Burkina Faso
Edited by:
Massimo Martini
Access
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country that can only be reached from Italy by air with mandatory stopovers in hubs such as Paris Charles de Gaulle, Casablanca, Addis Ababa or Abidjan. Ouagadougou Thomas Sankara International Airport (OUA) is the country's main airport; Air France, Ethiopian Airlines and Air Côte d'Ivoire operate the most frequent connections. Bobo-Dioulasso Airport (BOY) operates regional flights. Due to the security instability affecting the country since 2015 - with jihadist attacks affecting much of the territory, particularly the Sahel, Eastern and Northern regions - the Italian Foreign Ministry advises against non-essential travel; the situation should be monitored before any travel. By land, the country borders Mali in the north-west, Niger in the east, Benin in the south-east, and Togo, Ghana and the Ivory Coast in the south. The main road network is paved, but security conditions make land travel risky in many areas. There is no major operational railway network.
Introduction
Burkina Faso lies in the heart of landlocked West Africa, in a transitional geographical strip between the Sahara to the north and the Guinean savannahs to the south. The territory is a crystalline plateau of medium altitude (300-400m), with modest relief culminating in the Tena Kourou (749m) on the border with Mali. The most important watercourses - the three branches of the Black, Red and White Volta - originate in the country and flow south into Ghana. The country borders Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin and Togo to the southeast, and Ghana and the Ivory Coast to the south. Until 1984 it was known as Upper Volta; the name Burkina Faso, adopted by the then president Thomas Sankara, means "land of whole men" in the moore and dioula languages. The country has been experiencing a serious security crisis since 2015 due to the expansion of armed jihadist groups from Mali; it has been ruled by a military junta since 2022.
Description
The Burkinabe territory is characterised by a uniform granitic and crystalline plateau, interrupted by inselbergs and modest hill ranges. The vegetation reflects the tropical latitude and drought: arboreal savannah dominates much of the centre and south, with a transition to the Sahel in the northern belt, where the vegetation becomes sparse and the soil is more vulnerable to desertification. The main rivers - the Nakambé (White Vault), Mouhoun (Black Vault) and Nazinon (Red Vault) - are seasonal or semi-perennial and play a crucial role in local agriculture. The flora includes shea (Vitellaria paradoxa), the butter production of which is one of the main resources of the rural communities.
Burkina Faso's history is dominated by the legacy of the Mossi people, who founded powerful kingdoms (Morho Naba of Ouagadougou, kingdom of Yatenga) between the 11th and 15th centuries, resisting the expansion of their neighbours for centuries. French colonisation was consolidated between the late 19th and early 20th century; the colony of Upper Volta was created in 1919, suppressed and redistributed among neighbouring territories in 1932, and reconstituted in 1947. Independence was proclaimed on 5 August 1960. Post-colonial history is marked by repeated coups, the most famous of which was that of Captain Thomas Sankara in 1983: his government (1983-1987), inspired by revolutionary principles of autonomy and endogenous development, is still regarded as a reference in Africa and the world. Sankara was killed in a coup in 1987 and replaced by Blaise Compaoré, who ruled until 2014.
The economy is mainly based on subsistence farming (sorghum, millet, maize, cotton), animal husbandry and the export of cotton and gold. Burkina Faso is one of the main gold producers in West Africa. The security crisis since 2015 has severely damaged agricultural and mining production and caused one of the continent's most serious internal displacement problems (over 2 million internally displaced persons in 2024).
The main protected areas include the Parc National du W (shared with Niger and Benin, a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Parc National d'Arly and the Ranch de Nazinga, known for their wildlife: elephants, hippos, lions, buffaloes, warthogs.
Hiking in Burkina Faso is limited by the insecurity situation that affects much of the territory. Under normal conditions, areas in the south-west (Banfora with the Karfiguéla waterfalls, the Sindou domes, the Tengrela and Lac de Tengrela), and the Ranch de Nazinga in the south were popular destinations for hikers and visitors. The security situation since 2015 has rendered most of these areas inaccessible to foreign travellers.
There is no mountaineering tradition in Burkina Faso; the country's maximum altitudes (749m) do not justify this practice.
There are no internationally significant trail running events in Burkina Faso. The insecurity situation has interrupted any possibility of developing sports events in the country.
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General Data
Capital: Ouagadougou
Area: 274.200 km²
Minimum elevation: 200m (Niger River area)
Maximum elevation: 749m - Tena Kourou
Number of inhabitants: 22,810.000 (2023)
Official name: Burkina Faso
Name of inhabitants: Burkinabé
Main administrative subdivisions: 13 regions
Border countries: Benin - Costa d'Avorio - Ghana - Mali - Niger - Togo
Institutional website: https://www.gouvernement.gov.bf