Travel to Côte D'Ivoire
December 23, 2015 3:18 PM Subscribe
A friend invited me to visit her in Abidjan in March or June of 2016. I'm excited but cautious. I'd appreciate any and all advice and anecdotes. Thanks!
My friend and her husband are European; he is a diplomat and she has experience working and traveling throughout Africa. I feel this is a wonderful opportunity but am a complete greenhorn when it comes to traveling in places so very different from North America and Europe. I understand that Côte D'Ivoire is a rather stable country and Abidjan a major metropolitan city like NYC. Still I'm concerned about safety (it's clear I'm foreign), health (not Ebola but malaria, etc.), and cultural differences (don't want to be the ugly American!)
Ideally, I'd go for about a week and stop for a few days in Germany before or after. I don't speak French but have a great deal of curiosity and respect for the diverse culture of Côte D'Ivoire. Thanks!
My friend and her husband are European; he is a diplomat and she has experience working and traveling throughout Africa. I feel this is a wonderful opportunity but am a complete greenhorn when it comes to traveling in places so very different from North America and Europe. I understand that Côte D'Ivoire is a rather stable country and Abidjan a major metropolitan city like NYC. Still I'm concerned about safety (it's clear I'm foreign), health (not Ebola but malaria, etc.), and cultural differences (don't want to be the ugly American!)
Ideally, I'd go for about a week and stop for a few days in Germany before or after. I don't speak French but have a great deal of curiosity and respect for the diverse culture of Côte D'Ivoire. Thanks!
Best answer: I've spent about 20 months of the past 4 years living and working in Cote d'Ivoire, although I work in Western CIV and have spent only about a month in Abidjan. If you can give me some specific questions, I'd be happy to answer them as thoroughly as I can!
I am sure that your friend will have specific ideas of things to do and see in Abidjan, but if you are looking for things to do outside of ABJ, let me know. Yamoussoukro is only about a two hour drive from Abidjan, and you can see the world's largest basilica, for example. Grand Bassam and the beaches around it are lovely. When I am in Abidjan, I stay in Yopougon, which is a lower-middle class neighborhood where you don't see a lot of white people or ex-pats. I'd guess that your friend lives around Plateau or Cocody, which is where you'll find most of the ex-pats, wealthier Ivorians, and folks working in various embassies.
Cote d'Ivoire is currently quite calm after the most recent elections, but some of the neighborhoods (like Yopougon and Abobo) will still occasionally hold demonstrations which the police can respond to violently. There can also be a serious problem with carjackings. I'd defer to your friends' sense of safety here, as my experiences have primarily been as the only white person hanging out with a bunch of Ivorians, which is a very different setting. I will say that most of the non-professional people I interacted with did not speak English (folks like vendors, taxi drivers, people at bars and restaurants), so expect to either rely almost entirely on your friend for translation and/or spend some time learning some French phrases. I will also say that I (white woman) got a lot of initially dirty looks until people realized I wasn't French. I also experienced a lot of street harassment. Although nothing truly dangerous happened to me, being able to speak French made a big difference as far as my safety and situational awareness, so I enthusiastically agree with guster4lovers that you should go, but I'd be less cavalier about safety - definitely follow your friends' leads.
Take all the recommended shots you're supposed to, and get anti-malaria prophylaxes. I've managed to get malaria two of the three times I was in CIV, and although I was in a rural area and there for much longer than you'll be, malaria sucks and it's worth spending the money on anti-malarials to be reasonably sure that you won't get it. You have to show a yellow fever certificate upon entry.
There's an e-VISA process you can go through now online - feel free to send me a me-mail if you'd like any help with that sort of logistical stuff. I love working in Cote d'Ivoire! If you end up going towards June, let me know as I might be heading there for a few weeks this summer, myself!
posted by ChuraChura at 6:29 PM on December 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
I am sure that your friend will have specific ideas of things to do and see in Abidjan, but if you are looking for things to do outside of ABJ, let me know. Yamoussoukro is only about a two hour drive from Abidjan, and you can see the world's largest basilica, for example. Grand Bassam and the beaches around it are lovely. When I am in Abidjan, I stay in Yopougon, which is a lower-middle class neighborhood where you don't see a lot of white people or ex-pats. I'd guess that your friend lives around Plateau or Cocody, which is where you'll find most of the ex-pats, wealthier Ivorians, and folks working in various embassies.
