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IVORY COAST
Ethnographic itinerary
Duration: 13 days / 12 nights
Best season to travel: All year around
Fitness level required: Intermediate
SHORT DESCRIPTION
After the political and social turmoil of the last years, Ivory Coast is starting to receive
tourists once again. The wonderful scenery, the cultural diversity, and its colonial
Atlantic towns make France’s most beloved West African ex-colony an interesting
destination for those travellers interested in culture, nature, and history.
TRIP HIGHLIGHTS:
Abidjan’s neighbourhoods – Grand Bassam’s colonial heritage – Komian fetish
worshipers - Boudoukou adobe buildings and mosques – Yakouba villages and
traditions – liana bridges in Man mountain region – Sassandra fishing town.
ITINERARY:
Day 1: EUROPE - ABIDJAN
Arrival in Abidjan where the guide will welcome you. Transfer to the hotel.
Accommodation in: Ivotel Hotel.
Day 2: ABIDJAN – GRAND BASSAM (1h)
Breakfast and morning visit around Ivory Coast’s economic capital. We will explore
some of its neighborhoods such as Le Plateau and Treichville. Interesting post-colonial
architecture. After the visit we will drive to nearby Grand Bassam to learn about the
country’s colonial history. Grand Bassam was the French colonial capital city from
1893 to 1896. The city has the aura of a ghost town, since large sections have been
abandoned for decades. In 1960, with independence, all remaining administrative
offices were transferred to Abidjan, and for many years Grand Bassam was inhabited
only by squatters. Beginning in the late 1970s the city began to revive as a tourist
destination and craft center. It now has a year-round population of approximately
5,000.The city is divided by the Ébrié Lagoon into two halves: Ancien Bassam is the
former French settlement, facing the Gulf of Guinea. It is home to the grander colonial
buildings, some of which have been restored. The district is also home to a cathedral
and the Côte d'Ivoire National Museum of Costume. Nouveau Bassam, linked to
Ancien Bassam by a bridge, lies on the inland, northern side of the lagoon. It grew from
the African servants' quarter and is now the main commercial centre of the town.
Accommodation in: Hotel la Madrague. BB
Contact: Joan Riera. Manager. Anthropologist and African Tourism Expert
Email: joan.riera@middle-africa.com
Phone: +34 935.174.917 / 637.814.624 Skype: joan riera
Travel Experts in Central Africa
www.middle-africa.com
Day 3: GRAND BASSAM – TANGUELAN - ABENGOUROU (4h)
Breakfast and leave the colonial coast to the heart of the Agni tribal territory. Despite
the strong influence of Christianity and the new economy imposed by the colonial
masters in the form of cocoa plantations, the region of Abengourou keeps the essence
of the Ivorian Animist soul. We will stop in the village of Tanguelan, known for its
reputed school of Fetish. The Animist religion in this part of Africa is different to Voodoo
and Orissa in Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. The religious leaders are mature women
known as Komian and act as shaman healers. We will discover aspects of this ancient
world trying to survive in the modern confusing times of this Global World. After the visit
we drive to Abengourou royal town. Installation in the hotel and noon visit of the Agni
paramount chief, who is also the King of Indenie. The palace was built in 1882 and is
decorated with artifacts. Accommodation in: Hotel Royaume. BB
Day 4: ABENGOUROU – BONDOUKOU (7h)
Breakfast and long drive to Bondoukou, the city of the one thousand mosques. Stop in
Agni villages along the way. The reason of reaching this border town is because
tourism hardly reaches the area and therefore it is still ‘virgin’, and most important
because it has a special atmosphere and a rich architectonical heritage. We will reach
Abengourou in the evening. Accommodation in: Le Marhaba Hotel. BB
Day 5: BONDOUKOU – SOROBANGO - BONDOUKOU
Breakfast and walking visit around the city. We will first stop at the market where
different ethnic groups gather to buy and sell. Abengourou has a strong Muslim
atmosphere despite being at the center of and Animist-Christian region of Ivory Coast.
The reason is because many Diola traders from the North installed their businesses in
the town in the early seventeenth century and even before the French took over the
city city fell to Samori Touré, an Islamic Jihadist, in 1895, and unlike nearby centers, he
did not destroy the old city. Today, Bondoukou has lost most of its trading and political
strength but it is still an interesting town with many mosques, some dating to the
XVIIIth century and even the imposing adobe house of Samory Touré is still standing to
this day. After lunch we will visit the nearby village of Sorobango, where we will
experience rural life in the area and admire its Sudanese style mosque.
