Niansogoni

We left Bobo for the far southwest of Burkina Faso in a Toyota Land Cruiser that had made the journey from Amsterdam a couple years ahead of us.	In Niansogoni, a few kilometers from the Malian border, we stayed in a very simple 'campement'. We had the luxury accomodation - cement floor and walls instead of earth. The blue bidon provided us with water for our shower. We set it in the sun to warm up, and ladled the water over ourselves.
Behind our hut was a magnificent mango tree.	The Niansogoni market, held every five days, was an informal affair - more a social than a commercial event - with the vendors spreading their goods out on mats and blankets in a grove of big shade trees.
We were invited to drink dolo with the men of the village.	One of the elders enjoying a calabash full of dolo
On a tour of the village, we saw the blacksmith shop, where a boy of about four had the responsibility of turning a wheel connected to the bellows. The hut was full of acrid smoke	Most of the homes did not have electricity, but this one did have a satellite dish.
Pounding whole grain - probably millet - to make the meal which then gets turned into the porridge which is the staple for most people in Burkina Faso.	A huge termite mound in Niansogoni
The huge white mounds looked a bit like snow drifts, but it was cotton.