Trip to Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso

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After a few hours chatting with a Pasteur about religion on the front seats of a minibus, we finally stop to cross the border between Ghana and Ivory coast. A tradition: all Ivoirian usually pay 1 Ghana Cedis to pass Ghanaian police and immigration. As a white, I do not have to pay these but I did indeed have the provocative questions from the Ivoirian police about Belgian involvement in Congo. Escaping the topic with a smile, I jump into a taxi, direction: Abidjan, capital city of Ivory coast. Despite a 2H fight between the taxi driver and some road syndicate who immobilized the car, I finally arrived safe in Abidjan, despite a bit later than expected. My hosting family (from a friend I met in Ghana) welcomed me like a king and it was such a release to end up in this warm atmosphere. After a very interesting night out (I even met a guy from my business school in a club), I woke up slowly to enjoy one of the best meal in west Africa. One of the daughter of my host (such an angel actually) cooked a wonderful meal with chicken, plantain fried in spices, couscous like side dish with manioc, etc. Meeting a French friend later on Sunday, we escalated the hotel Ivoire (maybe the most renown hotel in West Africa but today declining because of lack of tourists) to admire the wonderful view from the roof. I am pretty sure that we could have gotten in trouble for this, but the whole experience of seeing the inside of this really posh hotel through deserted floors, empty swimming pools, destroyed night club and rooms, was very unusual indeed.

Only one day in Ivory coast and I am already heading to Burkina Faso. As my time is limited, I chose the direct route, no stop between Abidjan and Ouagadougou (30 hours). Even if I expressively asked whether the bus was going through Ghana and not the north of Ivory coast (I was worried to get in trouble in this still unstable area of the country), we went through the whole country and did not pass through Ghana. And I was lucky enough to see the basilica of Yamoussoukro, one of the most impressive buildings in West Africa.

Arriving in Yamoussoukro, I had only the rest of the day before leaving to the north of Burkina to visit the Gorom Gorom market on Thursday. I met two French people for the evening (including one I knew from Ghana) after fooling the dusty roads of Ouaga. The climate in Ouaga is slightly different in the fact that it is colder at nights and warmer during days, the dryer atmosphere making the roads very dusty at nights. On my way to the north, I took the dodgiest bus ever which broke down many times. But I met a young guy whose family would be my host for 3 days. I leaved in the north a really African countryside life, a mattress on the floor near an old motorbike, the goats sometimes coming around eating whatever they can, a hole at the back of the compound to serve as toilets. After visiting a market full of colours, reassembling traders from Burkina, Niger and Mali in a melting pot of products and people from different background, we headed off to a rock where we saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I have seen. The next day, my new friend and I decided to go on the dunes in the boarder of Mali on a motorbike. These sandy dunes and its surroundings had something surreal and magic. I wish I could have slept there and wake up in the sand, but it was then forbidden due to degradation made by tourists.

Afraid of lacking time to pick up my flight back to Paris, I headed back to Ouagadougou for more chiled out days (including a tremendous evening watching King kong in a cinema ;-)). But on the way, I stopped by a small village called Bani, which was surprisingly astonishing with its big mosque and 7 mosques on the rocky "plateau" we a wonderful view on the city and its surrounding.

I am now actually in Mumbai since today 6am, and will update with news asap :-)

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