Accommodation in: Le Marhaba Hotel. BB
Day 6: BONDOUKOU – BOUAKE (5h)
Breakfast and departure to Bouaké, Ivory Coast’s 3rd largest city and an important
commercial center in Cnetral Ivory Coast. The city became the capital of the rebellious
north despite that the main ethnic group in the city are the Baoulé, a southern AnimistChristian group. We will visit the market and with a local guide we will learn about the
Baoule people and their artistic heritage (the best Baoule masks and fetish statues can
be found in the Parisian museums). Accommodation in: Mon Afrik. BB
Day 7: BOUAKE - MAN (5h)
Breakfast. Drive to Man, the largest city in the east of the country and with a
picturesque location among mountains, close to the borders with Guinea and Liberia.
This is a stunning area with many traditional villages, and we use Man as our starting
point for the next couple of days of exploration. Accommodation in: Hotel Amoatrin.
BB
Contact: Joan Riera. Manager. Anthropologist and African Tourism Expert
Email: joan.riera@middle-africa.com
Phone: +34 935.174.917 / 637.814.624 Skype: joan riera
Travel Experts in Central Africa
www.middle-africa.com
Day 8: MAN – TOUBA (2h)
Early breakfast and continue to Touba mountain area. From Touba town we explore
some of the traditional Yakouba villages nearby. We visit the blacksmiths of Yoh, still
following ancient practices handed down through the generations, and then head to
Silakoro to see how the local people venerate sacred fish. We should also be lucky
enough to witness a traditional mask dance – a fantastic introduction to the complex
local belief systems. Accommodation in: Hotel L’Amitie Vrai. BB
Day 9: TOUBA – MAN (2h)
Breakfast in Touba. Visit the Gbepl forest with its tangled vines and sacred monkeys.
From here return to Man and head into the surrounding mountains to see the unique
rope bridges, made by local people over generations from living vines which are
weaved into walkways across rivers and chasms. This is a real highlight of the tour and
sure to leave an impression. Accommodation in: Hotel Amoatrin. BB
Day 10: MAN – YAMOUSSOUKRO (5h)
Breakfast. We leave the mountain tribal areas to return to Ivory Coast’s plantationoriented center. Our objective is Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast’s political capital.
Yamoussoukro is perhaps the single most bizzare modern city on Earth. It is a large
grid of paved streets and lights with almost nothing at all in between them. It would
seem that former President Felix Houphouet-Boigny's dream that his home town would
become a busy capital city never came to fruition. Installation at the hotel and tour
around the city. We will visit the architectural heritage of the country’s first president
with the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace being its most grotesque creation. This building
is the largest Christian church in Africa. Although it doesn't seat nearly as many
worshippers, it is structurally larger than St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City (after
which it was modeled), with a greater surface area and higher dome. As a condition of
his attendance at the basilica's consecration, Pope John Paul II insisted that a hospital
be built nearby, and he laid the cornerstone for it during his visit; the stone still stands
alone. Continue with the visits around what was once a small rural town where
Houphouet-Boigny was born and now is Ivory Coast’s surrealist capital.
Accommodation in: Hotel Aho. BB
Day 11: YAMOUSSOUKRO – SASSANDRA (5h)
Breakfast and drive to the Atlantic Coast. Arrive at the Sassandra Bai, territory of the
Fanti fishing community. Sassandra town is an old colonial post that has a strong
aroma of past better times. The area also hosts some of Ivory Coast’s best kep natural
beaches. Installation at the hotel and afternoon visit to the town and the Fanti fishing
port. Accommodation in: Hotel le Pollet. BB
Day 12: SASSANDRA – ABIDJAN (4h)
Breakfast in the hotel and relax on the beach. After an early lunch we drive to Abidjan
bordering the Atlantic coast. Arrival and installation in a hotel to take a shower.
Shopping and last visits in Abidjan. Farewell dinner and transfer to the airport with your
guide. Evening flight to Europe. BB.
Au revoir la Cote d’Ivoire!
Day 13: ARRIVAL HOME
Contact: Joan Riera. Manager. Anthropologist and African Tourism Expert
Email: joan.riera@middle-africa.com
Phone: +34 935.174.917 / 637.814.624 Skype: joan riera
Travel Experts in Central Africa
www.middle-africa.com
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Contact: Joan Riera. Manager. Anthropologist and African Tourism Expert
Email: joan.riera@middle-africa.com
Phone: +34 935.174.917 / 637.814.624 Skype: joan riera