Tourism in Banfora

It's been mentioned before, the tourism business in Burkina Faso is horrendous.  Due to the terrorist attacks in January in Ouagadougou, Burkina seems to have lost its glint as a destination.  The whole region is still suffering from the Ebola outbreak despite having finished, it's a sad state of affairs.

Arriving in Banfora in the dark, I negotiated for a moto-trike to take me to Hotel de la Comoe, having stayed here before on several occasions I decided to return for a quiet few days.  There wasn't anyone else staying here, I had a choice of several rooms at 6,500CFA but in the dark I couldn't get my bearings around its lovely courtyard.  The owner remembered me when he came out of his room and I was happy to have returned.  After a shower in a terrible bathroom with a loo that didn't flush & hadn't been cleaned in ages, I went out to a maquis a little further down the dusty road.  Wonderful maquis that did the most incredible goat brochettes, great staff that were very helpful; I had my dinner and wandered back for a much needed sleep.

Banfora was looking remarkably abandoned!

Unfortunately my sleep was broken most of the night, I realised the room I had was next to the road and from about 4am I was intermittently awake.  Finally at 7am I gave up, got up and went out to find breakfast.  On my return, I saw the owner again who asked how I slept, I said that it hadn't been that great & there were problems in the bathroom, would I be able to change rooms?  Unbelievably he went off into a fit of rage against me, yelling abuse that I had the nerve to tell him that the room was terrible, which wasn't exactly what I said.  It was appalling, I was horrified by his outburst and got ready to pack and find somewhere else. Amidou who works there during the day, also remembered me, he was standing there in horror at the scene of his boss and talked to me afterwards.  He persuaded me to stay, found me another room and moved my bags across the courtyard, he told me that his boss has been like this to many people.  Little wonder that the place was empty!

A totally changed McDonald's compared to my previous trips:
https://west-african-skies.blogspot.com/search/label/banfora

The following few days were spent walking around town, revisiting McDonald's restaurant which sadly has changed beyond recognition with it's food and front facade; getting lost one day which found me being driven back by a gendarme who decided I needed rescuing.  Making friends with Fatime who had a small restaurant down the road & would cook my breakfast, a lovely lady who was married to an Ivorian, since their divorce she had returned with her 3 children to Banfora.  We talked for hours about Ivorian and Burkinabe politics, West African culture and shared food; although I didn't go as far as eating the offered butterfly chrysalis, a step too far for my taste!  I spent each evening at the goat brochette maquis who totally spoiled me on my final evening.  However during all this time I didn't meet one other western tourist in town, it was sad that people are keeping away.

Butterfly chrysalis's with onions

Finally my final morning I went to get the bus to Ouagadougou, from next door to the best patisserie in town, lovely cup of coffee and croissant before departing on a long 6-7 journey in comfort.  We had a break at Boromo, another enjoyable Burkinabe town where I last stayed in 2014 but unfortunately I didn't have time to spend a few days at this time around.

Thankfully I discovered the wonderful patisserie on my final day in Banfora!

Chance encounters

Having slept off a horrendous headache, I got up to find something to eat.  The young guy running the hotel on the edge of town told me that the nearest place was back where I'd unceremoniously arrived from, about 3km the other end of town.  Without any transport or the back of a bike to ride on, I wasn't too keen walking there in the dark as the heavens had opened during the afternoon and there were large puddles all over.  However he kindly offered to go and find something for me, I sent him off with some money and he returned with a whole chicken and a bottle of beer.  Two problems to deal with now, I had a whole chicken that I wouldn't possibly be able to eat and a bottle of beer without a bottle opener.  My new friend took half the chicken to eat and gave me his knife to open the beer ... it was some knife, I was glad we were on talking terms!!!

The knife - bottle top opener

The following morning I was up and ready for the Ouagadougou bus to pick me up from outside the hotel.  Due to leave the bus station at 8am, it was running late but I finally boarded pleased to be en route once more, aiming for a few days of rest in Banfora.  We headed for the border on a fairly rough road, the bus driver did incredibly well in the conditions and finally got us to the Ivorian border, Saturday 13th August I was sadly leaving Cote d'Ivoire once more via the Koguienou border!

Stunning countryside, tough road conditions from Doropo

Probably the third or fourth person to descend from the bus, I heard a massive shriek of my name from about 200m away ... it was the Anti-Drugs gendarme from the border at Tatiekro thrilled to see me again.  I went to get my passport stamped out of the country, the police surprised to see 'une blanche' at this little-used border who knew a senior officer were in a bit of a state by my presence! Consequently they stamped me 'IN' and gave me back my passport, I pointed their mistake out to them & within 30seconds I got an exit stamp and lots of signatures all over it!  I returned to talk to my favourite anti-drugs gendarme whilst waiting for the other passengers to clear immigration.

Bus to Ouagadougou at Koguienou

We set off again for the 4km or so to the Burkinabe border post, en route we picked up a young guy of 20 or so who got on & sat the other side of the aisle from me, staring at me intently.  He had been smoking quite a bit of weed I'd imagine, it was only 9am but I've never smelt so much marijuana from one person.  Descending at the border in Galgouli, I took my bags with me, I seriously didn't want anything planted on me at a border crossing.  On entering the police station where I'd be stamped into Burkina Faso, I saw an Ivorian car parked outside and two men inside who I presumed were in this car.  On entering I heard my name once more, it turned out one of them was a neighbour in Abengourou who knew me from a maquis where I often have an evening meal!  Within an hour I manage to meet two people who I've met before in a very remote part of West Africa.

