The Painted Village of Tiébélé in Burkina Faso
Imagine waking up on a rooftop like this, let me take you on another journey.
Tiébélé is in the south of Burkina Faso very near the border. The Kessena people inhabit this area and have lived here since the 15th century. They also live in Northern Ghana. The borders of Africa were never drawn taking into consideration the people. Three is another known Kessena painted village in Ghana that I have not made it to yet.
I visited Tiébélé in 2014 as part of a trip to Burkina Faso to look at the tourism potential there. I have done a few other posts form this trip. All are very photo rich and interesting.
https://www.proofofbrain.io/hive-150329/@leifasaur/open-air-rock-museum-burkina-faso
https://www.proofofbrain.io/hive-150329/@leifasaur/the-most-bizarre-museum-in-the-world
The morning started in Ouagadougou the capital and it was a long drive to Tiebele. It rained most of the day starting with this scene.
https://www.proofofbrain.io/hive-150329/@leifasaur/the-impending-doom-of-the-rain-storm
We drove most of the way south on the highway and eventually turned onto a dirt side road and went East.
It was still raining a little bit here and there making for a muddy road. But everything was so green and alive.
There were more hills, and trees. Mixed in with little villages and cows.
First stop when reaching the village was the guest house we would be staying at. I was with a tour company looking at potential partnerships, the owner was running a tour that I tagged along with. They were riding motorbikes through the bush of the whole country and we were riding in the support vehicle. We reached the guesthouse in the early afternoon the motor bikes came later in the afternoon. I had some time to look around. The guest house was modeled after the traditional part of the village which I will be visiting that afternoon.
Soon I was linked up with one of the Princes or one of the many grown children in the royal family. He was my guide to show me around the painted village which was a short walk from the guest house. Our first stop was the gates. The painted village is actually a small traditional part of the larger village that the royal family lives in. But that is probably between 100-300 people. At the entrance is a large pile of dirt and a shrine. I was told that the pile is actually made up of the placentas from royal births over time. They are put in clay vessels and deposited here.
The dwellings consisted of low buildings with small doorways, painted with natural pigments on the walls in intricate patterns. the roofs are used for sleeping on when it is hot and drying crops.
The outside of an old woman's house. Right inside the door is another wall. You have to bend down then immediately step up and over this wall. This type of doorway allows it to be open and keeps goats and chickens out. It was amazing how agile granny was going in and out of her house.
The round thing to the right is a sealed grain storage. They will fill it in one part of the year and only break the seal and open it when it is time to use it.
The patterns appear on the interior walls and even the serving gourds.
They use these stones to mill grains like millet and corn.
They make beer from both millet and sorgam.
From the painted village we took a walk through the rest of the community. These guys were playing a game with clay balls.
A nice cheeky old man and my guide. His necklace was made of snake bones, and believed to be very powerful.
One of my favorite parts of the village is the tree lined road. The trees are giant and make a tunnel almost. As we reached this far side of the village we were hearing a lot of drumming in the distance and learned there is an ongoing funeral for a very important person in the next village.
So we jumped on a motor bike and starting making our way there.
We headed for the base of this hill in the distance.
This involved crossing over a reservoir to the far side.
The crowd was starting to gather. I had to be careful with the camera, my guild told me to keep taking pictures just don't do so overtly.
There was some serious dancing and drumming.
When the dancers approach you, you are supposed to push a coin into their forehead so it sticks they will then move onto the next person.
We left before it got dark and too rowdy, there was some very strong booze going around.
After a few beers and a good dinner I retired to the roof top to sleep. Inside the room was a little stuffy and hot.
This was the beautiful view I woke to in the morning feeling refreshed and rested.
This guy was collecting rocks and visited us in the guest house.
Before long it was time to hit the road again. Here are the motor bikes lined up ready to go. The next stop was a game ranch another half day drive away. I will share more pictures of that one soon.