can get them to gallop but our guide was a wussy and insisted that we go very slow. 16 km and 3 hours later under the hot sun and with heat stroke, we finally arrived in Déo.  I was definitely delirious by that time and all that I wanted was a nice watermelon, which we quickly got at the market.  After eating till it came out of my ears, I finally felt the energy come back to me, tho still zapped somewhat.  We then headed for the market but found mainly cheap trinkets, Chinese junk and no arts and crafts.  Thank God, the return trip had been arranged to be by 4 x 4, so we drove off and stopped half way to have a picnic under huge rocks.  Sandwiches and salad – a light meal just like we had asked.  And a breathtaking view, the bonus for the day!

We then returned to Gandefabou at the end of the afternoon, exhausted from too much sun, so we had a nice bath with warm water which helped.  For our “last supper”, we had a lamb meshoui, a real meat-eater dinner with couscous and vegetables. Again a real feast!  Again, camp fire with warm beer, then off to bed early. The next day, once all our luggage was packed in the car, we took the road for Ouaga at 8 am.  One hour to Oursi, one more to Gorom, one more to Dori, then 3 hours before we reached the capital, and home. This had definitely been an unforgettable adventure with many great memories.  Thanks to my friends who came along and were great company.  And thanks to the Rissa family for their great care.  And bravo for this successful trip to the heart of Burkina Faso!