Cote d’Ivoire: an extraordinary blend of tropic and desert

To travel to Cote d'Ivoire one is required to purchase a visa from the honorary consulate in İstanbul for $80 before leaving. There are no direct flights from Turkey to Cote d'Ivoire; you can fly through France, as the country used to be a French colony. There are regular French flights to Cote d'Ivoire, and the presence of France and the French language can be felt very strongly here. As far as anything Turkish is concerned, its presence is negligible.

Cote d'Ivoire's neighbors are Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia and Mali. It also borders on the Atlantic Ocean, with ports that serve other nations that are landlocked. Interestingly, Cote d'Ivoire used to boast some of West Africa's largest forests, though the nation was hugely deforested during its colonial years.

The coastline of Cote d'Ivoire has a tropical climate, while the semi-desert northern parts of the country have three distinct seasons. From June to October, it is very hot and rainy, whereas the heat subsides a bit between November and March, as do the rains. Between March and May, it is mostly hot and dry.

Sixty different tribes

Cote d'Ivoire has 60 different tribes and 60 different languages. Two of the most widely spoken tribal languages are Akan and Dioula, though French remains the official language. In fact, some figures say that up to 30,000 French citizens still live in Cote d'Ivoire.

French has, over time, become the shared language of all the various tribes here. So much so that you are definitely wrong if you think you can carry on your official business here in English. There are actually very few people who speak English here, and if you don't speak French, you will need a translator.

The effect of the French can be felt in other aspects of life here, too, such as the street names. You will encounter, for example, boulevards named for Charles De Gaulle, and so on. And, of course, on a trade level, Cote d'Ivoire's largest import-export partner is France. In many ways, it appears that in fact France has not broken any of its ties with its old colony.

Quick Facts: Capital: Yamoussoukro, Official language: French (official), 60 local dialects, Government: multiparty presidential regime, President: Laurent Gbagbo, Area: 322,463 square kilometers, Population: 20,617,068*, Gross domestic product (PPP): $33.85 billion**, Main religions: Islam (38.6 percent), Christianity (32.8 percent), indigenous beliefs (11.9 percent), none (16.7 percent) *July 2009 estimate **2008 estimate.

There is a district of Abidjan called Plato, where skyscrapers reach up into the sky and where you might forget for a moment you are in Africa. Some call this the “Manhattan of Cote d'Ivoire,” and really, it is quite different from the African landscapes to which we are accustomed. The first things you might notice in Plato are five large skyscrapers built by the state to house the government's headquarters. The other skyscrapers belong to private enterprises. From the top of one of these buildings it is possible to get a bird's eye view of the city, the economic heart of Cote d'Ivoire. One thing that definitely draws your attention is the beautiful mosque that lies in the center of Abidjan.

Abidjan is an interesting, modern city, with a population of around 5 million. Despite the fact that it is not the capital, it is where the presidential, prime ministerial and government ministerial offices are located, and it is also an important port. Since 1983, the capital of Cote d'Ivoire has been Yamussoukro, although all the official government offices are in Abidjan, as are the foreign embassies. Perhaps it is because Abidjan is so extremely economically developed; there are really no cities like it in any of the countries which border Cote d'Ivoire. You can see both luxury vehicles and less high-end vehicles in Abidjan, and the roads that carry people around the city are well built and spacious although there can be serious traffic here, too.

A juxtaposition in Abidjan

Right next to the striking modernity of Plato in Abidjan, there is the contrast of the poorer neighborhoods and people barely scraping together a living. Scars remaining from Cote d'Ivoire's civil war are still visible on the walls of buildings here. It is surprising to see trash trucks dumping garbage near the center of Abidjan, but municipal services are very weak, despite the appearance of a different story in Plato.

The wide boulevards and slowed traffic of Abidjan provide the perfect opportunity for sellers to flock to cars that are stopped, waiting to move forward. The traffic police can fine you $20 for going through a red light here, or they can even take away your license. But bribery is rampant, and these sorts of fines and punishments are actually almost unheard of in Cote d'Ivoire. We are stopped by some police who pretend that the broken radar device they have is actually working.

Abidjan has one of the largest open markets in Africa; even people from other countries in West Africa visit it. This open market is known to be cheaper than others like it, and you can find everything here. There is an interest in being photographed here, though people are wary of the French, who have sometimes photographed and filmed images here that were negative.

The market is filled with hundreds of different moving vehicles carrying food, pulled by human effort. A little shop sells gift items, some of them are ivory, from which the nation gets its name. The ivory is etched with an image of a woman carrying a child on her back. Sadly, there used to be many more elephants in Cote d'Ivoire. These days, the only elephants left live in the inner regions of the country. And now, with the bans against ivory trade, this shop owner keeps his large pieces and even smaller work towards the back of the shop, worried about what the government might do to his business. In the far back of the shop are huge tusks, which have been brought here to be worked.

Along the Banco River in Abidjan, you can see hundreds of professional clothes washers carrying out their trade. These people gather up their loads from people in the city and then bring the clothing and other textiles here to wash them. Their main tools are old tires and detergent, the latter to sprinkle over the wet clothes, the former to beat the clothes with, thereby removing the dirt. Next comes drying and ironing, and finally the clothes go back to their owners. It is interesting to note that all the washers are men. At the same time, there are lots of people also trying to catch fish in this soapy water, sticking their nets in amongst the laundry, and pulling out whatever they can.