4 PLACES VISITED: 2) Ferkessedougou, 3) Bouake, 4) Yamoussoukro IVORY COAST.
3 OVERNIGHTS (Bush Camps unless otherwise specified): 1) 40km south of Bouake (Elev 280m), 2) 4km west of Arrah (Elev 234m) IVORY COAST, 3) 15km south-east of Berekum (Elev 342m) GHANA.
BLOG TRAILER: Most towns in IVORY COAST end in “dougou” - this must be the same as “ville” in FRANCE or “poll” in GREECE meaning “town” or village”. This blog post features our journey across IVORY COAST entering from MALI and existing into GHANA. We were always meant to visit this country but sadly we had to miss the largest city Abidjan and other coastal towns of Grand Bassam and Assinie because of our detour via MALI to get here. This is what adventure travel is all about - a changing itinerary and we experienced this first hand.
The good news is that we will not miss out on the scheduled “Mole National Park” in GHANA which will feature a walking elephant trek! The compromise is that we got to see the IVORY capital of Yamoussoukro but not the Atlantic coast cities mentioned above so we could preserve Mole - a good compromise. IVORY has more cassava in it than I ever saw before. It is everywhere and one son-of-a-bitch plant to cook.
When I ran I could see huge 100kg sacks of the stuff by the roadside waiting for pickup. There are also lots of pineapples and avocados. IVORY is damn hot with the start of humidity. Around 2pm you cannot be outside. There is a misty white heat haze everywhere. School kids are in uniform and there are more visible Christian churches, the biggest of which and most grande is a slightly smaller duplicate of St Peters of The Vatican in the capital Yamoussoukro. What a weird site to see an obviously European building surrounded by sub-tropical Africa with a foreground of shabby market huts and yelling locals selling cassava. Weird. This church is grand and is rumoured to have cost $USD300m.
Our trip through IVORY was quick. The bush thickened to sub-tropical and the air became thick with moisture. We also noticed more road accidents in IVORY but strangely no road kill anywhere to date. The entry into GHANA was very smooth and we even got to talk to the border guards and have a beer with them - stark contrast to the silence and discipline of past border experiences. GHANA itself is very different. Much more organised, neater, more cars than motorbikes, English is now the prevalent language and also very Christian. A lot is also the same. The laughing, hand-waiving children, wooden street-side stalls and busy market places. I had a feeling that GHANA was going to exceed our expectations...
DAY 59, Sun 10JAN16, 275km, Bush Camp in the primary school of Namboukaha to Bush Camp 40km south of Bouake IVORY COAST. I was glad to leave Planet Mars - all that red dirt on only day 2 of our new bush camp series. I was thrilled with our early morning stop at Ferkessedougou - there was a modern mid-sized supermarket next to the truck and in just 20min I was able to convince the manager to let me use his mobile hot spot to post the first of three completed offline posts “WATERMELON-LAND”! I could not post these in GUINEA or MALI due to the trouble in these countries and people knowing our itinerary ahead of time.
Today it peaked at 40C, our hottest to date. Most daytime highs have averaged around 32C. Our journey south took us into thicker bush sometimes bordering on sub-tropical. Then goodness we got all bitumen today and our average skyrocketed. We also noticed more accidents on this main road that connects Abidjan on the coast with the north of the country. There are many lorries and big container trucks. We saw two crashed, one on its side, one with its load of cotton blowing all over the road like snow and one with all its barrels on the side of the road. I also noticed that the local women use their “boubous” or long coloured gowns to relieve themselves on the side of the road - they must unbutton them in front and spread out their hands to create a screen at the rear - ingenious.
We made an afternoon stop in Bouake which was a sizeable town. I managed to find an actual internet cafe but had only 20min to upload the second post - I failed to upload but got recharge for my Mac because the guy at the desk was photocopying the Koran for someone and by the time he got to me I only had 10min left - not enough to upload! Bugger! These locals sure take their time. They also wanted to see a passport and it took me another 5min to convince them in broken French to take a soft copy that I keep on my Mac. No matter - I would try again tomorrow at the capital, Yamoussoukro. Our camp site was at a spot under a huge covered power line some 40km further south. I could not run that evening because there were police checkpoints in both directions and they may see me, follow me back to the truck and ask us move on so I would run in the morning.
