Lake Bam

Lake Bam at Kongoussi is the largest natural lake in Burkina Faso, a shallow body of water in the semi-arid north whose margins are farmed intensively for vegetables through the dry season, watered by hand and by small pumps, so that the shore turns green while the country around it stays brown. The lake has shrunk substantially over recent decades through silting and drought and its future is a live concern locally.

The landscape

• The market gardens - vegetable plots worked around the shore through the dry season.
• The shallow lake - the largest natural body of water in the country.
• The green fringe - cultivation against the dry country around it.
• The waterbirds - the species using the shallows and the flooded margins.

When to go

November to February is the cool dry season and the main gardening period. Water levels fall sharply through the dry months. The rains from June refill the lake.

What to expect

The lake has shrunk badly and in dry years is far smaller than maps show. Bilharzia is present. There is no visitor infrastructure at the shore.

Nearby

Kongoussi is beside it, and Ouagadougou is south.

Key facts