Tiébélé
Burkina Faso · Centre-Sud · 260 m
Description
Tiébélé is a Kassena village near the Ghanaian border whose royal court is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most striking pieces of vernacular architecture in West Africa. The houses are built of earth, wood and cow dung in three shapes, rectangular for bachelors, figure-of-eight for couples and round for widows, with doorways deliberately low enough to force an intruder to stoop. Every wall is painted by the women after the harvest in black, white and ochre geometry drawn with chicken feathers and burnished with stones. The patterns are renewed each year before the rains.
Length of stay
Recommended length of stay: 1 to 2 days (optimal 1 day)
Travel season
Best time to visit: November – March
- Jan
- Feb
- Mar
- Apr
- May
- Jun
- Jul
- Aug
- Sep
- Oct
- Nov
- Dec
Highlights
- Royal Court of Tiébélé (UNESCO)
- Geometric wall paintings
- Figure-of-eight and round houses
- Kassena rooftop terraces
- Annual repainting after harvest
- Tiébélé village market
- Kassena sacred sites & ancestor shrines
- Nazinga Game Ranch(Day trip)
Getting there
- Nearest airports:
- OUA