Part 9. Bobo and Wagga.

Burkina Faso (the country previously known as Upper Volta), is one of the poorest in the world.  But several people who've been there said it's one of the most pleasant.  And, I can see why.  There's nothing specific about the place, although the two main cities do have the poetic sounding names of Ouagadoudou and Bobo Dioulasso (or Ouaga and Bobo); there are no major sights, and the scenery is pretty in places, but not exactly stunning.  However, the atmosphere of the towns that I saw, especially Bobo and the small town of Banfora, was very different from other African towns and cities I've been to.  Bobo has the particular advantage in that virtually all the road traffic consists of mopeds and bicycles, but even Ouaga seemed very relaxed and the people seems more cheerful and pleasant than in the neighbouring countries.

The scenery in the west is pleasant.  I did an afternoon trip from Bobo to Banfora, a town not far from the border with Cote D'Ivoire, and to some waterfalls nearby, the 20km drive along the dirt track from Banfora when past sugar cane plantations, fields of millet and maize, papaya, banana and mango trees, small villages with chickens and guinea fowl roaming freely, and ended up in a small car parking area underneath the largest mango trees I've ever seen and some even more majestic kapok trees supported by massive buttress roots.  A short scramble up some rocks took us to the top of the Karfiguela waterfalls.  The falls were pleasant - not huge, but still impressive.  And swimming in the water at the top was refreshing (here the water is fast-flowing, the water in the pool at the base isn't and is therefore apparently a good place for catching Bilharzia).

I was intending on heading east to Ouagadougou on the Sunday, but I was told that there was a concert by an Ivoirian (ie from Cote D'Ivoire) reggae star called Alpha Blondy who's apparently well known even outside of Africa.  A group of us staying at the hotel went to the concert.  The posters stated that we should be there for 19h00.  So, being Africa we confidently arrived an hour late.  And we then had some kebabs from the stalls outside the stadium.  Then we wandered around trying to find a bar, we were directed to the large plot of land next to the stadium where, every 100 metres or so was placed a plastic table and some chairs.  Also, there was a large man in shades leaning against his Mercedes.  He directed one of his lackeys to bring us a table and chairs and then to serve us.  We paid the money for the beer, and ten minutes later four bottles of the local brew, a pleasant lager known as Brakina.  When we finished the beers it was about 9.30 and we decided to wander into the stadium.  This had a capacity of about 30,000, but I reckoned there were, at the most, two thousand people in there.  The tickets cost about two pounds - more than many Burkinabe earn in a day, but it was clear from previous conversations, and from the numbers outside that many more would have gone had the tickets been more affordable.  As it was, Alpha would have been playing to a largely white audience.  I say 'would have', because as far as we are aware he never turned up.  We sat and bought some of the various snacks being sold by people wandering around the sparse crowd.  We watched some bats flying out of some cracks in the stadium.  We also watched an owl silently flying to and from her nest under the canopy.  We listened to numerous sound checks; and lots of silence.  Eventually a convoy of vehicles drove into the stadium.  The backing band sauntered over from the minibus at the head of the convoy to the stage and performed a few more sound tracks.  They then disappeared back into their vehicle.  The car with the blacked out windows stayed put, and no-one emerged.  Eventually at 1am, six hours after the advertised start, we left.  By this time the remaining crowd was getting quite vocal.

The following day I did something that I thought I'd never do in Africa.  I took a bus that not only had a schedule - most operate on a 'depart when full' basis - but actually kept to it.  We left Bobo at 9am on the dot (needless to say I nearly missed it expecting it to depart some time later), and was whisked to Ouagadougou in an air-conditioned chill.  

Ouaga is not quite as relaxed as Bobo, but it is a capital after all.  It was also less green and seemed to be hotter than Bobo, but it was still a nice enough place to wander around.  I stayed there for a couple of days applying for a Ghanaian visa, and then took a minibus south to Ghana.  By this time, despite meeting a lot of travellers and even a few locals who could speak English, I was looking forward to going to an Anglophone country.  In fact I was looking forward to going straight to the beach.