Feb 2-Korhogo - Cote d'Ivoire
Early on Saturday morning we ate breakfast and packed up our camp site ready for the trek into Cote d'Ivoire. The border town, Niangoloko, was no more than a strip of vendors selling food, drinks, clothes and souvenirs. First we had to leave Burkina, and then after a 10 k drive enter into Cote d'Ivoire. Lots of red tape, showing of documents, demands for further documents in order to collect extra monies, a moment of concern when they asked for proof of Meningitis shots because there had been a new outbreak in the local area - but yellow fever is the only shot "required" by the government regulations. So....after some palaver we were allowed in. It caused a lot of interest when we set up for lunch, and of course the usual group of interested onlookers. You get used to that. I think it works fairly equally, we get as much pleasure from watching what the Africans do as they get of watching what we do. Some of the children are scared of us, and although the mother may be pushing them forward for a photo, often the little babies start to cry. That makes you feel awful that you have frightened them! The slightly older children are all about touch. They take a few tentative steps towards you holding out their hand, finally pluck up the courage to touch you, and then try to stroke your arm or hand whichever they are brave enough to get close to. Then there are the other children who march up to us confidently and grab hold of your hand and become attached for the duration of your stay at that place. There is also a keen sense of camraderie with the women. They will look somberly right in to your eyes, and if you look straight back at them and smile, their faces open up into a broad smile of an accomplice.
The journey into Cote d'Ivoire and Korhogo was quite beautiful. We entered the land of the mango plantations which lined the roads, and the vegetation became quite lush, well, not Canadian style "lush", but African style "lush". Still an awful lot of burning in the fields. At times it looks as if it is quite out of hand - but who knows. The fires always seem to go out somehow.
We pulled into Korhogo around 3:30/4:00, had some time to relax before I headed off to my cook group to make dinner. Unfortunately, no meat, so it was a vegetable curry, green beans, and rice!
Let me tell you a little bit about Cote d'Ivoire. The country was made up of numerous ethnic groups which migrated into the region from all around about 400 years ago, and one of the larger groups were the Senoufo who are strong in and around Korhogo. The Portuguese were the first European group, but because the country didn't have great harbours, they suffered little from the slave trade. In the 1840s the French arrived and developed trading relations with the various groups. The French developed the railways, and the coffee, cocoa, and banana plantations. The country was West Africa's most prosperous country. It became independent in 1960 and continued to flourish with an economy based on agriculture - coffee, cocoa, pineapples, and palm oil for a good 20 years. Then, the world recession in the early 1980s hit, followed by a drought in 1983/84 and the economy, and constant power failures in the capital Abidjan. The President, who had ruled for 33 years, did everything he could to slash spending etc. but he was aging. In the 1995 elections a new president was elected but he discriminated against immigrants who had been the backbone of the country for many years, including against the Muslims, and in 1999 there was a military coup which brought his presidency to an end and only served to bring unrest to the country. The coup was followed by a military rebellion, violence, and further elections in 2000. Resulting accusations of parentage against the winner ended up in a failed coup in 2002, rebellion and troops from the north gaining control of much of the country. French troops came in and peace talks were held so that in 2003 both sides declared the war over. In 2004 lack of improvement in the economic situation in the country led to breaking the ceasefire and the Prewsident began bombing rebel strongholds. During this time jets struck a Frencgh military base killing 9 French peacekeepers. The French retaliated by destroying the Ivorian air force and Abijan because the centre of total unrest. Eventually elections were scheduled for 2007 and French peacekeepers startd to pull back. But a rocket attach on the PM's plane killed four of his aides and UN Security Council renewed arms sanctions for another year. In April 2008 there were violent protests against rising food costs which stalled the elections even further. Then there were claims of disorganized voter registration and the elections were postponed again and again and were eventually held in 2010. Of course there were accusations all round which led to crisis here in 2010/2011 which was not settled until April 2011. Currently US travel warnings alert travellers to be conscious of security, but these warnings are mainly for the southern part where we are not travelling. So, all being well, provided we keep a heightened sense of security, it should be good. Hope that is not too obscure an explanation. Wikipaedia has quite a good and fuller description, but I just thought you might like to know some of the tumultuous background of this country.
