Nazinga game park and Tiebele.

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A trip south to Nazinga Game Ranch gave us a welcome short break from the dust and daily bustle of Ouaga. The journey was long - we kept being directed off the tarmac onto pothole ridden dirt tracks, where we would race with donkey's and drive half blind in the dust kicked up by other vehicles. Through settlements sitting under the shadows of their ancient sacred Boabab tree's with pigs and goats roaming freely and children waving wildly and chasing our car. It was quite exhilerating to be beyond the confines of the city but after 4 hours of navigating potholes and avoiding blind collision with various wildstock, we were glad to arrive.

On the 35km road through the game park, to the camp, the kids kept their eyes peeled for movement in the bush. The grasses were still high making visability hard but suddenly Peter shouted "Elephants!", we reversed and sure enough there were two huge beasts right there 20 mtres from the road. The kids were excited and temporarily forgot their sore bums and cramped legs. We continued on our journey, spying toucans and a large snake. When we arrived at the water hole we were thrilled to see a whole family of elephants quenching their thirst at the waters edge. The accomodation was basic to say the least - this is Burkina after all, so no fancy safari tents for us, but once Richard had removed the several different species of large African arachnids who had set up home in our hut, it worked. We awoke before dawn and watched the elephants come for their early morning drink and wallow, then headed out with our guide to look for wildlife. The sun was just coming up and there was a distinct cold pinch in the air, and with the sound of the crickets singing their morning song, we grabbed our camera and water bottles and headed out into the bush. We spyed antelope and baboons through the haze of the morning light and climbed to the top of a hill where we could do a 360 turn and see the African savanna stretching to the horizon on all sides. More elephants, crocodiles, warthogs. In truth the wildlife was sparse in comparison with what we saw in southern Africa but it was exhilerating to be back in the wild.

Having taken in our fill of beasts, we decided to head south to the Ghanian border to a village called Tiebiele. Here we visited a traditional Kassena village. The Kassena people are one of Burkina's oldest traditional tribal people groups. Set in the heart of Gourounsi county, Tiebele is famous for its colourful windowless traditional houses. You can visit the cheifs compound which is a wonderful example of these. We picked up a guide on the street who proved to be very knowledgeable. He told us many things about the strange customs and traditions of these animist people. On entering the compound we were told that we must not take photographs of the sacred Boabab tree or the hill right by it as this was where the women of the village bury their placenta's, a ritual which offers protection over the newborn child. He told us that the hill which is known as the pourrou, was purely placenta's and was getting higher year by year - it was already as tall as your average two story house in the UK. That is an awful lot of placenta's. Sacrifices are made right in front of the sacred tree - different livestock for different purposes, a chicken does the job for protecting a newborn, but a goat or cow goes to the stone table if a village elder or chief needs favour from the spirits.

 The houses are circular, rectangular or figure-eight-shape depending on the status of its occupants. Grandparents live in the figure- eights, known as dinian, with the grandchildren, whilst the parents of the children live in the rectangular mangolo. It is their belief that the Grandparents have more wisdom and experience and should therefor raise the next generation, freeing the parents to produce more off spring which builds a strong future workforce. The circular houses, draa, are occupied by single people. The houses, which are constructed from a mixture of mud and dung, are beautifully decorated with geometric repeating patterns. The majority of the hut painting is done by the single women of the compound, taught by the grandmother's. First they sand down the surface with flat stones, then they apply a coating made of earth, cow dung and ash. The red glaze which they apply next is made from pounded laterite (Burkina's red topsoil) water and boiled seeds of the nere tree. Red paint comes from Kaolin, black from ash, and white from calcium. The result is truly a piece of art. Repeating patterns of coded symbols - the calabash is often represented (this is a kitchen object, a mainstay of Kassena culture, used for everything from a drinking goblet to a tomb stone) zigzags representing the footprints of chickens used extensively in sacrifices, Boa constrictors thought to be sacred and hold the spirits of grandmothers, lizards, thought to bring good fortune (The Kassena wait for 3 days after building a hut to see if a lizard enters its threshold. If it does not the hut is cursed and cannot be lived in) A quiver representing the hunters and warriors and pipes and sticks

representing the wisdom of old age.

 

The houses inside are low and dark. Inside the dinian, one must crouch down and crawl through a doorway, then climb over a low wall to enter through a doorway into the next chamber. This was so that if wild animals or an enemy invaded the house, the occupants would have the opportunity to grab a weapon and decapitate them as they came through.

It was absolutely fascinating, and well worth the extra hour inhaling dust and dodging goats, that it took us to get there.