Day 13 - 15th March Exploring Abidjan, then travel north to the capital Yamoussoukro

Photo above - great welcome for the white folk from the kids of Yamoussoukro. More Photos below

Stormy night in Abidjan

Got woken up in the night by a huge thunderstorm and rain hammering against the window. This is the first time in two weeks that the weather has varied from sun, light cloud and 32c!

Cote d’Ivoire’s largest city, Abidjan is a sizeable metropolis that some say is the third largest French speaking city in the world, after Paris and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A cultural hub of West Africa, it is a busy and vibrant city, with it's tall skyscrapers a testament to the fact that this is the economic capital of the country. Abdijan was originally a small fishing village until it became the capital of the French colony in 1900, after yesterday's Grand Bassam. Since then it has grown, and only the city of Lagos in Nigeria is larger in the region.

There is 35% poverty in Cote d'Ivoire, not helped by the fact that there was a civil war between Northern rebels and the south supporting the government recently This ran from 2000 to 2010.

Markets, masks, a boat crossing, and a brush with the police

First stop was a market area, which was quiet as it was Sunday morning. It was quite dirty, and a lot of stalls were not yet open, but there were a lot of mask sellers. Masks are an important part of the culture here, and are not just for decoration. They indicate tribal identity, and there are over 60 tribes in the country.

Next we went down to the river to get boat passage across to the plateau, which is the business district. As we crossed they were pulling a sunken ferry back to the dock, where it joined another four!

We stopped to take some photos of a pyramid shaped building. We noticed that there were some fruit bats in a tree. I was trying to take a photo and a few minutes later two police turned up. They had seen me on CCTV taking photos and wanted to confiscate the camera, saying it was ok to use a phone, but not photographic equipment. I narrowly avoided a second trip to a police hut by paying 10000 West African Francs.

Football and stained glass

Further on we came across a sealed off street. It turns out that the football stadium is there, and Lyon women are playing Paris women at football. It shows the strong connection there is still between France and Cote d'Ivoire, when an all French team fixture is played here in Cote d'Ivoire.

We made a quick visit to a cathedral with a very unusual design. The stained glass windows looked quite bland from outside, but from the inside they looked amazing, with African scenes depicted. After, we passed through the exclusive district of Cocody where the rich live, and where a lot of the embassies are.

The drive north to the capital Yamoussoukro

We stopped at a local cafe for lunch. Then from there headed north to the town of Yamoussoukro (population approx. 213,000) once just a village but now Cote d'Ivoire”s capital. The road is classed as a motorway, and has a good decent surface, other than that it is similar to other roads, with cars parked at the side, pedestrians trying to cross, and villages along the way. There were quite a few shanty towns as we came out of the city. These have very poor living conditions, and are where a lot of migrants from Burkina Faso end up.

Soon the villages dried up, the traffic reduced to next to nothing, and it was just a black ribbon of tarmac through the forest. As we headed further north I began to notice truck drivers who had pulled over to the road side to pray. There is a large Muslim population in the country, and they are concentrated in the north.

After about 3 hours we arrived at Yamoussoukro. It seemed lively with everyone on the streets celebrating Sunday. Had a short walk down the dusty road in front of the hotel, and was mobbed by kids absolutely bursting with excitement to see us and touch us! There was also a very big market here but I had reached my level for walking around markets.

Tomorrow we explore a bit of this small capital, see a Guro tribe mask dance ceremony, and then drive further into Cote d'Ivoire.