North Burkina Faso

North Burkina Faso is the Sahelian region of Burkina Faso, along the border of Mali and Niger.

Cities

• 1 Bani – known for its seven clay mosques
• 2 Bokin
• 3 Djibo — an important market for cattle, sheep, goats
• 4 Dori — a good place to buy Dori blankets, Touareg silver, and tailored clothes
• 5 Gorom-Gorom — a convenient base for travelling to culturally interesting, colorful, remote, exotic villages and sites in Oudalan
• 6 Kaya — the leather capital of Burkina
• 7 Ouahigouya — the one large city in the region, and the final major city in Burkina on the route to Mali
• 8 Yako — the birthplace of Burkina Faso's former president Thomas Sankara

Other destinations

• 1 Sylvo-Pastoral and Partial Faunal Reserve of the Sahel — it has several temporary lakes that are important for migratory birds

Get in

Ouahigouya is the point of arrival for those coming from Mali, and has frequent buses from Ouagadougou.

See

Ancient ferrous metallurgy sites

Five sites with ancient iron mines and furnaces around Burkina Faso have been listed as a world heritage site. Three of them are in North Burkina Faso (the other two are in the Black Volta Region):

• 1 Tiwêga Site (west of Kaya). (updated Jul 2019)
• 2 Yamané Site (between Mané and Ziniaré). (updated Jul 2019)
• 3 Kindibo Site (east of Gourcy). (updated Jul 2019)