DAY 60, Mon 11JAN16, 260km, Bush Camp 40km south of Bouake to Bush Camp 4km west of Arrah via Yamoussoukro IVORY COAST (Run2). Today was only my third morning run to date. I do not like mornings because I have to wake up at 5:30am and baby wipe just before getting on the truck! Nevertheless it had to be done. It was a moist cool morning and it was getting more humid as we approached the Atlantic coast. It took us only 90min to get t the capital.
On the way I had to rebuild my second post from a backup because I messed up the save after I aborted the post yesterday. Thank goodness for backups but I did have to add the photos manually. Got it done just outside the capital and showed Roberto how to post it because I was due for cook group shopping in the capital and would give Roberto my Mac to charge and post.
Our stay in Yamoussoukro started with a visit to the now world famous “St Peter’s Cathedral”, an almost exact replica in design and size to the original in Vatican City. Why? The first President of Ghana Felix Houdhouet Boigne visited Europe and was most impressed by St Peter’s in Rome. That and a bit of ego saw him reproduce it in his home country as a symbol of what he wanted to do for IVORY.
The building was designed by Lebanese Architect Piere Fakuri, took 3yrs to build and completed consecrated by John Paul II on 10 September 1990. It was rumoured to cost around $USD300m with marble from Italy, Spain and Portugal and all interior wood work from IVORY. It can seat 18,000 inside and another 180,000 outside and can fit the front of the Notre Dame inside. It has 22 huge doors under the huge dome adorned by 24 massive stain glass windows depicting important events in the life of Christ and some Old Testament events. We sat in the President’s seat and he died in 1993 at the age of 88. It is a magnificent reproduction and beige in colour outside sitting on 70 acres. It is weird to see it in a stinking hot African setting.
From here it was only a short drive to the markets which really do not form part of any visible “centre” of town - just sprawled out along a main road. I gave my laptop to Roberto and was off cook group shopping for tomorrow. Luckily we discovered meat and bought up 5kg of frozen chickens imported from the Ukraine! Chris planned to boil and then wok fry them along with a thick vegetable sauce which could then throw on mashed potatoes. We were quick and I had one hour free. I headed for the supermarket where it was no coincidence that I found most of our group including Roberto.
He had no luck with internet. Tried the one at the hotel outside our truck but it was too weak and did not bother going anywhere else, so I grabbed it off him and in 5min I was sitting next to the supermarket manager, powering my Mac and using the hot spot on his phone. No guts, no glory. This was the fourth time that I had simply asked and received! In 30min I had posted the remaining two blog posts, increased battery from 30% to 70% answered 12 emails, sent 6 and even paid some bills and made it back to the truck with 2min to spare. Unreal. I was on top of the world. I had found a way to post 3 blogs in only two days in heat beaten IVORY COAST. We now headed east through the country headed for the GHANA border some 300km away. Luckily it was bitumen road all the way to bush camp and if it continued we would cross the border tomorrow. Tonight was the fifth occasion that we have slept 4 bush camp nights in a row without water for washing.
DAY 61, Tue 12JAN16, 213km, Bush Camp 4km west of Arrah IVORY COAST (Run3) to Bush Camp 15km south-east of Berekum GHANA. This morning’s run was terrific but not getting up at 5:30am. At least it was cool but the air was laced with humidity. As I approached the town of Arrah I passed a local jogging in the opposite direction. Amazing. First I have seen. A few minutes later I heard something behind me and behold it was the same guy. We ran together through Arrah. His name was Osman and he was a college student.
Here I was with a touch on my head, running through a town on the IVORY COAST with a local. I noticed this was a flourishing town. It had a government high school, technical college and teachers school. The government had obviously poured money into this place and this explained the hotel and pool that I passed - if I had run last evening I would have seen it and upgraded to it! Hundreds of kids and teens then emerged in their school uniforms around 6:30am walking towards the government “Lycée”. I do not blame them for starting early since it gets so hot and humid here. Every corner in Arrah had a stall selling fried eggs or little balls of deep fried maze covered in honey.
Arrah obviously gets off to an early start, full of people going about their business but not crazy - busy but orderly. I really enjoyed the sites that I saw and felt myself immersed in it - if only we had more time to explore. The one good thing about setting off early is the cool breeze through the truck - I was still sweating profusely when we left camp and it took some time for the breeze to settle me down. As we passed 3 smaller villages and a larger town, the landscape definitely became sub-tropical with larger trees, vines and lots of palms. Thank goodness it was overcast so that the rising humidity remained cool. Button for long. By the time we pulled over or lunch before the border, the sun was out and it was steaming hot. This was our best border to date. we arrived at around 2pm and left at 3:30pm. The IVORY side was boring but the GHANA side was very friendly. There was even a duty free store and the prices were LOW.
