It was a cool night with a little breeze, and I got a good nights sleep. Which was much needed after the long drive the day before. I woke late and after nipping round the corner to get some bread, I had breakfast. I then spent all morning stripping everything out of the back of the Landy and cleaning the lot. The fun part was mopping up the remnants of the 80/90 oil, which had leaked a few days before. I then spent the afternoon doing my washing and applying celli tape to maps I would soon use and were currently using. You apply it to all the folds in the map to help prevent it splitting with use. I then went about cleaning myself and went and had a shower. In the evening I made dinner and chatted to Emiel and Mirjam, before wirily climbing into the roof tent.
I woke, had breakfast and packed my gear away, and on queue our guide turned up. He then organised for a friend of his to take us to the market in town to do some food shopping. I bought a few tins and a limited range of veg, as there was not a great choice, and some eggs. Bags in hand we walked back to Hotel Via Via. By the time we arrived we were dripping with sweat. We packed the shopping away, and moved the Landies round the corner to the fuel station. I filled up just the main tank, as fuel is more expensive in Mali than Burkina Faso and I figured that the 40 litres I still had in Jerry cans and a tank full would get me there. The guide (Hamma) was in my Landy, so I took the lead and we set off for Dogon country. It was only about an hour or so drive to Bandiagara, along good tar road all the way. We then drove through town and Hamma pointed out the piste to leave on. The piste on the whole was not too bad with the odd wash out here and there. Some sections where water would cross in the wet season had even been concreted. It was not long before we arrived at the village Sanga. It was market day so we parked the Landies and walked to the market. It was real busy with people from many of the villages around there. We walked around enjoying the atmosphere and generally nosing around. The place was a wash with colour, and many different goods and services for sale. Once we had completed a lap of the market we returned to the Landies and then drove a short way down the road to have lunch in a quieter place. We then continued along the piste descending from the rocky plateau down steep switchbacks into the valley below. As we descended the view was breath taking, and you could see right along the Bandiagara escarpment, including our first sight of the pigmy houses carved out of the cliff face. Once in the valley we drove through the village of Banani and onto the village of Ireli. There we parked up, and were quickly shown where the bar was. We sat there for a while enjoying a beer and chatting to Hammer, finding out more about him and the surrounding area. We then set up the tents before dark and returned to the bar area where we sat chatting on the roof before dinner arrived. We had opted to have dinner there, so we could try the local food. We enjoyed rice with a real nice chicken based sauce. But you couldn’t help but feel a little guilty, as we had seen the chicken go to its doom earlier. As dinner was served late, it was not long after did we climb into the roof tents for another hot nights sleep.
We woke and packed up as the hoard of kids, which had gathered the night before also, looked on and every now and then asked for presents. This was one of the things that got tedious about Dogon country, the constant pestering of the kidding for presents. I fear it is a result of previous visitors being overly generous and not stopping to think what picture this might pant of westerners. We then went for a tour of the village, and some of the information Hamma gave us was informative and interesting, but it was not long before he delegated the job of leading us around another near by village to one of the local kids, who could not speak a word of English. On returning to the Landies, we drove onto a village called Nombori, passing along the sandy flat land at the base of the escarpment, weaving our way past the Baobab trees and crossing the occasional dry riverbed. As we parked up the now expected hoard of kids arrived asking for presents. After a stop for lunch, we again sampled the local food, we spent the afternoon walking to nearby villages and also a set of waterfalls. The falls were not running, but the local kids were making the best of the remaining water in the pools and were splashing and playing around. When we had first turned up to the village of Nombori, Hamma had mentioned that there was going to be some sort of party later, and that we might be able to attend. After lengthy negotiations we brought the price right down, but later that night when at the party we were not convinced that this was a genuine celebration, but that it was put on for us, and we had paid for the beer. Nun the less it was fun to watch and in was late by the time we went to bed.
