Discover Centre-Ouest

Centre-Ouest offers travellers several points of interest: historical heritage, sacred sites and other tourist attractions. If you choose the region for a trip, you might first consider whether historical sites or the region’s various attractions should be your main focus. It can also be helpful to organise your interests when choosing a hotel base, so you can decide what you want your trip to centre on.

Historical Sites and Attractions in Centre-Ouest

One specific historical landmark is the defensive wall of Sati, in Sanguié Province, in the Centre-Ouest region. It is a historical remnant. Moussa Kadio, a resistance fighter of the Gourounsi people, had the wall built around 1850. Its approximate date and the reported connection with its builder give this site a clear historical significance.

The region’s tourist attractions also include Mont Sanguié, the sacred hills of Didyr, the sacred crocodile lagoon of Sabou and the Nayiri of Kokologo. There are also the caves of Manon and Naboum, two distinct attractions, as well as the Sissili Safari Camp. Together, these destinations offer a varied picture of the region’s attractions, without limiting the choice to a single theme.

When planning your own trip, you could organise the sites according to your interests: the wall of Sati is a historical landmark, while the sacred hills, crocodile lagoon, Nayiri and caves are other destinations within the region. Check the current visitor options on site before making specific plans.

Culture and Nature in the Wider Context of Burkina Faso

Among the wider travel destinations in Burkina Faso, the Ancient Ferrous Metallurgy Sites of Burkina Faso are a notable cultural and historical theme. Remarkably well-preserved iron-smelting furnaces can be found at Tiwêga, Yamané, Kindibo and Békuy. These are among the very few sites in the country with furnaces still standing. As large-scale production sites, they can also be understood as evidence of the intensification of iron production in the second millennium AD.

The sites are associated with living blacksmithing traditions in Yamané, Kindibo and Douroula. These include the symbolic values of ironworking among communities descended from blacksmiths and metalworkers. Blacksmiths preserve traditional rites and social practices and play an important role in their communities. This gives ironworking a social and cultural dimension in addition to its material one.

Another example in the wider context of Burkina Faso is the royal court of Tiébélé. This living earthen architecture complex is distinguished by its building techniques, its spatial, social and functional layout, the variety of its architectural forms and its decorative style. Earth, wood, cow dung and straw are combined in its construction; the social and spatial order within the court is determined by the status of its inhabitants. The respective roles of men and women in construction are also among the features of the royal court.

Burkina Faso’s natural heritage includes the W-Arly-Pendjari Complex. The part in Burkina Faso comprises Arly National Park and the Koakrana and Kourtiagou hunting zones. The complex protects nearly all 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. Cultural sites and protected areas thus showcase different facets of the wider travel destination, while Centre-Ouest and its own historical sites and attractions remain at the heart of your regional planning.

Discover more destinations: Boulkiemde, Centre, Hauts-Bassins, Plateau Central, Centre-Nord, Cascades.

Go to the main travel overview: Burkina Faso.