"La Terre des Hommes Intègres." Burkina Faso by F_Meignant

Terrible figures (Source : United Nations Development Programme, 2001 report) :
Life expectancy at birth date : 45.8 years (USA : 76.9 ; France : 78.7);
Literacy rate (percentage of the population above 15): 24.8 (USA and France : 99);
Education rate (percentage of the population): 22 (USA : 94 ; France : 91);
GDP per capita ($): 1120 (USA : 34320 ; France : 23990).

In the Human Development Index (HDI), Burkina has the 173rd rank out of 175 countries.

"La Terre des Hommes Intègres" (the Land of Honest Men) is what "Burkina Faso" means.

A street in Kaya in the sunset.

Last time I visited Burkina was from 30/01/2003 to 28/02/2003.
We were backpacking and travelling by local means (buses, “taxi-brousse”, etc…) and by walking.

We entered Burkina at Ouahigouya, coming from Dogon Country (Mali) .

Visited places:
Ouagadougou, Boromo, Ouroubono, Kaya, Manega, Dibilou, Dori, Gorom-Gorom, Marcoye and Oursi (Pages coming soon).
We left Burkina by a little earth road from Gorom-Gorom through the border with Niger.
Have a nice visit!

Fulani girls in Sahel, N-E of Burkina.

I often heard that people living in Burkina (we call them Burkinabés in French) use to be very friendly.
This is far under the truth.
Everywhere, especially in the countryside, people are extremely peaceful, hearty, welcoming, open minded and, unfortunately, poor.
It means great moments of happiness and emotion but great moments of despair and anger too.

Definitely, visiting deep Burkina is a “must” for (re)discovering the good aspects of humankind.

A place from which we don’t come back safe.
Except if travelling with eyes shut.

• Pros:People.
• Cons:Poverty.
• In a nutshell:Open your eyes, your ears and your mind.