Travelling by bus in Burkina Faso

During my travel to Burkina Faso, I stayed very few time in Ouagadougou, because the main destination was Nouna, in the west part of the country. The only way to go there is with a 4×4 or the regular bus line of “Liza Transport International”. As I had no 4×4, I chose Liza…. what a travel!

During my travel to Burkina Faso, I stayed very few time in Ouagadougou, because the main destination was Nouna, in the west part of the country. The only way to go there is with a 4×4 or the regular bus line of “Liza Transport International”. As I had no 4×4, I chose Liza…. what a travel!

About 350 km distance and only the first 100 km of real road, because after that it’s only a “red earth” track to Nouna. And that means that the travel is about 8 hours long… I was wondering what kind of Bus could make such a travel and what a surprise to see the good old yellow “GMC” american school bus! Sure, it was a bit customized and adapted to the local conditions but really close to the american original… but over 30 years old! Apparently, the company has 3 of them, 2 for the travels and a third one to use for the reparation pieces….

In fact, the travel by bus is the best way to really see the country, the people and how the landscape changes from one place to another. Even if the travel conditions are not so comfortable…the temperature was really high, even with all windows open and the earth of the track comes easily in the bus, so you’re quickly covered with it… On some parts of the travel, the holes in the track made the passengers jump in every direction and I was afraid that the huge amount of luggage on the roof will fall down… but all the people seemed very quiet, so I thought that it was an ordinary situation and that I don’t need to worry about…

When the bus arrives in a village, it’s almost the only attraction of the day, and a lot of little sellers of drinks, sesam bread, fruits and other things are surrounding the bus and try to sell these items to the travellers. And a lot of little kids are running along the road saying “Liza, Liza, Liza!” saying hello to the travellers… Well, you discover the “real” Africa from inside!

And of course, travelling during more than 8 hours in a bus is a good occasion to shoot a lot of pictures!
So if you want to discover the real face of a country, travel by bus!

geschrieben von vicuna am 2008-12-08 in #Orte #people #travel #road #bus #track #location #africa #villages