Lobi country

It was a scenic drive on rough roads to Loropeni for 45minutes or so, it was Saturday and therefore market day.  I got out at the station and asked about transport to Banfora.  Ahmed was at the station, he wasn't at all pushy and seemed to genuinely want to help; surprisingly for me, I let him take me under his wing and we walked about 200m to where an old Mercedes minibus was parked.  He organised a front seat for me and we went to find some shea butter in town as I'd forgotten to pick some up in Bouna.

Loropeni on market day

He took me to his house, his mother with some other women have created a little cooperative and had shea butter in abundance.  I paid for a kilo, a little more than in Bouna but I was thrilled to find these women taking the initiative to create their own enterprise.

Shea butter

Finally on the road again, I said goodbye to Ahmed who had been incredibly helpful for the hour or so I was in town and I was looking forward to getting back to Banfora.  I had been told it would be a 4h journey, as usual I was stupidly hopeful it would take that long or less, it in fact took us 6 hours on horrendous roads at times.  My front seat was incredibly uncomfortable, the back of it didn't work so I had to sit bolt upright for the trip!

Transport to Banfora

After 5 hours we reached Tiefora, I hadn't eaten all day, bought a baked plantain, some severely roasted sweetcorn which was inedible and we set off again at sunset for Banfora.  It had taken an hour to get what seemed to be someone's house contents off the roof.  

Tiefora at sunset

Finally around 7pm we rolled into Banfora, it was good to be back, a town I have always enjoyed!