"Wa, The Black Volta, and the Burkina Border" Upper West Region by atufft

The Tamale to Wa bus passes through Larabanga (Mole National Park) sometime in midmorning. Knowing this was the only bus, and not knowing really what time it would arrive, we choose to take the early morning bus from Mole National Park into Larabanga, where we had breakfast. This also gave us plenty of time to visit the ancient mud mosque. When the bus finally arrived, it was already packed full, so we had to squeeze ourselves to get on. Fortunately, our luggage was put in to a locked cage at the back of the bus, and we were able to position ourselve in the front stairwell, hoping to eventually find a seat up front with the driver. We stood for about 4 hours until we reached the crossroads that led north to Wa. We arrived in Wa around 2pm, and so we had time to check out the local king's ruined home and the local mud mosques.

Old Lobi Woman and Her Lip Plug

We manage to arrange for a driver to take us to the Black Volta River and the Wechiau Hippo Santuary. We had a good guide and safe canoe for the ride on the relatively fast flowing Black Volta River. Unfortunately, the water was still high and we could not spot any hippos. However, we found a good use of our time visiting the Lobi homes and village. We visited briefly with an old woman who wore her lip plug.

A Mud Mosque outside Wa

Within an hour or so, we arrived by tro-tro on the Burkina Faso border. The town here on both sides is Hamale. We had to wait at the customs office for the rain to stop, and the bus departing for our planned destination seemed to take forever. Otherwise, crossing the border was easy compared to the border at Navarango.

• Pros:Good hotel for a small town, easy border crossing.
• Cons:Expect standing room only on the bus from Larabanga
• In a nutshell:Wa was a great way to access Burkina Faso and Mali