The sound of distant drumming intertwined with the atmospheric Islamic calls to prayer booming out of over cities country wide. Colourful street merchants approach, trying to sell their wares, but back away quickly when you give a polite shake of the head. "Tranquil", they say - "easy". And it sums up Burkina Faso to a tee. This is the place we had been waiting for. This was Africa in the raw, but tamed, accessible, beautiful. And easy.
All I can say is go there. Now. Seriously, right now, open a new page on the internet and look up flights. Better yet, go to you nearest travel agents and start to enjoy your Burkina experience already by watching them try to spell Ouagadougou.
If you have never heard of Burkina Faso, I don't blame you. To be honest, outside of the Trivial Pursuit question "In which continent may you meet Bikinied Fatsos in Burkina Faso?", I hadn't really either. Who could honestly have told me one fact about the country before you started reading this?
Burkina is one of of those places where no one thing stands out - there are no major tourist sites, it has rarely made international news, landlocked, dwarfed by surrounding countries. Yet therein lays its appeal - the mystery of the unknown.
Rather feebly, I'm going to squirm out of writing any more about the country to "maintain the air of mystery" for when you do get there. Happy travels.
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