As soon as I woke I was aware I was not feeling too good. I didn’t have anything for breakfast and just stuck to drinking water. We packed up and left Nombori, and it was not long before we were attempting to climb a dune we had been told about the day before. The first attempt was unsuccessful, but all it took was to lower the tyre pressures and apply the diff lock and low gears, and we were up and over with out any more fuss. We then drove along the raised sandy area, giving us stunning views of the cliff face and the villages dotted along it. Unfortunately I was using full concentration to drive as I was feeling very rough, and didn’t really get to appreciate the view at the time. My stomach finally gave up, and I stopped the Landy quickly to throw up out of the window, and then stepped out to finish the job off. With one thing and another I figured it was bad water causing the problem, and so I started drinking water given to me by Emiel and Mirjam. We continued on our way and after a bit of back tracking to avoid washed away piste, we soon arrived at the village of Ende. There we told Hamma that we were going to cut our tour short on account of me being ill (and us not being too impressed by his guiding). We then re-inflated the tyres to road pressure and continued on our way to Bankass. Once there we had a fight with Hamma about money owed to him and we eventually got pissed off and gave him 90,000 CFA of the 100,000 we were meant to give him for the full time. Even though this was still very much in his favour. All this time I was slowly feeling better, now that I was drinking good water. So we decided not to head for the closest border with Burkina Faso as it was Friday and we would not be able to do any visa stuff over the weekend, if we went straight to Ouagadougou. So we decided to drive southwest through Mali, via San, to the border at Faramana. It took us longer than we expected and it was late afternoon by the time we arrived. So we rushed from office to office to get the pagers stamped before the border closed for the day. We managed to get all the necessary stuff done with out too much hassle and with out having to pay them any money. Once in Burkina Faso we headed along the main road south to Bobo Dioulasso. By the time we arrived, it had been dark for some time, but we had the GPS coordinates of a campsite called Casa Africa, and so we headed straight there. We parked up in the leafy courtyard, set up the tents, and ordered dinner from the restaurant. The prices were very reasonable and the food was good. By this time I was feeling a lot better, but was still knackered from the long drive. So I soon retreated to my roof tent to sleep.
I slept late, and stayed in bed reading until I had finished my book. I then got up and had breakfast before setting to work on catching up on typing my diary entries. I spent the whole day doing this, only stopping for lunch and dinner. After dinner we spent the evening chatting about the problems we had seen in the African countries we had so far visited and after putting the world to rights, retired to bed.
I woke early, and after having some breakfast got to work cleaning my suspected contaminated water containers and filling them with fresh filtered water. I told Emiel and Mirjam that I didn’t want to go to Ouagadougou that day, as I wanted to see some things in the area before heading up there. Not long after, we said our goodbyes and they headed off. I some ways it felt strange to be on my own again after travelling together for so long. But in some respects it made things simpler, as all I had to do was make up my own mind what to do, and when to do it. Again I spent the rest of the day working on website stuff, and it was late afternoon by the time I stopped and started chatting to an American couple (Patrick and Nicky) I had briefly met the day before. We had dinner together and spent the rest of the evening, chatting about where we had been and what we had been doing. They had been working in South Africa and Ghana for quite some time and were now on their travels again before returning home. It was late by the time we said good night and I soon crawled into my roof tent.
