How safe is the Ivory Coast these days?
July 24, 2009 7:44 PM Subscribe
Ivory Coast safety?
How safe is the Ivory Coast these days for Americans? The CIA and Lonely Planet guides say "not very", but that is their job. Someone I know is going over there for a few weeks to be a consultant for a biblically-themed amusement park? One week of business, one week of Baptist revival???? He is not religious. I am finding the whole thing a little scary and confusing. Help? (throwaway email at cotedivoireworry@hotmail.com)
How safe is the Ivory Coast these days for Americans? The CIA and Lonely Planet guides say "not very", but that is their job. Someone I know is going over there for a few weeks to be a consultant for a biblically-themed amusement park? One week of business, one week of Baptist revival???? He is not religious. I am finding the whole thing a little scary and confusing. Help? (throwaway email at cotedivoireworry@hotmail.com)
Funnily enough I saw a friend last night who just got back from a month in West Africa including a few days in Abidjan. He loved it and reckoned it was quite safe. He is a pretty good traveller though.
I agree that it really depends on who your friend will be staying with, and to some extent what sort of person he is. I haven't been to Cote D'Ivoire but have travelled to some other West African countries and my general advice is to get the right mixture of wariness, resourcefulness and trusting. Being hopelessly gullible, unassertive, unable to read cues in different cultures, or overly suspicious of everyone will make the trip a lot less fun and a little more risky. When I had the odd stressful situation (aggressive taxi drivers etc) there were usually people around who'd help.
Oh, and knowing some French would be good. If your friend doesn't know any French, listening to the Michel Thomas CDs would be very worthwhile. The Lonely PLanet's Thorntree forum might provide some more info although it tends to attract people who like to be totally blase about risks.
Yeah the Baptist theme park thing does sound odd, but who knows.
posted by 8k at 2:14 AM on July 25, 2009
I agree that it really depends on who your friend will be staying with, and to some extent what sort of person he is. I haven't been to Cote D'Ivoire but have travelled to some other West African countries and my general advice is to get the right mixture of wariness, resourcefulness and trusting. Being hopelessly gullible, unassertive, unable to read cues in different cultures, or overly suspicious of everyone will make the trip a lot less fun and a little more risky. When I had the odd stressful situation (aggressive taxi drivers etc) there were usually people around who'd help.
Oh, and knowing some French would be good. If your friend doesn't know any French, listening to the Michel Thomas CDs would be very worthwhile. The Lonely PLanet's Thorntree forum might provide some more info although it tends to attract people who like to be totally blase about risks.
Yeah the Baptist theme park thing does sound odd, but who knows.
posted by 8k at 2:14 AM on July 25, 2009
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by tarvuz at 8:04 PM on July 24, 2009