Assini, Ivory Coast - Monday 8 October 2007 - Introduction to Ivory Coast

Thanks to my friend Tessa from South Africa we entered Ivory Coast with no problem what so ever. 20 minutes to exit Ghana and 20 minutes to sort out the paperwork for Ivory Coast, that's the way we love to cross borders. Tessa scanned my new carnet and sent it by email and I neatly put it together so it looked like the original which means less hassle, less money and easier travel.

We entered the 35th African country on Sunday at 1500 hours and drove all the way to the coast to this country's "Beverly Hills". A distance of 180 km easly reached by the excellent road network. It is said that beside South Africa and Nigeria these are the best roads in Africa, which is easy to belive.

The above photo depicts the road standards from the Ghana border going south-west to Abidjan and the only sign of economic downfall since the golden area is the lack of roadside maintenance.

Ivory Coast could easily have been one Africa's richest countries (not dependent on oil, gas and mining) as their agricultural adventures in the 60s and 70s made them one of the most successful farmers in Africa. Due to civil unrest, fight for power and the usual manmade tragedies for many countries alike, it went downwards from 1999 and almost up to present day. Now however this pearl of West Africa has to start over again to gain trust from foreign governments, investors and of course the tourism industry. The country has great potential and we have visited an area where there should have been an abundance of tourists from France, America and other western countries. The infrastructure is here, the country just have to calm down.