Gold-mining areas, commemorative objects and a named hill stand alongside Kurumba architecture and the ways the waters of Lake Bam are used in Centre-Nord. These diverse themes give the region several cultural and landscape highlights: they range from Namentenga and Bam to fishing and aquaculture in the municipality of Kongoussi.

Cultural Themes and Lake Bam

In Namentenga, the Centre-Nord region includes the gold-mining areas of Boroum and commemorative objects associated with the Namendé line. In Bam, it lists Colline de la Vierge Marie and the Kurumba architecture of Bourzanga. The contrast lies in their subject matter: gold mining and commemorative objects differ markedly from a named hill and an architectural theme. This offers a way to recognise the region’s varied cultural highlights.

Lake Bam offers another, different facet. In the municipality of Kongoussi, it provides opportunities for fishing and aquaculture. This brings the use of the body of water into focus alongside the cultural themes.

A Broader View of Burkina Faso

In Burkina Faso, the Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso at Tiwêga, Yamané, Kindibo and Békuy include remarkably well-preserved iron-ore smelting furnaces. These are among the country’s very few sites with standing furnaces. As large-scale production sites, they illustrate the intensification of iron production in the second millennium AD. The well-preserved furnaces and their historical context give the subject of ironworking both a material and a temporal dimension.

At Yamané, Kindibo and Douroula, the sites are directly associated with living blacksmithing traditions. These include the symbolic values of ironworking among communities descended from blacksmiths and metallurgists. Blacksmiths preserve inherited rites and social practices there and play an important role in their communities. The production sites and enduring social traditions thus represent distinct but interconnected aspects of ironworking in Burkina Faso.

The Royal Court of Tiébélé is a living earthen building complex. Its architecture combines earth, wood, cow dung and straw. The court is distinguished by its spatial, social and functional organisation, the variety of its architectural forms and its decorative style. Its spatial and social order is based on the status of its inhabitants; the roles of men and women in construction are also among its defining features. This connects the consideration of building materials with the social organisation of the court.

The landscape perspective in Burkina Faso also extends beyond individual cultural sites. The W-Arly-Pendjari Complex includes Arly National Park and the Koakrana and Kourtiagou hunting zones. It protects almost all of the flora and fauna characteristic of the area and provides important habitats for typical large mammals of West Africa. These include African manatees, cheetahs, lions, leopards, African wild dogs and roan antelopes.

Discover more destinations: Sanmatenga, Plateau Central, Hauts-Bassins, Centre-Ouest, Cascades, Centre.

Return to the main travel overview: Burkina Faso.