Our trip to Bobo-Dioulasso
After a month in Burkina Faso we decided we needed a mini holiday.Β So we left Ouagadougou and headed west to Bobo-Dioulasso.Β 6 hours later the bus dropped us and our scooter off in Bobo, and we began to explore.Β We didn’t have any specific plans, we just wanted to see what the city had to offer and take it all in.
Bobo-Dioulasso, known as Bobo to everyone, is the second city of Burkina Faso with a population of about half a million people.Β Jumping on our scooter from the bus station you can already see that it has such a different atmopshere to Ouaga.Β It’s so much greener and feels more relaxed.
We thought the best way to get to know the city in a short time was to hop on our scooter, take some photos and chat to people.Β Below are some photos of people we met along the way, as well as some taken from the back of our scooter.
Conversations, coincidences and the occassional telling off
Just round the corner from where we were staying we stopped to take this photo of a maquis.Β The women in front of the maquis however didn’t seem to approve of our plan and we found ourselves being told off.Β But this is Burkina Faso, a country where a smile and a chat get you a long way, and pretty soon I found myself posing for a photo with these smiley, yet feisty women.
We headed into Le Grand Marche to take some photos and have a little look around.Β We certainly didn’t have the intention of buying anything, but about 40 minutes later we found ourselves leaving with 2 bronze pieces from the father and son team below.Β Dolo Issa (son) and Mahmoudo (father) belong to the Dogon ethnicity and are originally from Mali.Β Mahmoudo moved here 57 years ago and knows a huge amount about different art pieces from the different ethnicities of West Africa.
After leaving Le Grand Marche we met Ali, who asked us where we were from as we collected our scooter.Β Turns out that Ali lives and works in Guangzhou, China!Β We were super excited to meet a fellow expat (We lived in Shanghai for 4 years until last June).Β A conversation in broken Chinese began and Weixin (Wechat) numbers were swapped before we said zai qian (see you later) to Ali!
Saliya, in the middle with glasses, invited us to a Djembe jam session he was having with his friends after realising that both him and Niek call The Netherlands home.Β He was back in Burkina visiting and was pretty chuffed to be away from the European winter.Β We left half deaf, but it was pretty cool to see some live music at the edge of the old town.
As you can tell from this woman’s really joyful face she was super happy to be taking a photo with me (;Β But in all honesty she was really cool, I haven’t met anyone else that can rock a full head to toe Valentine’s Day outfit quite like she can.
Street life from the back of our scooter
To get to Bobo-Dioulasso from Ouagadougou we took the bus with Rahimo.Β It cost us 7000cfa each (about 10 euros) and 4000cfa (about 6 euros) for the bike.Β It’s air-conditioned and only stops in Boromo.Β There are plenty of other bus companies that do that route too, but with differing levels of comfort.
For tips on things to do in Ouagadougou check out this link.
22 comments
Love your photos! What a beautiful adventure!
Thanks Abigail! Burkina Faso is definitely an adventure of ups and downs, but always a fascinating place with beautiful people.
Your photographs are fantastic, they really bring the atmosphere to life! I love that you were able to chat to local people and get involved, even if your ear drums might take some time to recover.
Oh my god defintiely worth the ear ache! Was nice just to chat to people and realise it’s such a small world.
What an incredible place and your photos really make me feel like I’m there.
Ah thanks Helene!
Fantastic photos! Good job on turning the encounter with the feisty ladies around! I always find it hard taking pictures of people – I’m shy about asking, and afraid to take without asking and be seen as rude…so I end up with a lot of pictures of buildings. π I was also happy to see that you’re a fellow former Shanghai expat! I used to live in Old Town. I was wondering when I saw the name of your blog… π
I miss Shanghai! Although there are definitely some things I don’t miss. What were you doing there and where are you now? I have exactly the same problem as you do when photographing people. I’m either far away and don’t get the shot I want or like you am way too nervous to ask. But I am challenging myself here and asking, which after the experience with the fesity ladies, is definitely the right thing to do.
This article is a good example of where pictures tell a thousand words. These people! So colorful, so authentic, so raw. You made me want to go to Burkina Faso, even thought it is a place that not a lot of people know exists!
No it’s definitely not a place lots of people know of. Only really reaches the news for bad reasons and sadly there was another terrorist attack here yesterday. But if people do make it here they will be rewarded with some of the nicest, most fun and caring people I’ve met. They definitely live up to the name of their country ‘The hounourable people’.
What an incredible article! I LOVE your pictures! Truly captures the essence of Bobo!
Ahhh you’ve been to Bobo!!! It’s a really interesting place and for me the people were the most interesting. I could spend days walking around the grand market taking photos of people.
Loved reading your post! I always wanted to visit such places to learn to see and explore. Keep it up, girl!
Thanks so much Chirasree. It’s definitely a place that’s teaching me allot. Hope you get to explore it some day.
Oh this is exactly the type of place I love to visit and explore! I love all your photos.
Going to subscribe to your blog to follow along your awesome adventures π
That’s awesome, thanks Louise! Will have some more Burkina posts up there soon. Spent last night horse riding and camping in the bush, which was really cool. Hope to get a story about it up soon.
Oh my gosh Tanya! Your photos are incredibly beautiful – photographing local people is something that I really love. Doing so in India and Kenya was my absolute favourite. You’ve definitely made me feel like I was there with you. So beautiful XX
Thanks so much Kate, really lovely for you to say. It’s also something I really enjoy doing and hope to do some more here. I’m always interested to know how people do it. Do you ask people first? Xx
it is great place and i like all photos this site
Thanks so much Kiran! Trying to work on the photography skills. There is definitely a lot to photograph here.
This is such an interesting post – I always like reading of places that are usually not covered by bloggers. And I absolutely adore those pictures – really cool, makes me miss Africa!
Hey Annika, thanks! Yeah me too, like hearing about more unusual places. Where were you in Africa? We’re thinking of heading across to the east side next, but not sure.