I woke early and packed up straight away as I could hear thunder in the distance and I didn’t want to pack in the rain. Sure enough just as I was having breakfast it started to rain. So I took shelter under the veranda and had breakfast there. I then went round to Patrick and Nicky’s room, to swamp some dollars for CFA. This help us both out, as I needed more local money and they had more than they thought they would spend before returning home. We said our good byes and I left and drove into town. First stop was the internet café, where again it was not possible to update my site. So I spent the time e-mailing and checking other overlanders websites. I then drove round to the fuel station, filled up and headed out of Bobo in a south westerly direction. I followed the main road leading to Banfora, which follows along the Falais De Banfora and gave me some great views across the lower land. Just as I reached the edge of Banfora I spotted a sign for the falls and turn right to follow the road it pointed to. This took me north west out of town and though many small villages surrounded by fields. Along the way there were plenty of turn offs, but at all the major junctions there was signpost keeping me heading in the right direction. As I dew closer to the falls I came across a barrier in the road with a small hut next to it. He guy came out and opened it so I could go through. On the other side I stopped to see what it was there for. The guy wanted money for access to the falls. I was not convinced this was an official post and said I would only give him the money if he could give me a receipt. His stumped the guy, as he could not produce a receipt and after a bit of banter I drove off. Sure enough not long down the road there was the official post, with signs explaining how much you had to pay and a guy who could give you a receipt. I paid the 1000 CFA and got my receipt. It was only a matter of 100 meters to the car park, where of course you had to pay 300 CFA to park the car. As I set off for the short walk to the falls one the local kids decided to tag along. I first went to the base of the falls and then walked around and up the cliffs to get a better view from the top. Once there, the view was great, with the water pouring over the rocks and into the pool below. From this higher point you could also see a few of the near by villages hiding in the tree, surrounded by there fields of crops. I sat at the top for a while, had a mango for lunch, and enjoyed the view. We then left and walk down and round to a set of rock formations near by called the Domes de Fabedougou. It was a hot and sweaty 2 Km walk through the fields of maze and sugar beat, to reach the base of the cliffs. We stopped short and admired the view for a while before returning to the water falls. Once back at the top I walked along the river for a while until I came to a pool where I could swim. I quickly dropped my gear and jumped into the cool running water. It was a great feeling after the hot and sweaty walk back, and we stayed there until the light started to fade. We then walked back to the Landy and I set camp for the night. The owner and workers of the campamont next door, stood and stared, as I set the tent up and stated to make dinner. It was then that I found that the gas regulator was playing up. After a bit of fiddling I decided it was a lost course, and dug out my MSR liquid fuel stove. In theory the instructions said it could burn diesel, but I had not put it to the test. I filled the stoves fuel bottle from my jerry cans and after a bit of grief getting it started, the stove was happily roaring away. By this time it was dark, so I quickly finished making dinner and scoffed it down, as the mosquitos were out in force. I then jumped in the roof tent and sat there reading for an hour or so before going to sleep.
I woke early with the light, packed up and paid the guy for the nights stay. I was happy to leave, as the guy was a real asshole. I then drove back along the track, passing both barriers with a smile and a wave, to Banfora. I spent a short while looking around the market for a replacement gas regulator, but with no luck. But did buy a gas ring that could fit directly onto the bottle as a back up. Then after a bit of a drive round to find the right road, I headed out of town for Lac Tengrela. I again spotted a sign at the edge of the road and turned off and drove through the village to the lake. Here also you had to pay 1000 CFA to see the place. I parked the Landy and went walking along the lakeside with my binoculars to see if I could spot the hippos that were supposed to be there. I could not see any, but a local fisherman said he would take me out to see them for a 1000 CFA and if we didn’t see them I didn’t have to pay. I thought you couldn’t get fairer than that and we set off in the Pirouge. We were barely half way across the lake when the first lumpy head and set of little ears popped above the surface. It was the first time I had seen hippos in the wild and they appeared quite weary of our presence. It was also hard to get a clear idea of just how big they were, as most of the time we could only see there heads. But it was not long before we were watching about 10 hippos swimming about doing their thing, and we sat there watching them for around an hour before returning to the shore. Once back at the Landy I left the lake and continue along the piste toward Douna. It was quite slow going as the piste was never smooth for long and was dotted with large puddles and washed away trenches. It was not long before I arrived at the Pics de Sindou, which is a set of interesting rock formations. They look a bit like towers of old car tyres stacked on top of one another and of all different sizes. I got a good enough view from the road, and didn’t bother getting out and walking around, as that would have cost me another 1000 CFA. I continued on my way to the village of Tourni, with the promise of more waterfalls, and passed through Sindou and Kankalaba along the way. It turned out to be a wild goose chase, as the falls no longer ran naturally, and the watercourse had been dammed and piped into a small hydroelectric plant for the village. I had a spot of lunch then returned some way along the piste before turning off and headed for the village of Dieri, where the piste met the main road. It was a slow but pleasant drive along the piste, passing by the thick green bush and a couple of small villages along the way. Once at Dieri, I joined the main road a bombed it back to Bobo. Once there I popped into one of the internet cafes and then spent about an hour finding and bargaining for a new gas regulator that worked. I the drove round to Casa Africa, set up the tent, had some dinner and got a shower. I then spent the evening chatting to a group of young English people who I had briefly run into before. They had been working in Ghana and Togo teaching English and were now travelling around the region for a while, before returning home. It was late by the time I finally fell into bed and fell fast asleep.
