Burkina Faso Photos

As with most of West Africa, the best time to go is weather related. November to February are the cooler months of the year, although the dusty harmattan winds might temper your enthusiasm between the months of December and February.

Film enthusiasts won’t want to miss Fespaco, Africa’s premier film festival, which runs in odd-numbered years. The cultural festival begins early April.

Ouagadougou (IPA: /ˌwɑgəˈduːguː/, Mossi IPA: [wɑg^əd^əg^ə]) is the capital of Burkina Faso. The administrative, communications, cultural and economic center of the nation, it is also the country’s largest city, with a population of 1,181,702 (as of 2006)^[1]. The city’s name is often shortened to Ouaga.

Ouagadougou’s primary industries are food processing and textiles. It is served by an international airport, rail links to Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire and to Kaya in the north of Burkina, and a highway to Niamey, Niger. Being such a focal point, there are many cinemas, nightclubs, and French, American, and Zaka cultural centers. Ouagadougou was the site of Ouagadougou grand market, one of the largest markets in West Africa, which burned in 2003 and remains closed. Other attractions include the National Museum of Burkina Faso, the Moro-Naba Palace (site of the Moro-Naba Ceremony), the National Museum of Music, and several craft markets.

Burkina Faso (pronounced /bɚˌkiːnəˈfɑːsoʊ/ burr-KEE-na FAH-soh), also known by its short-form name Burkina, is a landlocked nation in West Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the south east, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d’Ivoire to the south west. Formerly called the Republic of Upper Volta, it was renamed on August 4, 1984, by President Thomas Sankara to mean “the land of upright people” in Moré and Dioula, the major native languages of the country. Literally, “Burkina” may be translated, “men of integrity,” from the Moré language, and “Faso” means “father’s house” in Dioula. Independence from France came in 1960. Governmental instability during the 1970s and 1980s was followed by multiparty elections in the early 1990s. Several hundred thousand farm workers migrate south every year to Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana in search of paid labour. The inhabitants of Burkina Faso are known as Burkinabé (pronounced /bɚˈkiːnəbeɪ/ burr-KEE-na-bay).