Thursday 1^st of February – Ouagadougou – Bobo Dioulasso

 Morning

• Arrive in the capital Ouagadougou where the local guide and driver will greet you before being taken to the hotel to meet your fellow travellers joining the Burkina Faso only leg.
• You will then begin your journey to Bobo Dioulasso, the second-largest city in the country and home to beautiful neo-Sudanic architecture.

Afternoon

• Arriving into Bobo Dioulasso you will meet the group travelling from Mali and have your first taste of the Burkina food
• Visit Grand Marché – Bobo’s main market. Here you can wander around the artisan’s market, where everything handmade can be bought from clothes, jewerly and souvenirs.
• For dinner, we will find a maquis, or typical Burkinabe open-air bars which turn into nightclubs. A good opportunity to mingle with the locals and have a fun time!

Friday 2^nd of February – Bobo Dioulasso – Banfora – Sindou

Morning

• After breakfast we will head to Banfora to visit the Fabedougou Domes to watch the sunset. These stunning rock formations are over 2 billion years old, yet they’ve hardly weathered at all in millennia. Looking closely, one can see the signs of ancient ocean erosion, from eons ago when the land was covered in water. This area was historically used by locals to hide from neighbouring tribes.
• We then will embark on a boat for a trip on the Tengrela Lake where we can watch hippos up close and personal (But not too close and personal… according to local legend, the hippos are sacred and would never attack humans.)

Afternoon

• We then will have a local lakeside picnic before travelling onwards to the village of Sindou a place known for its stunning landscape which we get to immerse ourselves in.
• Hike 1.5km to the Karfiguela Falls, a series of waterfalls that marks one of Burkina Faso’s most popular tourist sites.
• Explore the village and the impressive rock formations for which it is renowned for, the ‘Peaks of Sindou’. Reaching a grand 415 meters above sea level, it’s the highest point in Burkina Faso. Historically, the peaks were a popular place for many to live as it offered excellent natural defence against invaders. Each rock formaon has a story and our local guides can tell us all about them while we enjoy the stunning views of Burkina Faso.
• Drive out of Sindou and visit Kawara – a village of potters known for performing a traditional pottery dance.
• At last, we will head back to Banfora for a relaxing night in town with a few beers.

Saturday 3^rd of February –Banfora – Gaoua

Morning

• Today we’ll travel from Banfora to the South of Burkina Faso, Westwards with our next destination: Gaoua, the capital of Lobi Country.
• Upon arrival, we’ll visit the Poni museum, where we can learn all about the culture of the Lobi people.

Afternoon

• We then stop for lunch We’ll stop by the local market, before heading outside of Gaoua to explore some local villages
• Dinner and overnight in Gaoua, where we’ll have a local dinner to enjoy the delicious local cuisine and mingle with the locals.

Sunday 4^th of February – Gaoua – Bazoule – Ouagadougou

Morning

• Breakfast and coffee in the morning to start your day and begin!
• In the morning, we our journey connues we’ll embark onto another road trip to Ouagadougou make scenic stops and have a lunch break along the way to stretch our legs .
• We will stop in the city Bazoule – a sacred crocodile pond. Much like with the hippos earlier, the locals respect and co-exist with the crocodiles. The crocodiles are never hunted, harmed or killed. In exchange, the crocs do not eat the locals. Believe it or not, it’s even possible to play with the crocodiles, some of which are believed to be over a hundred years old, with the oldest dubbed the ‘old man of the lake’.

Afternoon

• Lunch in Banfora where you can try a plethora of local food before going to visit the crocodiles and for the daring standing up close to take one of the iconic ‘I went to Burkina’ crocodile photos
• Arrive into the Capital Ouagadogou get settled in the hotel and ready for a night of music, dinner and a few beers

Monday 5^th of February – Ouagadougou – Tibele – Manga

Morning

• Early breakfast and 7am pickup for another long road-trip to Tiébélé via the city of Pô. It’s in this city where the military first rebelled in 1983 to overthrow the president and bring pan-African revolutionary Captain Thomas Sankara to power.
• Arrival in Tiébélé, where every house is a work of art! The traditional Gourounsi architecture is met with elaborate decorations to the walls of home, turning what could have been simple brown mud-brick to vibrant, intricate exhibitions of the local artistry of the Kassena people. Sometimes the paintings are purely decorative, other times they are an expression of local religion or commentary on life, much like western graffiti art.

Lunch

• After a long look around, including visiting the local Royal compound, we’ll have lunch in a local encampment or in Pô.
• Contiuning our visit we may to attend a traditional Kassena dancing performance!
• We then continue to the city of Manga that has an important nature reserve in the heart of west Africa.
• Spending overnight in Manga we will have some dinner, beers and a good night rest for a big next day.

Tuesday 6^th of February – Manga – Ouagadougou

Morning

• Morning breakfast and an early trip to Laongo granite park. Here, over 2000 sculptures carved into stone greet visitors, expressing the history, culture, spiritual practices or even just the basic raw creativity of local Burkinabe artists.
• Return to Ouagadougou in the early afternoon to take in its sights properly.
• Explore Ouaga 2000 – the futuristic city project where you’ll visit two monuments of great importance: the Monument to National Heroes and the Monument to the Martyrs.
• Visit the roundabout of the Second of October – commemorating the day Sankara announced the Burkinabe revolution.
• See the local railway staton, a pride of Sankara’s revolution where the Burkinabe people built the rail with their own hands, without foreign aid.

Lunch

• Visit the statue of Thomas Sankara, where we’ll learn about Sankara’s role as ‘Africa’s Che Guevara’, a socialist revoltionnary who continues to enjoy immense popularity among the Burkinabe population.
• Check out local bronze workshops to see some of the arstianal crafts the capital has to offer, following up by buying some crafts ourselves at the village markets!
• One last ‘Farewell’ dinner at a lovely restaurant in Ouagadougou, serving some of the best meals Burkina Faso has to offer.

Wednesday 7^th of February – Ouagadougou

• The last day of our trip has come!
• A Tour concludes with airport drop-off arranged according to your flight details – YPT is also able to arrange post-tour

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