Vallée du Kou

The Kou valley northwest of Bobo-Dioulasso is fed by springs coming out of the escarpment in enough volume to irrigate a rice scheme laid out in the 1970s, and the result is a stretch of green paddy in a country that is mostly dry savanna, worked by several thousand families. The springs themselves rise clear from the rock at Nasso and Desso. Birds use the flooded fields in numbers. The scheme was laid out with Taiwanese technical assistance in the early 1970s and has been worked continuously since, which is unusual for irrigation projects of that period.

What you actually see

• The rice paddy - irrigated fields worked by several thousand families.
• The springs - clear water rising from the escarpment at Nasso and Desso.
• The green contrast - paddy in country that is otherwise dry savanna.
• The field birds - the species using the flooded ground.

When to go

November to February is the cool dry season. The main rice crop is worked through the rains and after. March to May is extremely hot.

Honest expectations

This is working farmland rather than a visitor site. Bilharzia is present in the irrigation channels. There are no facilities.

Nearby

Bobo-Dioulasso is southeast, and the Mare aux Hippopotames is northwest.