-Irving Wallace-
It was time to leave Ghana and enter a new country, for
all of us today. The Ivory Coast aka
officially named Côte d’Ivoire, which I can’t say, so I will be calling it the
Ivory Coast. With only a few sketchy
trip notes from previous Dragoman tours, we really weren’t sure what to expect
in regards to the condition of the roads, the time to drive, the border
crossings (which is always random) and then the travel time to Grand Bassam,
our final destination. So we had all
agreed on an early breakfast, so we could get a cooked one at the hotel, rather
than a later sleep time and a truck breakfast of cereal and coffee. We were all up and about at 6.30am for a
7.15am departure and the great news from the dorm last night was there was not
one snorer, out of the 5 of us and it was a tomb like quietness all night. You could see we were all relived when we all
asked how we slept and I think we were all pleasantly surprised just how well
we did sleep! Sam was even worse this
morning, so the drive day would all be Zoe’s and when we get into Grand Bassam
tonight we would be getting a doctor to Sam quick smart. He really looked like death on legs today, so
much so that he took the back seats of the truck so that he could sleep and Suzanne
took the navigator seat for the day to help out Zoe in getting us to the Ivory
Coast border. I am glad it was her up
there, as I am not much of a navigator and would hate that pressure, especially
on a day like today when we know it is going to be along one, but not knowing,
so every minute was precious to us.
The other time constraint was that Zoe and I had to head
into Abidjan to obtain my Guinea visa.
The plan was to get to Grand Bassam, drop the guys, get Sam a doctor and
then we were going to catch a bus to Abidjan, so that we were in the city ready
to go on Friday morning to hit the consulate first up in the morning and hope
and pray that we can get my visa issued in 1 day. The worst case scenario was that I would have
to wait until Monday, the group would head out as planned on the Saturday and I
would have to catch them up myself, which totally wasn’t a plan I was enthused
with, especially now that we were heading back into a French speaking country
where I know like 3 words of French and certainly not enough to navigate my way
on a public bus for 2 days. AND if that
was an eventuation then Dragoman would feel the wrath of Bernie, as the trip
notes and itinerary all said we could obtain this visa enroute and if it was
going to cost me a crap load more money and separation from the group I was not
going to be a happy camper. In truth if
I had of known I was going to be the only one, or that it was going to be this
close of getting the Guinea visa I could and would have done it in London in
May. It does look bad out of 5 people
that I am the only one, but they got it out of precaution rather than reading
the notes differently from me, just in my defence of course. Anyway, so again we were hoping for a favorable
arrival time so that Zoe and I wouldn’t be arriving into a city at night, in
the Ivory Coast-looking for accommodation for the night.
I have mentioned lots of times of how many time we get
pulled over by the police check points, especially in Ghana the last week. Some are easy, officers just being nosy and
generally not asking more than where we were coming from, where we are going
and then with a smile and a wave we are on our way. We have also been stopped for all sorts of
‘offences’ that to me are a scam in getting some form of payment, or as the
officers ask ‘do you have anything for me’.
I have yet to see one officer resist Zoe’s personality and charm and our
first stop this morning was no different.
We were pulled over and the officer (in white) said that we were
speeding, which was a total lie, as we were in a built up area and there were
cars on the roads. He did have a speed
gun in his hand with a reading over the limit, but as Zoe pointed out it could
have been any car as he waved that thing around before coming over to us in the
first place. After a few exchanged
words, yes you were speeding, no I wasn’t, yes you were, till Zoe pulled out
her tacograph to show him that it records her speed and that she was NOT
speeding through the small village. This
seem to keep the officer happy and then changed the tact onto more important
things of asking Zoe to marry him and become his wife and then asked if she had
anything for him hinting at money, Zoe said she had 2 cedes (1AUD) he was more
than welcome to take that and when he said no thanks, anything else, she pulled
out a bar of soap (still in its packet new) and he also said no to that and
realizing that he wasn’t going to get anything ‘worthwhile’ we were waved on
our way.
