Domes De Fabedougou and Chutes de Karfiguéla

The Road Chose Me Volume 2 OUT NOW!!
The Road Chose Me Volume 2: Three years and 54,000 miles around Africa

I reluctantly leave beautiful lake Tengrela, and wind my way through the city of Banfora to the Domes of Fabedougou, an oddly shaped cluster of rock formations created by water erosion, sitting more-or-less on top of a small mountain.

The domes are on top of a natural rise with impressive views

I try to take the most direct route there, and am a little surprised to find myself on a tarred road. I’m wondering why it would be there when the answer presents itself – I’m driving into a massive sugar cane plantation. The guard at the boom gate immediately lets me in (probably because of my skin color) and I traverse the length of the plantation, admiring the machinery and irrigation systems identical to those in my my home-town back in Australia. I’ve often wondered why Africans don’t irrigate – and here I see they certainly do at times, though apparently not often.

The domes go on and on

The domes themselves are spectacular, and I spend a couple of hours wandering through and on them, throughly enjoying the expansive views in all directions.

I can’t help but pose the jeep among the rock formations.

Right in the thick of it

Not far from the Domes, I find the Chutes de Karfiguéla, beautiful waterfalls. At the end of the road is a great restaurant/bar/campsite, though the guys there are so insistent on getting money out of me for parking and camping they ruin it and I decide not to camp there.

The view looking down over the waterfall

The walk to the falls is a pleasant 20 minutes along the shores of the river lined with monster mango trees and it feels great to be out hiking again, something I have rarely been able to do in West Africa. The falls are not exactly thundering due to it being the dry season, though they are still perfect to stand under.

The main waterfall where I swim

Swimming in a waterfall counts as a shower, right?
Right!

-Dan