On 25th March, after a fairly tough two day bus journey down from
Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso, we arrived in
Abidjan, the capital of the
Ivory Coast. We headed directly to the Treichville suburb where most of the economy hotels seemed to be situated. We soon discovered why this area was more commonly known as 'Trashville'. The suburb seemed a world away from the more glitzy CBD area of the city which was just across the water. The hotels were pretty grungy, but it was late so we decided to get one for the night. The neighborhood was dark and a little scary - especially after a women came up to us and warned us that there was a good chance we would get our throats cut by thieves! The hotel owner also begged us not to go out after dark, fearing for our safety. Taking all the advice we decided not to stay out late and retreat to the relative safety of our hotel, only to find that our room was infested with cockroaches!. After quite an unpleasant night, the next day we swapped hotels and went up market a little!
We decided that we would just spend a few days in Abidjan and the Ivory Coast before traveling on to
Ghana - we had heard many good things about Ghana. We checked out the center of Abidjan which seemed a modern city with all of the normal amenities. Our highlight was a pool side seafood buffet at the Ivoire Hotel - supposedly the best hotel in West Africa. It was great to sit by the pool side, lit by oil lanterns and listening to live music - sometimes you just need a little luxury in Africa!
On 28th March we caught a 6.30am bus from the Ghana State Transport Corp. bus terminal to Basua in Ghana. It felt very different traveling through the lush tropical countryside after so much time in the desert and sahel regions. Finally after a bureaucratic 4 hour border crossing we arrived at the beach town of Basua just after sunset. Basua seemed calm and relaxed especially after the hustle and bustle of Abidjan.
(to be continued)