I took a leisurely start to the day, and slowly had breakfast and packed up. I then drove into the town centre to do some shopping. I first stopped at a super market and picked up a few things and then went onto the grand market to pick up some fresh vegetables. It was not long before I got pestered by a couple of people trying to get me to go to there stall, but after a few minutes of following me rounds various food stalls they got the idea that I wasn’t interested. On my way back to the Landy I stopped by the bakery and picked up some bread. Before I would leave town I had decided that I would stop by the Tourism office and see if they had any extra information about thing to see in Burkina. On the way there I fuelled up the Landy. The visit proved totally useless, as the guy didn’t have any more information than I already had, and didn’t seam to know much out side of the emendate area. So I left Bodo and headed out along the main road to Ouagadougou. In a couple of hours I had reached the town of Boromo, where I had decided I would stop and seeif I could find the park entrance and possibly stay the night at the camp. I first had some lunch in the town and got chatting to a young boy. He told me roughly where the piste to the park left town. After a bit of driving around I found the right piste and headed into the park. I had been going for quite some time and had only seen the vaguest signs and nothing marking the turn to the camp. So I switch on the GPS and the laptop and once I had my current position I put it into the GPS software on the computer to give my position on the map. It showed that I was roughly two thirds of the way across the park. So I backtracked along the piste, until I spotted to trees with white painted marks and a track leading off between them. I followed this piste and soon came across the camp. I parked up and introduced myself. It was no problem to camp there for the night, and so I spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out on their veranda. Which is set on a corner of the river and over looks it in both directions for some way. This gave brilliant views of the various birds flying around at sunset. Before the light went completely I set up the tent and had dinner. I then jumped into the roof tent to read before going to sleep listening to the sounds of the bush.
I woke early, had breakfast, packed and left the camp around 07:30 and headed pack along the piste to Boromo. I got a bit lost in the maze of tracks around the outskirts and took an elongated route to the main road. I then spent a couple of hours driving to Ouagadougou, only stopping along the way at the road toll office and to pick up fruit and bread. I had been given the GPS coordinates of a hotel you could camp at, called the OK Inn. Once in Ouaga, I used the GPS to lead me to the hotel. I ended up stopping at a service station opposite a truck park. The GPS was pointing to the truck park, which didn’t look anything like what I had been described. I asked the pump attendant, and he said it was at the back of the truck park. I crossed the road and sure enough there it was. I parked up and popped in to check if it was ok for me to camp. It was no problem, and the guard gave me a quick tour of the place to show me where everything was. I then headed back into town and spent the afternoon wandering around going in all the banks I could find to see if any of them would give cash advance on a MasterCard. They all said no. In between the banks I spent an hours at an internet café and managed to update the gallery on my website and write a few e-mails. By this time it was late afternoon and I returned to the OK Inn and took advantage of their pool and showers. I then spent the evening chilling out reading, keeping an eye on the TV coverage of the football and having a beer in the bar.