Burkina Faso

A dramatic multi-tiered waterfall on the Coulouré River near the town of Banfora, surrounded by green gallery forest at the edge of the Sahel where the land suddenly turns surprisingly lush.

Burkina Faso's second city, built at the confluence of two rivers and celebrated for its Sudano-Shola architecture, its centuries-old Grand Mosque, and the most vigorous market in the country's southwest.

A sprawling weekly market at a major Sahelian crossroads in Burkina Faso's arid north, where Tuareg, Fulani, Bella and Songhai traders gather to exchange livestock, salt, millet and shea butter in one of the most culturally diverse trading environments in the Sahel.

Burkina Faso's sprawling capital, where a modern city of ministries and universities sits beside a centuries-old mosque of raw laterite and the great axial market that drives the national economy.

A medieval stone fortress near Loropéni in southern Burkina Faso, the best-preserved of ten Lobi-area fortresses and Burkina Faso's first UNESCO World Heritage inscription in 2009, linked to the Lohron and Koulango peoples who profited from the trans-Saharan gold trade.

Spectacular wind-sculpted sandstone formations rising abruptly from the plateau near Sindou, forming a chaos of towers, ridgelines and natural arches at the junction of Burkina Faso, Mali and Côte d'Ivoire.