Waterfall and the Domes

We awoke, albeit after a cold night's sleep, with the intention of a full day of biking around south west Burkina, but firstly had to tackle the motos. They (how can I put this kindly) weren't the newest motos and nothing compared to the new Kaizer's we had in Bobo. They had been round the block a few hundred times and weren't much to look at. However, first thoughts put aside, Dree and Barney jumped aboard to give them a test drive down the track. THIS was easier said than done, but after a close shave from both of the lads (Barney underestimating the acceleration and barely stopping in front of a wall; Dree driving into a kerb where the two guys from the camp were standing) the test run was completed.

Dree and Barney lost at a game of cards the night before and so went into town to get some petrol and lunch for a picnic by the waterfall. About one and a half hours later they returned after running out of petrol a few times, thankfully in the town centre, and having to fill up the tanks using a red liquid from wine bottles by the side of the road. Safe!

I hadn't ridden for a while, and this wasn't helped by me driving down the track, thankfully round the corner, and spectacularly dropping the moto on a turn, spilling petrol. Everything seemed fine, and Barney drove our orange beast "Colin" (I thought it best) and Dree in charge on the green we headed out for the waterfall at Karfiguela. The track was quite sandy in places, making the moto difficult to control, but luckily we just had to stay on the same track all the way, and there was no traffic.

At a toll booth by the side of the track, almost in a field, two guys lifted the barrier blocking the track and tried to get us to pay for a guide. We said no, but ended up getting lost and going too far in between the sugar cane fields, getting soaked by the automatic watering machines along the way. We turned back and got to the waterfall entrance after some directions - no sign or anything for the turning - and parked the motos (easier said than done!)

We climbed, steeply, up to the top of the waterfall and were rewarded with an amazing view of the river and plain below. We could see for miles. After an explore and the obligatory photos, we went for a dip in the naturally formed pools at the top. Don't worry, the water was clear and safe to swim in as it was moving too fast to have bilharzia or anything like that. But it was only ten feet from a very steep drop over the edge. Sorry Mum! But I am obviously writing this now so survived!

The water was freezing cold, and a bit of a shock to the system, but was amazingly clear and deep. There was one little pool that had formed over goodness-knows-how-long that was about five and a half foot deep but only a foot wide. Barney set up his camera, perilously close to the edge and we did some timed photographs, that involved B running along the algae rocks and jumping into the pool a few times. Great photos though. We had a veggie lunch at a shaded little pool before going for an explore further upriver. The cascades went on for hundreds of metres, and were of various heights and speeds. Returning to the bottom we had a look at the main cascade - impressive - and decided to not go for a swim - scummy.

I drove for the next journey, which was to the Domes of Fabedougou. I do love the Burkina way of naming towns, all ending in "dougou". The drive was okay - few hairy moments with water and loose stones, but made it in one piece. Bless Kez though; while driving she took a shortcut through some of the sugar cane field. No injuries though - just a thoroughly embarrassed Kez with a few scratches!

The Domes are a group of rock formations that are about 1.8 billion years old. The best way I can describe them is that they look like giant cow pats - big piles of smooth black rocks that used to be at the bottom of an ancient ocean, and have been worn down over millions of years. They are mostly easy to climb up, as the sedimentary rock forms natural steps, but Barney chose one of the first, highest and most difficult to climb pillars and bounded up it. He is truly a mountain goat at heart. But on the way down his cheap sunglasses gave way and a lens bounced down the side of the rock!

We did another group of timed photos with the sun creating silhouettes of us all at the top of one dome. Barney set the photos up again and had to run up the rock face to get in position before the timer ran out. Great fun to watch, but he must have been knackered! Got some more great photos of us all trying to jump at the right time, and the obvious YMCA pose! The views from the top of the domes stretched for miles and we could see the massive fields of government-produced sugar cane in their entirety.

After an hour or so climbing about the domes we headed down and back onto the motos - Kez managing to stay on the track this time! We organised taking the bikes overnight for an epic 50km ride to Sindou, where we wanted to see the Sindou Peaks. Would the bikes hold up that's the question...