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Burkina Faso is located on a plateau and three-quarters of the country is fairly flat.

However, the land rises up in the south, where Mount Tenakourou reaches a modest 749 metres. And in the southwest, there are rolling hills and dense woodlands.

The country has a number of lakes and river basins. The largest is the Volta basin with its three rivers – the Black Volta (Mouhoun), Red Volta (Nazinon) and White Volta (Nakanbe) running through the central and western half of Burkina.

Burkina’s natural wooded grassland or ‘savannah’ is preserved in the country’s many national parks, which contain the largest number of elephants in West Africa. Lions, leopards and buffalo can also be found here, including the dwarf or red buffalo, a smaller, reddish-brown animal which looks like a fierce kind of short-legged cow.

Other large predators include the cheetah, the caracal or African lynx, the spotted hyena and the African wild dog, one of the continent’s most endangered species. At least one pack survives in the ‘W’ National Park game reserve.

Asked to name Africa’s most dangerous animal, people might guess the crocodile. The African Nile Crocodile is certainly found in the rivers, lakes and ponds throughout Burkina Faso.

But there is actually a water-dweller (shown lurking in the photo) which poses an even greater threat to humans – the hippopotamus.

Hippos are easily agitated, especially if they have young calves close by or if their route to water is blocked. With their huge bulk and fast charge – hippos can run at 45km/hour over a short distance – these heavyweights are responsible for more deaths in Africa than any other animal.

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Tenakourou

Mount Tenakourou is the highest mountain in Burkina Faso standing at the height of 2,457 feet above sea level. The mountain is in the southwestern part of the country, lying between the border of Cascades region in Burkina Faso and Sikasso area of Mali. The general rock formation in the surrounding region of the mountain is sandstone massif.

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Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa.

It covers an area of around 274,200 square kilometers.

18.65 million.

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Black Volta is a river that flows through Burkina Faso flowing about 1,352 km to the White Volta in Dagbon. The Black Volta forms part of the border between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso. Within Ghana, it forms the border between Northern and Brong-Ahafo Regions. The Bui Dam is built on the river in Ghana.

The Red Volta is a river that flows through the Upper East region of North Ghana and the international border of North Ghana flowing about 320 km to join the White Volta in the Upper East region of North Ghana and arising in Burkina Faso.

The White Volta, is the head stream of the Volta River situated primarily in Ghana. The White Volta flows through North Ghana and flows into Lake Volta in Ghana and arises in Burkina Faso. The White Volta's main tributaries are the Black Volta and the Red Volta.

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In Burkina Faso, the climate is tropical, with a rainy season in the summer months due to the African monsoon, and a dry season in winter. In the north, the rainy season is shorter and less intense, so the climate is semi-arid, while in the south the rains last longer and are able to feed a lusher vegetation, in fact there are nature reserves, having the flora and fauna of the savannah.

The best time to visit Burkina Faso is winter, especially the months of December and January: the weather is good, it's hot but the air is dry. Sometimes at night it can be a bit cold in the north, while during the day it can get hot everywhere, but especially in the south. Starting from February, the heat increases and becomes intense from the south, then spring is very hot everywhere. Summer is rainy, and particularly intense showers can sometimes cause flooding. All in all even November, which is a torrid month, can be chosen because it is not so different from December and January, especially in the south.

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1. Bobo-Dioulasso is a city in Burkina Faso with a population of about 537,728, it is the second largest city in the country, after Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital. The name means home of the Bobo-Dioula, while it was likely coined by French colonists to reflect the languages of the two major groups in the population, it does not capture the complex identity and ethnicity of the location.

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Burkina cuisine, the cuisine of Burkina Faso, is similar to the cuisines in many parts of West Africa, and is based on staple foods of sorghum, millet, rice,  maize, peanuts, potatoes, beans, yams and okra. Rice, maize and millet are the most commonly eaten grains.
Popular dish:

RIZ GRAS - FAT RICE

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Wooden horn of the Samo people
The music of Burkina Faso includes the folk music of 60 different ethnic groups. Traditional music has continued to thrive and musical output remains quite diverse. Popular music is mostly in French: Burkina Faso has yet to produce a major pan-African success.

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The Bwa wooden masks represent different characters related to the myths of their families and clans. Some masks represent animals, other represent bush spirits. The “plank masks” are very impressive with a styled face topped by a tall, rectangular plank. Plank masks tend to be painted on both sides with awesome geometric patterns. Like all masks of the Volta region, the Bwa masks are chromatic with white, red and black as predominant colors.

