The music and culture capital of Burkina Faso
We wanted to do a roadtrip in the wild west of Burkina Faso, starting from its second city Bobo-Dioulasso. Before we hit the road we decided to spend a few days in Bobo, the home of music and culture.
Normally we like to stroll (or scoot in this case) around a city and take it all in, we’re not big fans of ticking off must see places. So we started our time in Bobo doing exactly that, with Niek steering the scooter and me taking photos from the back.
However that doesn’t mean we totally disregard seeing things worth seeing, and Bobo definitely has a few to offer. So scroll down to find out where we recommend visiting, eating and sleeping.
Our recommendations of where to visit in Bobo
Le Grand Marche
We highly recommend visiting the Grand Marche, even if you don’t fancy doing any shopping. It reminded me a bit of a Moroccan souk, quite windy and skinny in some areas, with bundles of material piled high that might drop on your head. It’s amazing just to walk around and look at how all the products are displayed and the different people selling them.
You also might find yourself there hours later having spent time chatting away with some of the vendors. We followed Dolo Issa to his father’s shop and found ourselves leaving with some bronze Dogon pots, and lots of information about the different ethnicities in the area.
Bobo ceramics of a male and female.
The Music Museum
This is a small, but cool museum to check it out. It has instruments from different eras and ethnic groups. Someone guides you around the museum, which is great because you can ask all the questions you like. If you know us or have read a few of our posts you’ll realise we like to ask a lot of questions! It helps us to get to know the place we’re visiting a bit better. The real winner of the museum is the video they play at the beginning (in French or English). It is about 15 minutes and shows the different instruments being used for ceremonies and other occassions in villages. It also has some footage of animist ceremonies being performed. It’s really cool to see examples of this still practised, but secretive tradition.
Check out some live music
Bobo is the home of music in Burkina, and you can see posters for live music everywhere. We were lucky enough to get chatting to a Djembe drummer, Saliya, outside the Grand Mosque. He told us he was having a jam session with his brother and friends later and we should come check it out. So we did exactly that. It was ear-splittingly loud, but loads of fun to see them getting each other hyped up. I even got to give it a try, but I’ve definitely got a long way to go!
Try to visit Bobo from Thursday to Sunday (sadly we didn’t, we were there at the start of the week). You’re much more likely to find live music in bars on these days.
Other things to see in Bobo
The Grand Mosque and Old Town
We know lots of people visit the old town and the Grand Mosque in Bobo. We did head to this area as it’s really close to the Grand Marche, but were a bit put off by the men offering to be your guide. Also the mosque was being renovated whilst we were there and had big metal sheets going the whole way round it.
We opted out of these 2 sites because we prefer to just meander around places ourselves and take it all in. But if you fancy checking them out here’s a blog post with more info.
Went for a stroll with my camera in the neighbourhood where we were staying
Where to stay
We stayed at Rasma’s B&B. It is basic but good value for money. At about 15 euros a night, including a breakfast of bread with jam, coffee and fruit. Rasma lives there and was happy to chat about things to do. She gave me a ceramic bowl her mum made when she found out I was a potter too.
Villa Rose and Villa Bobo have also been suggested as good places to stay by friends in Ouaga. We didn’t visit either, so sadly can’t give you our opinion. But from popping on their websites, they both look like good options.
Villa Rose offers rooms between 20 and 34 euros and is run by a Burkinabe/Dutch couple.
Villa Bobo has rooms between 23 and 29 euros and has a swimming pool in its very green garden.
Stopping for a photo with some cool ladies from a local maquis
Where to eat
Most of the time we just headed out of Rasma’s place and found a maquis to grab some food in. However if you fancy checking out some West African food, but in a slightly more upscale place (with WIFI), you can visit sister restaurants Dankan or Mande.
Also good to know is that their drink servings are pretty good. We enjoyed a few rum and cokes to celebrate Valentine’s Day!
Getting to Bobo
To get to Bobo we travelled by Rahimo bus. Spacious, air-conditioned and with 2 drivers, it was a great option. Even better because they took our scooter, but we did need to get there 2.5 hours earlier to have it packed up. It cost us 7000cfa each (about 10 euros) and 4000cfa (about 6 euros) for the bike.
The journey takes 6 hours and stops in Boromo as well as the security check just before Boromo, where your passports are checked. These are the only places to buy snacks, so you might want to bring some with you, if like me you need feeding regularly! The bus does sell drinks so no need to worry about those if there isn’t enough room in your bag. My piece of advice for this bus trip is to bring ear plugs. By the third film they played I needed a break, everyone seemed to be arguing and shouting all the time!
Check out our roadtrip back to Ouagadougou here. Gold mines, cockroaches, horny bulls and lots of beautiful landscapes.
