8 Jan '92 Ouagadougou to Po

Dan on the road south into Ghana

Making our way south from Ouagadougou, we could sense that the atmosphere was changing as we neared Ghana. The countryside was becoming greener and the temperature was rising as we headed towards the sea, which was still a long way to our south. We were heading out of the Sahel and crossing into tropical Africa.

We made our way down the main N5 road towards Po, where we aimed to be by 9th January. We stopped in Kombissiri to drink tea and catch up on some writing, buying handmade cards of local children.

The people were friendly and many of them carried tribal scars on their faces. Some of the scars looked horrific but other people's scars had a certain style to them.

A particular aspect of Burkina Faso we were enjoying was the yoghurt sold in many places we cycled through. It was a dream after the plain food of Algeria and northern Niger. Ouagadougou was a nice enough, dusty old place, full of mopeds running you down and 'overlanders' complaining that “There's not much to buy here”.

Our plan was to continue on the main road into Ghana, crossing the border at Paga, and then heading along the main road through Navrongo and towards Bolgatanga. From there, we planned to head south and onto the northern shores of Lake Volta.  

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