We only made one wrong turn in the morning costing us
around 45 minutes and it was not signed on which way we should have gone so we
had a 50-50 rate of getting it right, we got it wrong and after turning around
we made the largest city we saw for the day of Takotadi. It was that busy it took us 40 minutes to get
through the traffic and make the road that ran along the backend of the
airstrip, which was literally 20m away from the main road. After following that road for another 30
minutes we turned onto the road that would finally bring us to the Ghana border
2 hours later. This road was under a lot
of road works, from what I could make out with the signs posted the Chinese
were adding in a gas pipeline and for the whole 100km or so, the road was
riddled with pot holes, trucks and a lot of dust and workers. It was slow going and we were stopped at a
small outpost, for a security check, which we fast learned was where Zoe was to
stamp the truck out, so it was lucky that we were stopped and we then though we
would look for lunch options. There was
only eggs, plantain and plastic bags of ‘something’ as possibilities, so we
decided to raid the bulk food for some tuna, an onion, left over bread from
yesterday’s lunch, left over tomatoes and mayo that was in the fridge. As it was nearly 1pm and we were still not in
sight of the Ghana border, we decided to keep driving and we would make lunch
on the back tables so that we could keep moving, otherwise, even on a quick
lunch day we would lose 45 minutes with the setup and pack up of all the equipment. This is the beauty of a smaller group as you
have these options open to you that would be closed to near impossible with a
larger group. Over lunch Sam spilled
some more symptoms of his illness that now included his scrotum turning black
and watching him walk during the day was like watching someone who had ridden a
horse for 2 weeks and just got off. He
looked like he was in a lot of pain and there was nothing that anyone could
do. The doctor definitely had to be
called immediately when we arrived into Grand Bassam.
The bumpy and dodging roads continued for another 45
minutes and then for the rest of the way to the border we were able to gun it
down some pretty good roads. We finally
arrived at the Ghana border at 2pm and driving in it was an organized
chaos. There were trucks lined up one
side of the, shops and sellers walking the road dodging the traffic and it was
busy. We were waved through the main
gate and we could see the immigration office as we pulled in and there were a
lot of people milling around the 3 immigration windows. Hmmmmmm I wonder how long this was going to
take. We parked the truck, walked
through a small checkpoint and then given departure forms that we had to fill in
and then miraculously one window became free, even though there were still lots
of local people waiting and we were processed straight away, one after the
other. No questions, we were
photographed and stamped out. There were
a few of us who needed to use the toilets, so Zoe showed us where they were
(she had just been) and we walked behind some parked trucks unloading woven
mats-hundreds of them, and found the public toilets and after giving some small
coins I have to say I was surprised of the cleanliness of them. I am happy to pay if it helps keep them this
clean. They even smelt like roses-go
figure.
It was too far to walk to the Ivory Coast border, so we
all jumped back on the truck and after getting our truck papers checked before
crossing the bridge, we found ourselves at the Ivory Coast Immigration. They were busy here as well, but it seemed to
be in better order than in Ghana and there also seemed to be more guards of all
varieties here too. I could see 4
different uniforms as we drove in and were shown by an officer where we could
park. We were then shown to a small
verandah that had a bench seat that we all sat on with an immigration officer
sitting behind a big desk. It definitely
felt like we were back at school. He did
seem polite enough though and he individually checked all our visas first and
then attended the paper work in a book of recording all our details asking each
of us as he went what our occupations were.
For the ease of it all I am currently a teacher and they never question
anyone’s job. Well so far anyway. I remember when we were in South America we
put down all sorts of jobs like dolphin trainers, strippers, politicians and
the like and never got a question about them.
This guy seemed to understand English and wanting to enter the Ivory
Coast, none of us were going to be mucking around with this guy all the
same. We waited while he took our
passports to get stamped and then handed them all back to us and we were free to
go. The whole process would have taken
around 30 minutes and we walked the 10m back to the truck. We now had to wait for Zoe to get Madge
stamped in and they also needed to buy insurance for Madge for the next 6
months and that took some time and after 1 hour and 35 minutes we had cleared
Ghana, entered the Ivory Coast and wheels were rolling just after 3.30pm.
WELCOME TO COTE D’IVOIRE aka the Ivory Coast to us non-French
speaking people.
The scenery seemed to really change once we left the
border town. It was lusher, more
plantations and it was also a little misty as it was raining a little. There were kilometers of banana plantations
(or maybe plantain as I can’t tell the difference with the trees) and then that
changed into kilometers of rubber trees and then palm trees (for palm wine) and
there were fields of pineapples and some other trees that looked like a different
palm, but could have been pandanus. It
was a very agricultural drive and we had also passed through 4 security
checkpoints in a span of 40 minutes and not once did they stop us, we slowed
down, they had a quick assessment as we rolled past and with the blow on the
issued pink whistles (this was hilarious) and a smile we were waved through
every single one, what a difference to Ghana!!!