Only transport out of Kampti

The other passengers were incredibly friendly and one man helped me when I asked where I should get off the bus to continue my journey to Banfora.  Kampti they all said!  30 minutes after the border I descended in Kampti where I was assured I'd find transport to Banfora.  I found the only transport in town which would take me as far as Loropeni, with 12 women sitting in the back of the pick up, I was offered a front seat with the driver in surprisingly comfortable conditions.

De-railed journey north

After a month back in Abengourou dealing with matters for C.R.E.E.R the thought of the return journey to catch my flight from Ouagadougou was one that I'd been looking forward to for years.

There's a train that plies the Abidjan - Ouagadougou route and several times I came close to boarding the train to go between the two.  This time gave me a perfect opportunity to travel north on the train, the weather in August isn't too hot so the thought of a 30,000CFA first class seat with a possible destination of Banfora in Burkina Faso for a few day's R&R filled me with joy!

Ten days before I was due to leave I started asking about the departure days.  Luckily our Prosecutor's bodyguard's neighbour in Abidjan works for SITA Rail, so a call was duly made and I decided on when to leave.  I then had to find a friend in Abidjan to go and buy a ticket for me, a taxi driver who has become a good friend over the years & had saved me in Bassam during the 2010/2011 crisis was ideal and I gave him a call.  This is where it all started to go wrong.

I discovered another friend, a Burkinabe, had gone to the station with my taxi driver friend to find the train was full until 25th August, a week after my flight from Ouaga departed.  My plans were de-railed quite literally (and in early September a freight train went over the bridge near Dimbokro which collapsed whilst it was still on the steel framed structure!)



Plan B was put into action.  To return to Bouna in the north eastern part of Cote d'Ivoire and cross the border a little further north.  Bouna is a 400km journey from Abengourou, I tried to find a lift with friends north but that didn't happen.  A friend from Bouna called the 'massa' (minibus) station in Abidjan and arranged that the driver should stop and pick me up in Abengourou on his way north. A stop Bouna was ideal as I needed to talk to various people in town about trafficking and our transit centre.

I had already visited Bouna earlier in the year in April during the conflict between the Lobi and Peulh with some 3,200 refugees being looked after by the UN in various camps around town.  They were also in the King of Bouna, Djarakoroni II's compound who I was formally introduced to, enabling permission to enter.  A good friend is a senior figure in town and asked me to visit during the crisis in case there were trafficked children as refugees which there weren't but we assisted the UN organisation OCHA with a meeting of all the main townspeople.

Finally the day dawned and I went by taxi across town to the bus station area and waited in a kiosque where we were aware that some Beninois children were working and presumed trafficked. Waiting for the massa to arrive, initially it was due at 9am, it didn't arrive until after 11am, finally on board with 20+ others, I was in a front seat and we headed north.

Back to my second home

Deposited by my Ghanaian Immigration official near the Tatiekro border just a kilometre or so from Dormaa Ahenkro I discovered without any surprise that transport was sorely lacking.  There was a minibus without any passengers, the village was incredibly quiet apart from two boys who offered me a ride to Agnibilekro on the back of a bike.  "How much" I asked, 15,000CFA Madame ... well this Madame doubled up laughing and kept walking with all the luggage to find the Ivorian immigration post!

I got to the post, a run down dwelling with the ubiquitous steel framed bed with it's ever-present filthy foam mattress.  A few officers were standing outside whilst two uniformed officers were behind the desk. Upon opening my passport, seeing all my Ivorian stamps I got a hearty welcome back and received an entry stamp with the minimum of fuss and no mention of espionage!

Back outside I was offered a chair and we discussed transport options, a few taxi's were due to come to the village.  It was a Sunday afternoon so I didn't hold out much hope, but having done the journey from Ouaga in 3.5 days at this point I was raring to get back to the centre in Abengourou.  The most senior officer (an anti-drugs gendarme) asked me what I was up to in Cote d'Ivoire to be in and out of the country so much.  I told him about www.creer-africa.org and we had an excellent conversation about trafficking, he and some of the others took my business cards for the centre and promised to spread the word in Bondoukou where they were based.

Finally a few taxis went past, I was told to ignore them but five minutes later small car pulled up, my new found friend asked him to return when he had dropped his passenger.  I got in and was told it was 4,000CFA to Agnibilekro, after a lot of goodbyes we set off down the dusty road for a tense 40 minutes to reach Agnibilekro, the road is known for 'coupeurs de route' ambushes by bandits.

We got chatting and I arranged for him to take me onto Abengourou, I was too tired to get a minibus in Agnibilekro, wait for it to fill up before we would set off again.  He gave a very fair price for the final 40 kilometres on newly tarred road and we had a long chat about his dreams, a young guy of 24 with an entreprenurial head on his shoulders.  Finally around 4pm in mid-July 2016 I was in front of the gate at the centre, with a very surprised children's assistant thrilled to see me back!

PS.  In August, Abengourou sadly lost it's Head of Customs, he was assassinated near Tatiekro for what reason I don't know ...