I bought a 2L bottle of Italian red for only $9AUD. I was going to give it to Andi/Grant but they do not drink red so I donated it to tonight’s cook group for desert so that our group could celebrate our triumphant entry into Ghana! Roberto and I decided to celebrate with two very cold beers from Germany at 9.8% alcohol - we drank them back at the guard house and met all the guards. I charged my Mac but sadly none of the guards had hot spots on their phones. We exchanged stories and then drove into GHANA. What a difference. Christian slogans and churches everywhere - these guys love God! All the shops have a religious title like “God’s Favourite Hairdresser”, “The Good Shepard Bakery” etc. English everywhere! What a change. Towns were neater, building had proper bricks, pitched metal roofs and large windows.
Don’t get me wrong, there was still a lot of rubbish, the screaming, laughing, waving children, wooden street-side stalls selling melons, avocados and eggs. Lots of bars selling beers too. Beer everywhere. Also noticed more cars and less motorbikes. Shabby but cars nevertheless. We also noticed lines in the middle of the road! The sub-tropical terrain remained and we rose in altitude as we headed north towards the Mole National Park where we would see Elephants! Bush camp was in a private farm raising eggs, chickens and pork. A nice family and he eldest daughter Benneditta was our host. They even gave us eggs and we responded with chocolate powder and canned baked beans - true subsistence farming.
Our cook group did very well tonight - “Volcano Chicken”: a thick sauce of chicken, carrots, finely shredded cabbage and tomato done in chicken broth and placed on mashed potato shaped like a volcano! Delicious. I was going to use the broth to make the Greek “Avgo-lemono” or Egg-Lemon Chicken Soup with rice but we dd not have time. Tonight’s bush camp was a new record - fifth in a row without water for washing. Finally we had broken the 5-time 4-day stalemate.
PS: A LITTLE ABOUT IVORY COAST (COTE D’ IVOIRE):
IVORY COAST (Pop 22m) is probably less troubled than MALI because the current Lonely Planet actually has a write-up on Abidjan (Pop 4.5m and largest city) and Yamoussoukro (Pop 1m and the Capital) and a few other towns and places. Before the French arrived in 1840, the indigenous of IVORY were protected from intrusion by thick rain forest and a very rough Atlantic coast. Independence came in 1960 and the French installed a President who took the country to great heights making it the world’s largest producer of Cocoa in the 70’s and 80’s. Then the world stock market crash of the late 1980’s severely affected the country and the first President was forced to hold the first elections in 1990 which he won.
Unfortunately he dies in 1993 and his successor took over without election and made several economic mistakes and pissed off the north. Eventually the north gathered arms and rebelled, sacking the government in 1999. Every since then this conflict between the north and south has continued. It reached a bloody apex in 2002 when the north attacked with rebels from Liberia and 3,000 locals died and 500,000 were displaced. The President at the time was sent to the Hague for war crimes chargers. Conflict still exists today with no free election since. IVORY is also famous for its music and specialises in clothing barring African animals and those stereotypical face masks. Rice, cassava and plantain are the staples and grilled fish is very popular along the coast. Unfortunately there is not much left of the rainforests.
PHOTO TO THE RIGHT: this is what a typical evening looks like for me: at the bottom of the photo you see left to right: my wine, my olives and my cheese. Further north is a stool with my road atlas on it where Vit and I mark where we have been today including our exact GPS bush camp spot as given me by Breff. At the top of the photo is the bush camp fire which feeds us and warms us in cold places.
PPS: INTERESTING FACT ON AFRICA:
In 2006, huge reserves of oil were discovered around the continent enabling 30 countries to experience annual economic GDP growth of 4% for 5yrs in a row!
John, we are so enjoying reading your posts - what an incredible time you are having! Who would have thought you had such a knack for locating wifi in the back of beyond, but so glad you are able to! (As for your ability to sniff out wine, cheese and olives in the middle of nowhere, we never doubted you there!!) Horrible to read about the events in Burkina Faso - so close.. Stay safe, dear friend!
ReplyDelete