The last sight for us to see in Banfora, before it was time for us to go back north, were the Pics de Sindou. They are actually not in Banfora, but about forty minutes further south, close to a town called Sindou.
Basically, it’s the same concept as the domes of Fabedougou, only on a larger scale. I would say it’s an inselberg with many hoodoos on it, even though that description isn’t really perfect.
It was cool, anyway, rising up like a huge fort in the otherwise quite flat landscape. And that was actually what it was used as, a point of lookout and military protection. The guide started telling these stories of the local people fighting the French here, or was it the Malians, and that they smashed all the puts when they lost in the end, as an act of if-I-can’t-have-it-neither-can-you, but it really didn’t make sense to me. I’m sure he missed something, the guide, I mean, he had already proved to be completely incompetent, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he had gotten things wrong here too.
It was a beautiful place, though. I can understand why the people of Sindou considered it holy. The view was amazing. Sitting on the top of a dome, just breathing. I could have stayed all day. But we had to leave. We had to be back in Ouagadougou by nightfall.
I was too exhausted, and the guide was an asshole. But, excepting that, our trip down to Banfora was really nice. Good, for broadening our perspective on the landscapes of Burkina Faso. Banfora was very different from anything we’d previously seen in the northern regions, and I think it was good for us to learn that Burkina Faso wasn’t just flat semi-desert. There’s also plenty of green, small waterfalls and rock formations.
But most of all, it was nice to travel with Elli and Helena. A good conclusion to my stay in Burkina Faso.
Katja Malmborg 