Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

 

Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) has a population of 30 million, primarily consisting of five ethnic groups, though it has over sixty groups with 78 languages. The country is 42% Islam and 40% Christian. The country gained independence from France on August 7, 1960. The leader of the independence movement ruled as President for the next 33 years. After a couple of civil wars, the country regained peace in 2011. The country has a strong economy primarily based on cocoa (40% of the world supply) and coffee (5^th largest in the world). The economy is the second fastest growing in Africa (7.1%).

Local group enjoying the forest preserve

Our excursion was to the Banco Forest Reserve, the first National Park in the country. Traffic was a nightmare in the city – we had a police escort to get us through faster. The Reserve forms one of the borders of the city. It is the second largest urban park in the world. It has both native plants and many plants brought in from elsewhere, especially in its arboretum. We entered through a thick forest of bamboo just wide enough for our bus to travel. Cars going the other way often had to park with their wheels in the ditch in the few wide spots of the road for us to pass. (Our police escort helped!) The park provides about 40% of Abidjan’s water. 

Azize explaining the uses for a tree

Our guide, Azize was born and raised in the village at the center of the park. He explained the medicines that were derived from the various trees or leaves. We walked a little over 5 kilometers mostly stopping to see various tree species, and a few butterflies. We could hear birds on occasion but never saw one. The park is home to the Forestry school where students spend six months to become rangers in the park system. The most interesting part of the hike was when we saw huge catfish in the river running through the park.

Côte d'Ivoire was our 110^th country.