The road seemed to be more of a country lane type road, wide enough for
a car to pass, but with a lot of tall vegetation and trees for the first hour
or so before hitting the fields. We drove
and drove for a further 2.5 hours finally getting us into Grand Bassam just
after 6pm. What a massive drive day, but
especially for Zoe who did all the driving as Sam was still in a bad way and
the second we unloaded the bags, the doctor was called as we had 2 nights here,
so Sam could rest up, get medicated up and hopefully be on the mend for our
departure on Saturday. The accommodation
that we are staying so far has been very hoity toity after what we experienced
for the first 3 weeks. It would only
still be classed a good 2.5-3 star, but after camping in basic and rustic
places, these hotels are a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. To have hot water, a TAP to have a shower, a
flushing toilet and here we even have a TV (with one station) and
AIR-CONDITIONING!!!!! Now that is what I
call HEAVEN. Add to that FREE Wi-Fi and
the ocean a stone’s throw from the rooms, we were in travel bliss. After having a tough first 3 weeks, it is
nice to have some comforts, if only for a short time as we have 6 bush camps
coming up and it makes the lap of luxury that less guilty.
Grand-Bassam is
a city in Côte d'Ivoire,
lying east of Abidjan.
It was the French colonial capital city from 1893 to 1896, when the
administration was transferred to Bingerville after a bout of yellow fever.
The city remained a key seaport until the growth of Abidjan from the 1930s. The city has the aura of a ghost town, since
large sections have been abandoned for decades. In 1896 the French capital was
moved to Bingerville, and commercial shipping gradually declined until it
virtually ceased in the 1930s. In 1960, with independence, all remaining
administrative offices were transferred to Abidjan, and for many years Grand
Bassam was inhabited only by squatters. Beginning in the late 1970s the city began
to revive as a tourist destination and craft center. It now has a year-round
population of approximately 5,000. The
city is divided by the Ébrié Lagoon into two halves: Ancient Bassam is the former French settlement,
facing the Gulf of
Guinea. It is home to the grander colonial buildings, some of which
have been restored. The district is also home to a cathedral and the Côte d'Ivoire
National Museum of Costume. Nouveau
Bassam, linked to Ancient Bassam by a bridge, lies on
the inland, northern side of the lagoon. It grew from the African servants'
quarter and is now the main commercial center of the town. In 2012, it was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It was now 6.45pm and after Zoe had spoken to the hotel
owner, getting information for us to get to Abidjan, it seemed that the city is
only an hour’s drive away and we decided, to save money and time, which we
would just commute in the morning and back in the evening. That way if Sam was still not 100% then Zoe
would be back to drive the truck rather than picking us up in Abidjan on the way
through on Saturday morning, and we got to stay at this nice hotel for the 2
nights, use the free Wi-Fi and it not cost me too much more. We initially had the plan of catching a taxi
to the bus station in the morning and then the bus to Abidjan and then a taxi
to the consulate and then home again the same way in the afternoon. Zoe asked Ben about a driver/taxi and he said
that it was an expensive option and when I asked how expensive is expensive and
when he rang ‘his’ guy it was going to cost 30,000CFA (60AUD). I thought that was a little much and we
decided to use the taxi one way and then we would have the time to catch the
public transport back in the afternoon.
So we negotiated a 15,000CFA rate (30AUD) and a pickup time of 7.30am
for the morning to try our luck at the Guinea Consulate. Sam was originally going tom come and even
before he got sick, they decided it would be better to have a French speaker to
plead my case and if anyone was going to win somebody over it was going to be
Zoe. If I didn’t get the visa it would
not be from lack of charm and personality that is for sure.
An update on Sam, when the doctor had finished with him he had a bacterial infection that had targeted his balls and had been given an IV treatment, as it is quicker and time was of the essence for our stop over and he would be back tomorrow for another does and to check up on the patient. Now that is unlucky for a guy to get that-very unlucky indeed and it was interesting to watch Rich and Ian’s face when Sam was hobbling around like John Wayne. Dinner was at the hotel and at 9pm, would you believe the
power went off. Apparently this had been
happening the last week, so there goes the air-con, the Wi-Fi and also the
water, which must run on a pump of some sort.
Well as they say easy come easy go and at 9.45pm I was tucked up in my
bed with a book in my hand till I fell asleep with the Ivory Coast and Guinea
in my head.
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