Burkina Faso
Day 84 28/03
Hotel OK Inn, Ouagadougou
8633 miles
Another new country and a new experience which we did not expect in Africa - Toll roads. Thank goodness they're not as expensive as European tolls or we'd be bankrupt. Of course these are tolls African style so there is a barrier across the road forcing you to stop. A bloke comes running from under the nearest tree, finds out where you are going, you hand over your money, he then goes to the toll booth which is 50m back up the road and comes back with your ticket and then opens the barrier so you can go on your way. At the othe end you wave your ticket at the dude, he opens the gate and off you go.
We've spent the last couple of days in Ouagadougou sorting out our visas for Ghana and relaxing at the pool at the hotel. This is becomming a tour of swimming pools in West Africa but with temperatures of 45°C it's the best way of spending your time.
Day 86 30/03
Camping La Kaicedar, National Park des Bale
8755 miles
We left OUagadougou yesterday and came to this park which is famous for its elephants. As we pulled into the campsite we saw a few elephants about so out came the camera and took loads of photos. It turned out to be a herd of 40-50 elephants that spent at least an hour playing in the waterhole right by the camp. They were even wanting to walk through the camp but changed their minds and soon went off into the bush. The camp is a beautiful setting right on the river with a viewing platform on the river banks. At first they did not want to let us camp here as the elephants were so close but as we had a roof tent they said it would be OK. At least we wouldn't be trampled up there.
We enjoyed ourselves so much yesterday and actually got a good night's sleep after the opressing heat of Ouagadougou that we decided to stay another day and what a day!! The same herd of elephants arrived at the river at about 11 am and spent most of the day there. They'd go for a swim and a drink then head off into the bush for something to eat then come back for another visit to the river. The youngsters were great to watch as they were having a ball playing in the water and there were even a couple of week old babies. We were very lucky to get such a good viewing of elephants but it is the end of the dry season so they are about the river most days.
Burkina Faso Summary
Unfortunately we did not get to spend much time here as we only got 7 day visas and we do have to start making progress south. The vegetation is getting a lot more lush now but otherwise Burkina Faso has a similar feel to Mali. It is a lot more populated and seems to be more modern. The tarred toll roads a pretty good and even the dirt roads we travelled on were in good condition.