Burkina Faso

Discover Burkina Faso

Fun Foods

Tô, Riz Gras, Sauce d'Arachide, Poulet Bicyclette, Beignets

A 33-year-old sold the government's fleet of luxury cars, rode a bike to work, and renamed his entire country. Meet Thomas Sankara, who turned Burkina Faso into "Land of Honest People" and proved leaders don't need luxury cars to change the world.

Before 1960, this place was Upper Volta, a French colony where locals worked the land but foreigners took the profits. The French finally left in 1960, but independence didn't fix much. Coups happened constantly. Corrupt leaders got rich while farmers struggled.

Then in 1983, Sankara launched a revolution.

He cut his own salary to $450 a month. He made ministers fly economy class and drive cheap cars. He cut his own salary to $450 a month. He made ministers fly economy class and drive cheap cars. He stopped practices that hurt women and girls and appointed women to government positions, which was radical for the time.

He planted 10 million trees in a massive reforestation project because the Sahara Desert was creeping south and swallowing farmland.

His closest ally, Blaise Compaoré, assassinated him in 1987 during a meeting. Sankara was 37.

Compaoré ruled for 27 years after that, erasing Sankara's name from schools and banning people from talking about him. But you can't erase ideas. Today, Sankara's face appears on murals across Africa, and his speeches get millions of views online.

Ouagadougou hosts FESPACO every two years, bringing filmmakers from across Africa to screen movies under the stars.

At Réserve Nazinga, guides drive you through savanna to find elephants, warthogs, and antelopes. Karfiguéla Falls offers natural swimming pools surrounded by waterfalls.

Lake Tengrela's hippos surface at sunset, snorting and grunting. The Loropéni Ruins are mysterious stone structures that UNESCO protects, though archaeologists still debate who built them and why.

The FESTIMA festival happens every two years, showcasing mask traditions from over 60 ethnic groups. Mossi dancers wear towering antelope masks. Bobo performers don enormous butterfly masks. Drums, flutes, and balophons create rhythms that have survived centuries.

Food is part of the story too. Tô is millet porridge you eat with your hands, scooping it into spicy peanut or okra sauce. Riz gras packs rice with chunks of meat and vegetables.

Street vendors grill meat skewers over charcoal.

The biennial SIAO craft fair sprawls across Ouagadougou with thousands of artisans selling hand-dyed fabrics, carved masks, leather bags, and bronze jewelry.