Mare aux Hippopotames
A lake in a biosphere reserve on the Mouhoun, with a resident hippo population.
Saved in this browser only - no account, nothing sent anywhere. See your map
The Mare aux Hippopotames is an oxbow lake on the Mouhoun, the Black Volta, surrounded by gallery forest and wooded savanna and designated a biosphere reserve in 1986, and it holds one of the more accessible hippo populations in West Africa: a group that spends the day in the water and is watched from a pirogue paddled out from the shore. Waterbirds use the lake in numbers and crocodiles are present too.
What you actually see
- The hippos - the resident group watched from pirogues on the lake.
- The gallery forest - the woodland fringing the oxbow.
- The waterbirds - the herons, storks and ducks using the shallows.
- The biosphere status - the reserve designation covering the lake and its surroundings.
When to go
November to February is the cool dry season and the water is at its lowest, concentrating the hippos. The rains from June raise the lake. March to May is extremely hot.
Honest expectations
Hippos are dangerous and pirogues keep their distance, so views are not close. Facilities are a fee hut and boatmen. The track in is rough and difficult after rain.
Nearby
Bobo-Dioulasso is southwest, and the Vallée du Kou is south.
What to pack for Mare aux Hippopotames
Chosen from what this place is for. Tap a kit for the full checklist.
Opening times, ticket prices and seasonal closures change - check the official source before you go: official site.