Day 14 - 16th March Exploring Yamoussoukro, then a Guro tribe mask dance ceremony

Photo above - Zaouli dancing mask ceremony near Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire. More photos below

Yamoussoukro

The city of Yamoussoukro, rising out of the jungle, was little more than a village fifty years ago, but its status as the birthplace of Cote d’Ivoire’s first president has led to a dramatic transformation. Felix Houphouet- Boigny began an ambitious construction project in the 1960s, with the intention of creating a model city. Today Yamoussoukro is home to grandiose government buildings that seem rather out of place given the overall conditions of the country, but has become the administrative capital of the country. It is not however the hub of economic activity – Abidjan, the previous capital, retains this honour.

After breakfast we set off to explore Yamoussoukro.

Largest Christian church in the world

Yamoussoukro is dominated by the gigantic Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, reputedly the largest Christian place of worship on earth, bigger even than at.Peters in Rome. From a distance it looks like St.Pauls Cathedral.

A controversial project, the basilica cost $300 million to build and prompted questions as to whether the money would have been better spent improving the lot of the general population rather than on what many see as a vanity project – there is an image of Houphouet-Boigny next to Jesus in one of the stained glass windows.

The church sits in 130 hectares of land which was owned by the president, originally as a coconut plantation. The area is now part of Vatican City, and the flag of that state flies in the grounds. There is a huge mansion where the pope stays when he visits. There is also an administrative building, and a building where the five priests who work there live, including two polish and a Congolese.

There are several services a week, with the main one on Sundays. Inside, there are several flights of stairs and lifts, hidden within the gigantic pillars. To get right to the dome at the top, which has a balcony to walk around, is 700+ steps. There are three levels below ground floor, a crypt, a floor dedicated to the large Aircon system, and a floor dedicated to electricity for the site including generators etc other facts and figures : covers 30,000 sq metres, 518 ft high, room for 7,000 seated and 11,000 standing inside, room for another 300,000 on the esplanade round the church, 7,000m of stained glass.

More structures built by the president

Next stop was the foundation which the president built to support the development of Yamoussoukro, his home town, and to support a activities that promote peace. It is in fact, part museum, part international conference centre. UNESCO have meetings there about twice a year.

The president also built the Hotel Presidente, which we passed by. International conference delegates stay here. We also passed a mosque he built for muslims, although ɓe was christian. There was a lovely moment outside the building when three little gifls had comri over to us. They didi not speak French so we could not communicate, but they were very excited to meeti us. Just as we were leaving one of our group ran over to them to give them each a pen, and their faces lit up. They were so pleased and happy, they ran back to our van to thank us and shake our hands. They were so grateful to get such a little thing.

Inner city crocodiles

We then stopped to look at a lagoon which he populated with crocodiles, and there are now hundreds of them. A local bought along a couple of live chickens to feed them, both went to a single crocodile who swallowed them hole. No sharing here.

Amazing tribal mask dance ceremony

We then stopped for some lunch, then we drove for about an hour to a small town to see a ceremony of the Zaouli dancing masks, a tradition of the Guro people, The mask was originally created in the 1950s by a tribal leader who lost his daughter, and who designed the mask in her likeness. The mask is of a woman, but worn by a man. We turned off the main road to a small village near Bouafle, where upon our arrival we were immediately mobbed by children. We went through to the village square where a band consisting of percussion and flute were starting to play. As we sat down to watch, more and more villagers appeared, partly to see us, but definitely to see the proceedings. Four different dancers rotated each dancing separately. One guy who was clearly the organiser, two guys in masks and special costumes, and a small boy who might have been about ten. The dance was a very unique staccato stop start affair, with a kind of running on the spot style, which matched the unusual time signatures of the music

We stayed for about an hour, then when it finished there was a kind of free for all where all the kids just rushed up to us and mobbed us. They really just want to touch you and or shake your hand. As we left twenty or thirty were still running after the bus!

Finally, we drove due west for about an hour to the town of Daloa (population approx. 250,000), where we are staying tonight. As we neared the town there were large flat marshy areas where people appeared to be fishing. We arrived at our hotel at just after 5pm.

Tomorrow we are heading into the forest to try and find some isolated settlements belonging to the Guere people.