Burkina Faso · BF

Mare d Oursi

On the dusty edge of the Sahara, the Mare d'Oursi (Lake Oursi) is one of the Sahel's great ecological surprises: a shallow freshwater lake that swells and shrinks with the annual rains, ringed by golden sand-dunes and acacia woodland in a landscape that is otherwise bone-dry for most of the year. Set in Oudalan Province in northern Burkina Faso, near the town of Oursi, this endorheic lake is protected as a Ramsar wetland of international importance—a designated haven for the migratory birds that cross the Sahara on their way to and from Europe. For a bird-lover or a traveller after somewhere genuinely off the map, the lake's appeal is its raw, working landscape rather than polished tourist facilities. It is the only permanent sheet of open water across much of this region, so its banks become a bustling gathering point for herders, fishing families and tens of thousands of waterbirds. The surrounding dunes and the medieval ruins at Oursi town give it a sense of place you will not find at a conventional park.