I’ll admit it is a pretty ambitious goal to tackle and track down some of the secrets behind every country on the African continent (especially when one has never been) for Black History month and a hard one too. As I started looking for things to pour out to the masses on Burkina Faso and Burundi I hit a brick wall. However, Burkina Faso, a west African country north of Ghana has a few things for the interested tourist. One Lonely Planet reader actually listed Burkina Faso on his Blue List with attractions being the SIAO Art Festival and Yako – the halfway town. You can read his notes here, but outside of this and the LP online guide I didn’t find a whole lot of promotion for tourism within the country.
Things got even worse on my Burundi searches. Let me not say worse, but complicated. This central African country sits east of Democratic Republic of the Congo and has suffered from years of ethnic violence between Hutu and Tutsi much like its neighbor to the north, Rwanda. Though things have simmered down it is still advised visitors seek other travel destinations over Burundi. The photo above is from Burundi taken by Jan Oberg found this Burundi.nu a site dedicated to spreading tourism and general information on the country. Created by John Jorgensen and his Burundi born wife, Chantal Nahimana Jorgensen the site deserves all your attention if you ever consider travel to Burundi.
Anyone with additional sites or experiences on either of the countries, please share.