Banfora

Banfora is a city in Burkina Faso

Understand

Banfora Cascades

Banfora is greener than Bobo – and of course is home to the famous Banfora Cascades (actually about 10 km away from the city itself – but easily accessible by bike). Banfora has more Faux Types than Bobo – and you get more unsolicited attention.

French and Jula are spoken. Lots of sugar cane fields line the route as you come in from Bobo (a main crop down there).

Get in

STMB and Rakieta, Sogebaf, and assorted taxi brousses all roll the Bobo Banfora route. Rakieta comes recommended above all others. Air-conditioned between Bobo and Ouagadougou (1500F Banfora-Bobo, 7000F Banfora-Ouaga as of April 2009)

Trains on the line between Ouagadougou and Abidjan call in Banfora.

• 1 Banfora railway station (Gare de Banfora). (updated Mar 2020)

Do

• 1 Lake Tengrela (7 km from town). It's fun to scan for hippos. The best time to actually see the hippos is early morning or before sunset. Otherwise you're just in for a nice relaxing ride in a leaky boat.  
• 2 Karfiguéla Falls (Banfora Cascades) (10 km from town). Watch out for the types who will try to guide you. It's difficult to resist the temptation to take a dip in the falls, but the water might give you a nasty case of schistosomiasis.  
• Dômes de Fabédougou (10 km from town) great dome-shaped sandstone formations in the vicinity of the falls and the sugarcane fields.

Buy

A rich selection of vegetables on Banfora's market

• Marché The Grand Marche is on Sundays – but all other days of the week there is a significant marche where you can get most anything.
• Boutiques Ubiquitous. Supermarkets and Shops to note – Between the Alimentation across from the Marche and its super-well-stocked boutique neighbor lots is available (eggs, flour, yoghurt, fancy cookies, duracell batteries, etc. ) The boutique near the round point has milk sometimes and there is a gas station shop on the road to Bobo as you leave town. Beauty products are available from a store next door to McDonalds (not the golden arches kind).
• Tailors

Eat

• 1 Calypso Restaurant. Also recommended, more pricey but with nice seating. 
• Restaurant de la Paix (At Hotel de la Paix). Comparable prices and selection to McDonalds but it’s not as recommended. Rice and sauce and street snacks partout. 

Drink

• A local specialty is bangui, a palm wine made from Borassus palms.

Sleep

• 1 Hotel la Canne a Sucre. reportedly for parental visits and rich guests. They have “stunning” bungalows, set in a garden with a lovely pool for 60.000cfa a night (sleeps 6 to 7 people). There are other rooms with and w/o AC for 10.000 – 57.000. Bungalows highly recommended if you can splurge. They also have several "authentic" mud huts—complete with plumbing, lights and fans! 
• 2 Hotel de la Paix. Cheap, central, not that great, shared bathrooms. 
• Campement Baobab. To the west, a little out of town, a very quiet and peaceful place with nice people. 

Connect

• Post Office You can use it to withdraw money from your postal checking account. 7:30AM–11:30AM and 3PM–5PM.
• Internet Apparently lots of one horse (computer) joints exist and the general price is near 3000cfa for one hour. The better option is one right next to the Catholic School.

Go next

• Peaks of Sindou (45 km from town) watch out for the dirty water there – and you’ll need a guide.
• Comoé-Léraba Reserve (100 km from town) some of the best wildlife experiences in Burkina Faso.
• Niansogoni (90 km from town) beautiful 'village troglodyte' on the cliffs, nice relaxing 'campement' below.