Hunting in Centre-East: Transitional savannahs, Gourmantché hunting rites, small game, sacred groves, and community-based regulation

Windswept grasslands, wooded corridors, and a land of thresholds The Centre-Est Region of Burkina Faso sits between the dry heart of the country and the greener slopes of the east. It is a landscape of open savannahs, scattered forest patches, and low, undulating hills that stretch across provinces like Koulpélogo, Boulgou, and Kouritenga. The Nakambé and Nazinon rivers thread through this terrain, supporting small pockets of biodiversity that persist between farmland and fire-swept bush. While agriculture dominates much of the land, remnant wildlife habitats — sacred groves, seasonal wetlands, and forested village perimeters — still echo with the stories and footpaths of traditional hunters. Gourmantché hunters and the balance of bush and spirit Among the Gourmantché people, hunting is both a practical skill and a cultural ritual. Traditionally, the hunter was a figure of authority and knowledge, someone attuned to both the rhythm of nature and the codes of the unseen. Animals were not merely prey but signs — each with a role in the spiritual landscape. Hunts often began with divination, followed by offerings at family shrines or sacred trees. Though rifles have largely replaced bows and poisoned arrows, many hunters still carry talismans or invoke ancestral blessings before stepping into the bush. What makes Centre-Est a distinctive hunting region The uniqueness of Centre-Est lies in its deep connection between land and lineage. While not as ecologically rich as the far east or as wild as the south-west, this region offers a quietly persistent hunting culture that has survived the erosion of bushland through cultural memory. Sacred groves remain protected by taboo, not law. Village hunting paths are still walked, season after season, even as fields expand and climate patterns shift. The region also borders the Eastern Region, creating a transitional wildlife zone that supports game movement and biodiversity pockets. Species present and locally adapted hunting methods The primary game in Centre-Est includes guinea fowl, doves, pigeons, hares, duikers, porcupines, cane rats, and occasionally warthogs or oribi in less disturbed areas. Birds are hunted near fields and waterholes at dawn or dusk, while small mammals are targeted using wire snares, baited traps, or single-shot rifles. In some villages, old methods like using ash lines to control wind scent or invoking animal tracks through ritual ash patterns are still known, though practiced less frequently. Dogs accompany hunters in flatter areas, where wide visibility favors pursuit over stealth. Legal status and local regulation by elders and spirit law Hunting here falls under national law, which mandates species protection, seasonal restrictions, and permit requirements. However, enforcement is sporadic, and customary systems play a larger role in daily practice. Many villages have community elders or hunter guilds who regulate access to groves, declare local bans, or sanction hunters who violate spiritual codes. The dry season — from December to May — marks the traditional hunting window, coinciding with post-harvest periods and lower vegetation. Some areas near the Ghanaian border serve as informal trade points for bushmeat, complicating regulation further. Environmental stress and changing rural rhythms Like much of Burkina Faso, Centre-Est is under pressure from deforestation, bushfires, and expanding cultivation. Sacred groves are among the last green refuges, often hemmed in by fields or eroded by charcoal demand. Wildlife corridors are narrowing, and seasonal streams run drier each year. Still, the memory of how to live with the bush — when to hunt, when to stop, and how to share — remains encoded in stories and ceremonies. In a few villages, hunters have begun planting trees near hunting grounds, hoping to restore shade, cover, and memory. Spiritual hunting codes and the invisible guardians of the bush Some species — like the monitor lizard or the nightjar — are considered “untouchable” due to their association with spirits or misfortune. If a hunter dreams of a burning anthill, it may be a sign to stay out of the forest for several days. Before a long hunt, some pour millet beer onto stones near old shrines, asking for clarity and protection. Horns, bones, or feathers from hunts are often dried and kept not as trophies, but as links to events and blessings. Unspoken signals, fading trails, and the taste of old wisdom In certain parts of Boulgou, hunters still read the wind through tall grasses before setting a trap, watching the behavior of ants or birds to know when game will pass. It is said that a true hunter knows not only how to kill, but when not to — a lesson passed not through words, but through long silences in the bush, listening for signs others miss. The Centre-Est, though transforming, still carries that silence.