Cote d'Ivoire is currently quite calm after the most recent elections, but some of the neighborhoods (like Yopougon and Abobo) will still occasionally hold demonstrations which the police can respond to violently. There can also be a serious problem with carjackings. I'd defer to your friends' sense of safety here, as my experiences have primarily been as the only white person hanging out with a bunch of Ivorians, which is a very different setting. I will say that most of the non-professional people I interacted with did not speak English (folks like vendors, taxi drivers, people at bars and restaurants), so expect to either rely almost entirely on your friend for translation and/or spend some time learning some French phrases. I will also say that I (white woman) got a lot of initially dirty looks until people realized I wasn't French. I also experienced a lot of street harassment. Although nothing truly dangerous happened to me, being able to speak French made a big difference as far as my safety and situational awareness, so I enthusiastically agree with guster4lovers that you should go, but I'd be less cavalier about safety - definitely follow your friends' leads.
Take all the recommended shots you're supposed to, and get anti-malaria prophylaxes. I've managed to get malaria two of the three times I was in CIV, and although I was in a rural area and there for much longer than you'll be, malaria sucks and it's worth spending the money on anti-malarials to be reasonably sure that you won't get it. You have to show a yellow fever certificate upon entry.
There's an e-VISA process you can go through now online - feel free to send me a me-mail if you'd like any help with that sort of logistical stuff. I love working in Cote d'Ivoire! If you end up going towards June, let me know as I might be heading there for a few weeks this summer, myself!
posted by ChuraChura at 6:29 PM on December 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
Best answer: Yes, go.
As someone posted to an embassy, your friend's husband will be aware of the local do's and don't's. Embassy personnel typical are alerted to new, temporary, issues, as well.
Read the State Dept advisory. Read up on the country. Be a smart traveler. Pay attention.
posted by justcorbly at 3:05 AM on December 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
As someone posted to an embassy, your friend's husband will be aware of the local do's and don't's. Embassy personnel typical are alerted to new, temporary, issues, as well.
Read the State Dept advisory. Read up on the country. Be a smart traveler. Pay attention.
posted by justcorbly at 3:05 AM on December 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: A word about anti-malarials. I have found the advice in Europe to be out of date. In West Africa you should be able to get artemisinin - the drug for which a Chinese woman recently won the Nobel prize. It is a dose of around six or eight tablets over 4 days. I take the dose as a preventative as soon as I arrive, since I've had very bad malaria after taking what my health centre in UK recommended as a preventative. Also use something like jungle juice - deet - to protect yourself from bites, which can happen at the most unexpected times, like when sitting on the loo. Try to use a mosquito net if the house where you're staying isn't properly screened, although itrs likely that it will be. People there take malaria for granted the way English people think of catching cold, but if you do get it, its the sickest you probably will feel in your life.
posted by glasseyes at 2:02 PM on December 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by glasseyes at 2:02 PM on December 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Nobody would ever go to West Africa if they were paying attention to the official advice. Then they would miss a lot if good things.
posted by glasseyes at 2:04 PM on December 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by glasseyes at 2:04 PM on December 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thank you all for your helpful advice and positivity!
guster4lovers & justcorbly: I appreciate your encouragement and support.
ChuraChura: You shared so much detailed and wonderful advice, and I thank you for that. I will likely have questions to ask as the time gets closer. Right now I need to schedule a yellow fever vaccine and decide on a flight; the friend will provide an official letter of invitation when she's back from a different trip abroad.
glasseyes: Your quote is spot-on, thank you! I also appreciate your very practical and up-to-date advice about anti-malarials. I realize that mosquitos/avoiding malaria will likely be my biggest worry and thing to work to avoid.
posted by smorgasbord at 7:38 PM on January 19, 2016
guster4lovers & justcorbly: I appreciate your encouragement and support.
ChuraChura: You shared so much detailed and wonderful advice, and I thank you for that. I will likely have questions to ask as the time gets closer. Right now I need to schedule a yellow fever vaccine and decide on a flight; the friend will provide an official letter of invitation when she's back from a different trip abroad.
glasseyes: Your quote is spot-on, thank you! I also appreciate your very practical and up-to-date advice about anti-malarials. I realize that mosquitos/avoiding malaria will likely be my biggest worry and thing to work to avoid.
posted by smorgasbord at 7:38 PM on January 19, 2016
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However, as a young white woman who traveled alone pretty extensively in southern Africa, I'd say go for it.
However however, I haven't been to Côte D'Ivoire. I have been in some pretty dangerous areas of Jo'burg and in situations I probably shouldn't have been in. They all turned out okay.
If you're with people familiar with the area, you should be fine. Sounds fun - good luck!
posted by guster4lovers at 4:53 PM on December 23, 2015 [1 favorite]