A lot of people are actually not aware that a country called Burkina Faso exists, and because of this we will enumerate some of the amazing facts about Burkina Faso so that we can have a better understanding about what them as a country.
Burkina Faso is a landlocked country located in West Africa and it covers a massive land area that is actually classified as a savanna; a savanna is basically a land area that is covered with grass in one area, and sparse in another part. To have a better understanding of what this country has been through, it might be helpful for us to go back to its history.
Burkina Faso is actually a former French colony and they gained their independence in the year 1960 as Upper Volta; the name Burkina Faso literally means “Land of Incorruptible People” and they adopted it in 1984. Ouagadougou is its capital city because it can be found in the center of this country and it can be located at least 800 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean. When we try to look at Burkina Faso on a map, we will see that it has Mali on its Northwest, Niger to its Northeast. Benin to its Southeast, and Togo, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire to its South.
Because of the geographical location of Burkina Faso, the climate is expected to always be dry, hot, and sunny; as a matter of fact, there are two very distinct climate zones that can be identified which are the Sahelian zone and the Sudanic zone. The difference of these two is that the Sahelian zone is weather experienced in the North and is a semiarid steppe which describes a duration of rainfall that often lasts for three up to five months; on the other hand, the Sudanic zone is weather experienced in the South and it is defined by the tropical season that is usually dry and hot.
In addition to these, it can also be said that there exists four seasons in Burkina Faso – a rainy season that happens sometime in June to September; a hot, dry, and dusty season where sand from the Sahara desert can be experienced when the wind blows; a hot season that happens from February to June; and a dry and cool season from November to February. Experiencing these seasons in Burkina Faso will definitely be an experience for anyone because of the different conditions that these seasons bring.
The total population of Burkina Faso amounts to a total of 20,875,000 and this explains why this country has a very rich culture. Which is why there are also a lot of places and attractions that tourists can experience when they decide to travel to Burkina Faso. Some of these attractions are historic sites, hidden wonders of nature, museums, and even parks; one of the more popular spots to visit is the Les Cascades de Banfora which is a scenic waterfalls that is beside Komoe river.
This place allows people to experience the amazing beauty of nature while also immersing in the rich culture of Burkina Faso; there is also a museum called Ma Copine Femmes & Creativite which features a lot of hand-crafted jewelries, paintings, bags, and accessories that tourists can take home with them as a souvenir.
Because it was mentioned above that Burkina Faso has a wide land area to cover, it is not really surprising to find out that their leading industry is agriculture. It has been found in various researches that at least 80% of their entire population depends on the resources they get from their agriculture. But even though this is their primary industry, it is unfortunate to find out that Burkina Faso is still a country that is not capable in sustaining itself in terms of producing their own food even though some of the most common crops that they produce are corn, sweet potatoes, cassava, and sugarcane.
When we look into the healthcare system of Burkina Faso though, we will see that there had been attempts from 2010 to increase the healthcare workforce, but it was never seen as enough to be able to meet the needs of such a huge population. And this problem mainly stems from the fact that there is a severe lack in people who are qualified to join the healthcare industry, but the good news is that this problem is still being worked on by the government in hopes of providing better health services to it people.
