Blogs from Abidjan, South, Cote d'Ivoire, Africa

Capita spesso, in Africa, di trascorrere tutta la giornata compressi su di un sudicio e surriscaldato taxi in compagnia di un'altra decina di sventurati passeggeri nel disperato tentativo di riuscire a percorrere senza intoppi quella decina di chilometri che ti separano dalla prossima destinazione; si arriva immancabilmente verso sera, sudati e ricoperti di polvere, col deretano sformato e le articolazioni rese insensibili da ore ed ore di forzata immobilita'. Tutto cio' che si vuole a questo punto e' di avere a disposizione una comoda e confortevole camera in cui poter far riposare le proprie stanche membra e dimenticare il caldo e gli odori molesti della strada; niente di eccezionale tutto sommato, soltanto un po' di semplice normalita'. Non in Africa Occidentale! Alla costante ricerca delle sistemazioni piu' economiche in citta', e comunque di qualsiasi cosa che ... read more

What am I doing in Ivory Coast? Well, it's a funny story with the explanation coming next! Not easy to find out proper information about visiting Ivory Coast. As you will find out even on Travelblog, the last entry dates back to 2012...and there are way less than 80 entries on the country...that is maybe the number of entries on Bangkok...every single week! My first entry is on the capital, Abidjan...my second one will be on a village, that a lot of you have heard before...and on which I will be the first one to write about here. And yes, I'll even share few words about Ebola...at the end of the day, as of today, Ebola is just few hours on the road from Abidjan...so in the Ivory Coast capital....everybody is speaking about it...even if it ... read more

That's right...I went to the Ivory Coast! Was it a bit nuts, scary, sketchy and everything else you'd imagine it to be? DAMN STRAIGHT it was!! Heather, Christina and I decided to go to the Ivory Coast for 4 days - three girls, on our own - we knew it would be a bit sketch but as adventurous as we are we were up for it! Three of our other friends were going to go with us but then when they went to the embassy (US citizens don't need a visa but Alessandro is from Italy) they were told that US citizens DO need a visa. We didnt have enough time to apply so the there of us girls decided we would just head for the border (about 5 hours) and try to cross anyways. When ... read more

Arriving at Adbidjan around 11:30 a.m. local time, we had a splendid aerial view of the city and its waterways coming in. I thought of Abidjan as being right on the coast, but is separated from the ocean by the Ébrié Lagoon. We transferred from the airport to the Hotel Ivoire InterContinental, a very modern high-rise hotel that had opened in 1964. (It is still in operation as the Sofitel Abidjan Hotel Ivoire.) There was an afternoon orientation tour around Abidjan by mortorcoach. The hotel was located in the Cocody district, across Baie de Cocody from the commercial part of the city. Immediately in back of the hotel was the headquarters of Radiodiffusion-Télévision ivoirienne (RTI). It was interesting to note that a number of African-American guests were staying at the hotel, on holiday to learn about ... read more