The days of the dance, everybody in their compound sweep their courtyard, do the rest of their cleaning duties and put on their best traditional outfits for the ceremony. Then, in the middle of the village, people get inpatient. The masks are coming. It is THE event. The masks represent the spirits of the village which guide the life of human beings and Mother Nature. People depend on the fields to survive, the fields depend on the Spirits for their production. The Bwa masks represent the symbols relating human beings, Nature and Spirits.

All of a sudden the drums announce the dance. The Spirits arrive in the shape of wooden owls, butterflies, antelopes, buffaloes, and hyenas. The movements are fast, following the rhythm of the drums accompanied by flutes. The audience participates to the ceremony with their songs, comments and laughs. It is a form of street theatre that puts together sacred ancestral traditions and cheerful entertainment. The overwhelming heat of midday puts an end to the celebration. It is then time to rest and share the emotions of this special morning.

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Guimba the Tyrant

Guimba the Tyrant is a 1995 Malian comedy drama film in the Bambara language, directed by noted Malian director Cheick Oumar Sissoko. The movie shows the rise and fall of a cruel and despotic village chief Guimba, and his son Jangine in a fictional village in the Sahel of Mali. Some of the storytelling was done through the medium of the village grist, and with the film being placed in an old setting, lends an epic touch to the movie. The exact chronological setting of the movie is difficult to ascertain, being set in an isolated village, but the commonly used weapons shown is the blunderbuss. The film depicts some magical components, including a solar eclipse brought on by magic.

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1. Capital of Burkina Faso is Ouagadougou. Written as “Wogodogo” in the Mòoré dialect, it literally means “You are welcome here at home with us”.

2. It is located south of the Sahara Desert.

3. It was formerly known as Upper Volta, and adopted its current name after it gained its independence from France August 5, 1960.

4. The official language is French, since Burkina Faso was colonized by France. Other languages spoken include Mòoré, Gourma, Fulfulde, Dioula, Tamasheq.

5. Nationality: Burkinabe.

6. Burkina Faso has a population of 16.3 million.

7. The mossi is the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso.

8. Want to speak a little Mòoré? “Yam Kibaré?” (How are you?) And your response: “Laafi Bala, La Yamba?” (I am fine and you?)

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Ouagadougou,
is the capital of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural, and economic center of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 2,200,000. The city's name is often shortened to Ouaga. The inhabitants are called ouagalais. The spelling of the name Ouagadougou is derived from the French orthography common in former French African colonies.

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The West African CFA franc is the currency of eight independent states in West Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. CFA stands for Communauté Financière d'Afrique ("Financial Community of Africa")

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While Burkina Faso is a new country resulting from the European slicing and dicing of Africa, its people have much deeper roots. Many of Burkina Faso’s people are descendants of the Mossi empire.

The Mossi empire was founded over the course of the 14th and 15th centuries. Ghanan cavalry soldiers overran the existing people, uniting them in a new empire. The new Mossi empire was one of the few places in northern sub-Saharan Africa to resist being overrun by Muslim people. To this day, Muslims are a minority in Burkina Faso, which has a variety of religions, both indigenous, and Christian and Muslim.

The Mossi empire, unlike other African empires, was hierarchical. The king was declared divine. A ruling nobility cherished their lineage, and ran the empire through numerous prestigious offices, including courts, ministries, and the cavalry-dominated military.

However, this strength did not last forever, and within a few centuries, the empire starting atomizing into smaller kingdoms, which were eventually conquered by the neighboring Songhai empire.

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1. What is the capital city of Burkina Faso?

2. What are the 3 rivers that flow through both Burkina Faso and Ghana?

3. What is the instrument that I showed you called and when do they use it?

4. what is the overall population of Burkina Faso?

5. Is Burkina Faso a Landlocked country or a coastal country?

6. What is actually the most dangerous animal in Africa?

7. When did the French take over the country completely?

8. When did Burkina Faso get their Independence?

9. What type of climate do they have?

10. What does Bwa Mast represent?

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The Mossi kingdoms were able to resist being taken over by European aggression. They nearly managed to avoid colonization straight through WWI, which marketed the end of the Europe’s ruthless grab for territory. But not quite. In 1896, the French took over one of the Mossi kingdoms, Ouagadougou. Then later on by 1904, the French had conquered the entire Mossi realm, and incorporated it into the colony of Haut-Sénégal-Niger

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Upper Volta was one of the first African colonies to demand independence. In 1960, the ethnically Mossi man, Maurice Yameogo, became the country’s first president, as the result of a democratic election. However, Yameogo did a very bad job; corruption boomed, the economy tanked, and the population rioted and demonstrated against him.

In 1966, the military led a coup that removed Yameogo. For the next two decades, political stability was a pipe dream in the Upper Volta, as coup after coup wracked the country.