Travel Articles Burkina Faso

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Being Prepared for Your Adventure in Burkina Faso is Better Than Being Miserable or Worse

Great trips to Africa are mostly due to good planning and great preparation. If you have any aspirations to ever travel to BURKINA FASO even if it's just a short trip to the capitol then apply for your passport today. It can take up to six months to receive it depending on the season, summer travelers can cause things to slow down, and on the political climate.

Before leaving the country for any where including a weekend across the border get these travel vaccinations hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid and yellow fever if you are going to Africa. Some other vaccinations to consider depending on how far off the beaten path you plan to take your adventure rabies and Japanese Encephalitis. Prophylaxis to consider for malaria change on a yearly basis so be sure and get the current one for the country and area that you will be traveling in. A gamma-globulin shot to boost your immune system 48 hours before departing is a good foundation along with a daily multivitamin and vitamin C for staying healthy on any trip however short. If you are going to rough it and stay in two star or lower accommodations get a Typhoid inoculation. Leave copies of your itinerary and passport data page with your emergency contact. Also, leave copies of your itinerary, passport data page and visas with family and friends, so you can be contacted in case of an emergency. The more copies you left behind the more likely that you will be found when needed. The percentage of people in BURKINA FASO that use the internet is 0.5 % so email a copy to your free email account like Hotmail or Yahoo. You will then be able to tell a local how to get your records in case of an emergency.

Next and foremost, register with the State Department so they can better assist you in an emergency in BURKINA FASO. Email your travel plans to the State Department before you leave. The contact us page is the place to send this from. This will help them contact you when needed. Others will not be able to contact you very easily. The State Department has local staff that can get you the message. If you can afford it a multi-band cell phone is a good investment to have for emergency contact but only use in case of a true emergency as the cost per minute can be as high as $15 depending on the country.

One thing not to worry about is learning the language. Many people learn English as a Second Language are very common around the world. Some students have even taken western holidays so that they could practice talking with native English speakers .

The percentage of the population of BURKINA FASO that uses the internet is 0.5 % so you should be able to find an internet Café even if your hotel does not have wireless. This is a growth in internet use of 700.0 % from the year 2000 until the present. This is makes communication with home much easier for you considering that in the year 2000 there were 10,000 internet users in BURKINA FASO.

Check your overseas medical insurance coverage: Ask your medical insurance company if your policy applies to Africa but especially in BURKINA FASO, and if it covers emergency expenses such as medical evacuation. If it does not, consider supplemental insurance. If it is more than you want to pay then wait and buy local health insurance upon arriving. Have a credit card that can be used to pay for the at least the deductible and if need be the entire medical bill for up to $25,000. Some insurance companies will only reimburse your overseas medical expenses. Educate yourself about local conditions, laws and traditions. While in BURKINA FASO, you are subject to its laws and ignorance of the law is not an excuse in anybody's country. The State Department web site has useful safety and other information about other countries in Africa.

Be careful to avoid being a target of criminals. Do not wear conspicuous clothing, hats or jewelry and do not carry excessive amounts of money in BURKINA FASO. What you do carry spread around your body in front pockets, top of your socks etc... Also, do not leave unattended luggage in public areas and never ever accept packages from anyone Act like you know where you are going and what you are doing even if you are lost and clueless. People that swivel neck and gawk are tourists/sheep that the wolves will devour so don't be sheep, be a sheepdog. Good posture with your chin up sends a sign of confidence that makes you less likely of a target while in Africa.

The State Department is your lifeline in an emergency. Prepare the best you can before you go but have their phone number written down and safely put away in your luggage and on your person. Traveling in Africa is an adventure but don't let it turn into a nightmare. By being prepared before you go and acting wisely while in BURKINA FASO, your time abroad will leave you with a life time of memories others will experience on television.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/international-studies-articles/being-prepared-for-your-adventure-in-burkina-faso-is-better-than-being-miserable-or-worse-764438.html

George W. Bellas MA has his Masters in TESL with 18 years experience. He has been a Fulbright Scholar to Turkey, where he did ESL video materials development and in-service teacher training. He is the creator of English4All, a free website fro learning English as a Second Language. He is also the Managing Director of Global Span TV an ESL educational services charity.

Places Of Interest On Your Holidays In Burkina Faso

The Atmosphere in Burkina Faso is light, happy and it is filled with care free people. Burkina Faso was once known as Upper Volta. The forests of the country are threatened by the mining industry. It is a fact that Burkina Faso has no primary tropical forest and limited biodiversity. Although there are limited natural resources, there are many treasures such as gigantic parks, falls and other major establishments that will surely captivate the tourists.

In the town of Ouagadougou, there are many urban parks. The Zone du Bois, commonly known as La Faret, has many good trails that make a pleasant walk where you can view the landscape of the surrounding forest. It is the most popular Park in Ouagadougou. It also has a small zoo inside. To surprise everybody, there are a lot of crocodiles in the marsh. You can spot them using binoculars.

This park is considered a very important landmark because it is a natural preservation area and regarded as a sacred forest dating back to the pre-colonial era. There are other nice places to see like the French Culture Centre that regularly exhibits theatre performances. Also located in the town is the famous sculpture of Naba Koom, a woman handling a calabash to pour water and the Laongo that features enormous granite slabs.

