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Ougadougou
Ougadougou
is the capital city of Burkina Faso but also the Mecca of mopeds. In fact
there are four times the number of mopeds as cars - the people of Burkina
Faso can claim to be the biggest moped users on the continent. It is a
bustling city of over a million people, traffic jams, bicycles and, of
course, the continual buzz of thousands of mopeds.
As well as the beautiful tree-lined shaded avenues there is the Grande
Marche - the biggest market place in town, perhaps even in Burkina Faso.
The Grande Marche was built during the revolution in 1983 so is a modern
market where you can buy all kinds of goods, especially craftsmen's items
such as a Saponay hat.
Ougadougou, like the rest of Burkina Faso, is a dry dusty country with
few natural resources. To compensate the Burkinabe take beer breaks in
small neighbourhood cafes in the city.
FESPACO
This is a very cultural place where, every two years, the pan African
film festival, FESPACO takes place. Not many capitals have a square dedicated
entirely to film directors and producers, but Ougadougou does. The so-called
Film Makers' Square is dominated by an abstract sculpture representing
a film camera.
Strawberries
in Africa?
 Next
to cinema going and moped riding, Ouagdougou's third speciality is eating
strawberries. There are not many places in Africa where you can buy strawberries,
let alone buy them all year around. Walk down almost any street in Ougadougou
and you will see young women carrying strawberry platters on their heads
and selling them for about 1500 CFA a kilo (that's about two dollars).
Maryam is one such seller; her husband cultivates the strawberry fields
about 10 kilometres out of the city. She says she buys them from her husband
and controls the sale side, keeping the profit.
Artbeat on wheels
And now, join Stephane Mayoux on a lightening tour of cinemas in Ougadougou.
His journey on the back of a moped starts at the popular open air Cine
Oubri, moving on to the posh and expensive Cine Burkina. Then, just enough
time to fit in the Cine Riale, another open air cinema which is popular
and cheap. He ends his tour with the rather grand Cine Neerwaya.
Click to hear
The Official Fespaco site
Weather in Ougadougou
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