Early on Saturday morning we ate breakfast and packed up our camp site ready for the trek into Cote d'Ivoire. The border town, Niangoloko, was no more than a strip of vendors selling food, drinks, clothes and souvenirs. First we had to leave Burkina, and then after a 10 k drive enter into Cote d'Ivoire. Lots of red tape, showing of documents, demands for further documents in order to collect extra monies, a moment of concern when they asked for proof of Meningitis shots because there had been a new outbreak in the local area - but yellow fever is the only shot "required" by the government regulations. So....after some palaver we were allowed in. It caused a lot of interest when we set up for lunch, and of course the usual group of interested onlookers. You get used to that. I think it works fairly equally, we get as much pleasure from watching what the Africans do as they get of watching what we do. Some of the children are scared of us, and although the mother may be pushing them forward for a photo, often the little babies start to cry. That makes you feel awful that you have frightened them! The slightly older children are all about touch. They take a few tentative steps towards you holding out their hand, finally pluck up the courage to touch you, and then try to stroke your arm or hand whichever they are brave enough to get close to. Then there are the other children who march up to us confidently and grab hold of your hand and become attached for the duration of your stay at that place. There is also a keen sense of camraderie with the women. They will look somberly right in to your eyes, and if you look straight back at them and smile, their faces open up into a broad smile of an accomplice.
The journey into Cote d'Ivoire and Korhogo was quite beautiful. We entered the land of the mango plantations which lined the roads, and the vegetation became quite lush, well, not Canadian style "lush", but African style "lush". Still an awful lot of burning in the fields. At times it looks as if it is quite out of hand - but who knows. The fires always seem to go out somehow.
We pulled into Korhogo around 3:30/4:00, had some time to relax before I headed off to my cook group to make dinner. Unfortunately, no meat, so it was a vegetable curry, green beans, and rice!
Let me tell you a little bit about Cote d'Ivoire. The country was made up of numerous ethnic groups which migrated into the region from all around about 400 years ago, and one of the larger groups were the Senoufo who are strong in and around Korhogo. The Portuguese were the first European group, but because the country didn't have great harbours, they suffered little from the slave trade. In the 1840s the French arrived and developed trading relations with the various groups. The French developed the railways, and the coffee, cocoa, and banana plantations. The country was West Africa's most prosperous country. It became independent in 1960 and continued to flourish with an economy based on agriculture - coffee, cocoa, pineapples, and palm oil for a good 20 years. Then, the world recession in the early 1980s hit, followed by a drought in 1983/84 and the economy, and constant power failures in the capital Abidjan. The President, who had ruled for 33 years, did everything he could to slash spending etc. but he was aging. In the 1995 elections a new president was elected but he discriminated against immigrants who had been the backbone of the country for many years, including against the Muslims, and in 1999 there was a military coup which brought his presidency to an end and only served to bring unrest to the country. The coup was followed by a military rebellion, violence, and further elections in 2000. Resulting accusations of parentage against the winner ended up in a failed coup in 2002, rebellion and troops from the north gaining control of much of the country. French troops came in and peace talks were held so that in 2003 both sides declared the war over. In 2004 lack of improvement in the economic situation in the country led to breaking the ceasefire and the Prewsident began bombing rebel strongholds. During this time jets struck a Frencgh military base killing 9 French peacekeepers. The French retaliated by destroying the Ivorian air force and Abijan because the centre of total unrest. Eventually elections were scheduled for 2007 and French peacekeepers startd to pull back. But a rocket attach on the PM's plane killed four of his aides and UN Security Council renewed arms sanctions for another year. In April 2008 there were violent protests against rising food costs which stalled the elections even further. Then there were claims of disorganized voter registration and the elections were postponed again and again and were eventually held in 2010. Of course there were accusations all round which led to crisis here in 2010/2011 which was not settled until April 2011. Currently US travel warnings alert travellers to be conscious of security, but these warnings are mainly for the southern part where we are not travelling. So, all being well, provided we keep a heightened sense of security, it should be good. Hope that is not too obscure an explanation. Wikipaedia has quite a good and fuller description, but I just thought you might like to know some of the tumultuous background of this country.
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