In the same town, there is the urban park of Bangr Weogo, or the urban park of the Forest Knowledge. Many travelers go there for religious initiation and refuge. This is truly treasured by the people of Burkina Faso because it has a local significance, but since the park was renovated by the colonial French, it has been transformed to an ordinary park where things are just commemorated.

In Banfora, the Le Musee Nationale is a brand new museum complex devoted to the local cultures. It exhibits the vast culture of Burkina Faso and highlights the most important events of their history. The Lake Tengrela is also found here in this town. This lake is popular for the funny hippos roaming around the mud water. It is suggested that the best time to actually see the hippos is in the daytime or before sunset.

The town of Bobo Dioulasso also has some wonderful sites to see. The Centre Cultural Francaise is the main attraction in terms of exhibit/ art/ music. If you just want to have a nice, quite relaxing time then you can go to the garden. Here, you may want to read a book and take in the still and peaceful surroundings.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/destinations-articles/places-of-interest-on-your-holidays-in-burkina-faso-413420.html

Andrew Gibson is MD of Direct Holiday Bookings. It has holiday villas, ski chalets and self catering holiday apartments to rent on line as a holiday home rental. To see an example of holiday accommodation have a look at Holiday Accommodation

Traditional Tiebele, Burkina Faso

Locked in the middle of West Africa, just south of the Sahelian belt, lies little-known Burkina Faso. Peaceful Housesbut desperately poor, overshadowed by neighboring Mali's famous Dogon territory, the unassuming country formerly named Upper Volta hardly surfaces on the tourist map. Yet Burkina Faso boasts a few simple gems, such as the village of Tiebele, renowned for its unique architecture. Although the well-preserved traditional houses of the Gourounsi people count as a tourist attraction, they make for a virtually hassle-free visit, unlike many parts of West Africa.

Escaping from the unsightly, traffic-choked capital, Ouagadougou, is already a treat. As my taxi cruises along the straight asphalted road, the dust of “Ouaga” gives way to green fields. Skinny acacias and fat baobabs occasionally break the monotony of the plain.

After two and a half hours through arid savanna, we turn off onto a sandy, tree-lined dirt road. Another bumpy half-hour later, during which we only met a few bicycles, we finally reach Tiebele, set among the low hills that continue into Ghana, just a few kilometers away.

A young man in jeans and a sports jacket runs alongside the car, offering to be our guide. I am wary, being so used to having to shrug off all the self-proclaimed guides who latch onto any white person in Ouagadougou in the hope of making a few francs. But my taxi driver checks with the bored police officer of the village; he assures us that the young man, Bernard, is an official guide, so we follow him.

Once we have parked the aging red Toyota in the shade, not a single engine can be heard in the village. It is soothingly quiet. Bernard walks us to theVillagers entrance to a mud hut compound. He explains that it can accommodate an extended family of nearly 200 people. Such large households were usual, due to polygamy.

Dwellings are either square (for married couples) or round (for bachelors) and all elaborately decorated: black diamond patterns cover large areas of the reddish-brown walls. Drawings of snakes and crocodiles, both sacred animals, bestow protection.

You have to stoop low to enter the windowless houses, where it is dark and, thanks to the foot-thick walls, surprisingly cool. In the past, the stark contrast with the brightness outside acted as a form of protection against wild animals or enemies, who paused a few precious seconds to adjust to the darkness– time for inhabitants to react.

Blinking in the scorching sunlight again, I watch a woman in a checkered blouse and striped skirt smear a mixture of mud and cow dung on a wall. A young girl glides past, carrying a huge pile of firewood on her head. The children hanging around happily accept to be photographed and, quite unusually for the developing world, without instantly stretching out their hands for money.

A graceful barefooted young woman, smiling shyly, poses for me, her two tight braids sticking right out of her head like horns. Another walks past, two semi-naked toddlers in tow, and beams a very natural smilMendinge at me. All are obviously used to visitors and only spare a glance before getting on with their day.

Indeed the compound is fully part of the village's day to day life: a museum it may be, but a living one. “We wish to develop ourselves in an intelligent way, preserving our traditional architecture and bringing in cultural tourism,” says Bernard, who is a leading member of the local development association. He is a step ahead of many of his fellow countrymen, who nurture illusions about finding well-paid jobs in France and returning with buckets of money.

Then we stroll towards the open-air market, grateful for the shade of the acacias and mango trees, as the temperature climbs to its noon high of 40°C. The vendors are nearly all women, clad in colorful wraparound “pagnes”, another cloth tied around their heads.

They sit on rocks or logs, their wares in plastic basins at their feet. Purplish nuts, fried millet cakes, bunches of alien leaves, little bags of white powders or black grains...hardly any of the exotic foodstuff looks familiar. But nobody begs or tries to sell me anything! A very welcome change from Ouagadougou, where flocks of street hawkers followed me ceaselessly, thrusting pirate DVDs or Touareg jewelry in my face, just shouting lower and lower prices as I repeated that I was not interested.

Before leaving, we sit down in a makeshift café for a drink. At the next table, men lounging on plastic garden-chairs are sipping beers. Youths are chatting in the street, leaning on bicycles. A tiny child is driving a donkey-cart. It is just another day in a small village in the heart of West Africa, life at its simplest.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-articles/traditional-tiebele-burkina-faso-1485094.html

http://officialtravelstories.blogspot.com/2009/11/traditional-tiebele-burkina-faso.html

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