For years, Ivory Coast was an unsafe vacation spot. After the declaration of independence in 1960, the nation went via two civil wars. Issues remained unsettled till 2011, when the dropping president Ggagbo was arrested and extradited to the Worldwide Legal Courtroom in The Hague. Tourism is now slowly beginning to take off. Mid-November, I made a journey via this – to me nonetheless unknown – West African nation.
Abidjan & Grand-Bassam
After arriving on the airport of Abidjan, I instantly journey to Grand-Bassam, 45 minutes away, which was chosen because the capital throughout the colonization by the French. And similar to that you out of the blue end up consuming exterior within the night on a terrace with the glowing Atlantic Ocean at your ft! What a transition from the grey and wet Netherlands and Belgium I left within the morning.
The colonial quarter in Grand-Bassam is now a Unesco World heritage website: the grandeur of the colonial structure continues to be spectacular though many buildings are in want of restoration. The Museum of Nationwide Costume, which shows conventional clothes of the nation’s many ethnic teams, can also be very attention-grabbing.
Yamoussoukro
The subsequent day, I head to Yamoussoukro, the birthplace of the primary president of the Ivory Coast, Félix Houphouët-Boigny. He made his birthplace the capital of the nation and had an enormous status challenge constructed there: the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Paix, which equals the dimensions of the St. Peter in Rome. It’s a unusual notion, such an immense constructing in an empty panorama with out believers, utterly soulless. You marvel what number of hospitals the president might have constructed as an alternative…
North
As I drive additional north, I enter extra conventional territory, the place animistic customs, conventional dances and crafts reign supreme. I frequently see teams of weavers who make stunning cloths on their lengthy narrow-band looms; bead makers, who supply their loam, hand-painted beads on the market, and woodcarver’s workshops.
After being launched to the native notables, I expertise an interesting masks dance on the Baoulé, the place the dancers are simply as fiercely and enthusiastically inspired by the native individuals as by me! In Korhogo on the Senoufou inhabitants I see a ‘leopard dance’. The ‘leopards’, uplifted by hallucinatory music, exhibit their acrobatics expertise.
West
Because the highway will get worse I attain the western aspect of the nation, which is extra mountainous and inhabited by the Malinké and Dan individuals. Right here too I’m handled to a spectacular dance efficiency with masked stilt dancers, through which many villagers take part enthusiastically.
Man
Lastly I arrive in Man, an space surrounded by 18 mountains that’s splendid for stunning walks. I go to the waterfall and the sacred forest with Campbell monkeys.
The South Coast
Driving south from right here I head again to the coast the place I keep in a stupendous and comfy resort. Because of the presence of a bay, it is usually potential to swim safely within the Atlantic Ocean.
The south is dominated by endlessly stretching plantations of cocoa and palm oil forests. Two main rivers minimize via Ivory Coast and move into the ocean at Sassandra and Grand Lahou. Boat journeys are the popular excursions to discover this panorama.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
If you’re studying this text wherever apart from on A Luxurious Journey Weblog, then the probabilities are that this content material has been stolen with out permission.
Please make an observation of the online handle above and contact A Luxurious Journey Weblog to advise them of this situation.
Thanks in your assist in combatting content material theft.
Abidjan
Lastly, I return to Abidjan, a pulsating metropolis with a inhabitants of tens of millions. It’s a nice metropolis with elegant eating places and high-quality artwork galleries. An ideal place to finish a journey via this contrasting nation. The place the world can’t discover you…
Jozef Verbruggen is Director and Proprietor of Untamed Travelling. Untamed Travelling is a journey designer that focuses on high-end bespoke journey experiences across the globe.
If you need to be a visitor blogger on A Luxurious Journey Weblog as a way to elevate your profile, please contact us.
