Things to Do in Burkina Faso in August

The Village Artisanal de Ouagadougou concentrates bronze casters, leather workers, weavers, and woodcarvers into a compound where you can watch the entire production process and buy directly from makers. In August, with the rain keeping dust levels down and the air carrying that distinct wet-laterite petrichor instead of the dry-season grit, the workshops are pleasant to spend hours in. The bronze-casting technique here uses the lost-wax method that has been practiced in West Africa for centuries. Watching a caster pour molten metal into a clay mold in a courtyard while rain drums on the corrugated roof overhead is the sort of sensory experience that does not translate to photographs. Combine this with the Grand Marche Rood Woko, where the textile section sells Faso Dan Fani, the hand-woven cotton cloth specific to Burkina Faso, in patterns and colour combinations you will not find anywhere else in West Africa. The market's covered sections keep you dry during downpours. The rain thins the crowds enough that you can browse without being pressed shoulder-to-shoulder through the aisles.

The Cascades de Karfiguéla sit roughly 12 km (7.5 miles) from Banfora in Burkina Faso's southwest. They hit peak flow in August. What looks modest in dry season becomes a roaring curtain of rust-coloured water. It crashes over tiered rock shelves. The spray cools your skin like air conditioning after the humid walk in. The surrounding forest stays dense and green. Weaver birds call overhead, building nests in the branches. Combine this with the Domes de Fabedougou, a 20 km (12.4 mile) drive away. Wind-eroded sandstone formations rise like melted candle wax from green plains. Then visit Lac de Tengrela. A resident hippo population surfaces close to pirogues. You can hear them exhale. August water levels make the lake crossing more scenic. The hippos stay submerged longer in deeper water. The entire Banfora circuit takes a full day. It rewards muddy shoes and damp clothing. These landscapes have no equal elsewhere in the Sahel.

Bobo-Dioulasso ranks as Burkina Faso's second city. It moves slower than the capital. The old quarter, Kibidwe, has narrow mud-walled lanes. The smell of shea butter rendering mixes with charcoal smoke from courtyard kitchens. The Grande Mosquee is one of West Africa's finest mud-brick structures. It was built in the Sudanese architectural style with bristling timber buttresses. August rains darken the banco walls to deep umber. The building almost glows against grey storm skies. The mosque remains an active place of worship. Visits need respectful arrangement. Access is generally possible outside prayer times. A small contribution and local guide help. They explain construction techniques requiring annual re-plastering before each rainy season. The old market section sells dyed cloth, hand-forged knives, and dried medicinal plants. Stalls pack tightly together. The scent profile changes every three steps. You catch dried ginger, then eucalyptus, then the sharp tang of fermented dawadawa pods.

Every Friday morning at the Moro-Naba Palace in Ouagadougou, the emperor of the Mossi people performs a centuries-old ceremony. It dramatizes a historical moment when the king's court convinced him not to go to war. Court musicians play drums and flutes. Horsemen in traditional dress parade. The Moro-Naba appears in full regalia. The ceremony happens rain or shine. In August, mounted riders in flowing robes stand striking against dark storm clouds. The air hangs heavy with humidity. Goatskin drums carry further in damp atmosphere than in dry-season heat. This is not a tourist performance. The ceremony holds political and spiritual significance for the Mossi people. August visitors are often the only foreigners present. This gives the experience a gravity that larger crowds dilute. Arrive by 7 AM. The ceremony starts early. It does not wait.

The maquis are Burkina Faso's open-air bar-restaurants. This is where social and culinary life happens. August evenings are prime maquis season. Rain cools the air by 7 PM. Sit outdoors under corrugated tin roofs. Drink cold Flag beer. Eat poulet bicyclette. This free-range grilled chicken gets basted in chilli-ginger-mustard marinade. It chars over hardwood coals. The skin crackles. The meat underneath tastes denser, more flavourful than battery-raised birds. It comes with attieke, fermented cassava couscous with slight sour tang. Or try riz gras, tomato-and-onion rice not unlike jollof. In Ouagadougou, Quartier Koulouba and Zone du Bois cluster maquis densely. Live music from one blends into conversation from the next. In Bobo-Dioulasso, maquis along the road toward the train station serve brochettes of beef and liver. These get seasoned with ground peanut and dried chilli. Order sauce d'arachide at least once. The thick millet paste with groundnut sauce is Burkina Faso's staple. The texture is dense and slightly sticky. Paired with rich peanut oiliness, this flavour combination grows on you by the second bowl.