Any Travels

Cote d'Ivoire with capital city Yamoussoukro is located in the northern hemisphere between the Tropic of Cancer and the equator and opens to the Atlantic Ocean in the Gulf of Guinea . More precisely its coordinates are between laitude 10° and 4° North and 10° and 0° longitude West. Its surface is about 322,462 sq.km.

Cote d'Ivoire has common boundaries with 5 countries : Liberia in the West then Guinea a bit up in the North - Mali and Burkina Faso in the North - Ghana in the East. The coast alongside the Gulf of Guinea is 550 km long.

The political capital is Yamoussoukro (about 120,000 inhabitants) and the economic one is Abidjan (about 1,850,000 inhabitants). Cote d'Ivoire reckons four main rivers with many tributaries :

- Comoe has its source in Burkina Faso and goes across the country from the North to the South crossing the Parc National de la Comoe (National Reserve of Comoe) proceeds along the frontier of Ghana and flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Grand Bassam.

- In the North-West of Yamoussoukro the river Bandaman is formed by the meeting of the Bandaman Blanc whose source is in the North of Korhogo, and flows into the tremendous lake of Kossou shaped by the dam of the same name and the Bandaman Rouge or Marahoue which takes its source in the Malinke country. The Bandaman proceeds then down to the South forming the lake of Taabo, and reaches the Gulf of Guinea at Grand Lahou alongside the Parc National d'Asagny (National Reserve of Azagny).

- The river Sassandra formed in the North of the Parc National du Mont Sangbe (National Reserve of Mount Sanbge) by two principal tributaries, the Boa and the Tiemba, goes down to the South marking the eastern boundary of the reserve and flows into the lake shaped by the Buyo Dam. It then takes a South-East direction passing by Soubre (the Naoua Fall) and reaches the Atlantic Ocean at Sassandra.

- The river Cavally comes from Guinea and enters Cote d'Ivoire crossing the Dan territory. Down in the South it marks the boundary with Liberia till Cap palmas on the Gulf of Guinea.

Those rivers are not navigable notably because of rapids and waterfalls or still because of a lack of flow during the dry season. However some sections are used for fishing and tourism, particularly on the Sassandra.The forest heritage of Cote d'Ivoire has been considerably reduced during the recent decades, partly because of an excessive exploitation of the resources without any real reforestation policy. As such the forest that used to cover 12.5 millions hectares in the 60s only represents about 3 millions hectares today plus 1.6 millions hectares for national reserves.

However Cote d'Ivoire is aware of the necessity to protect its forest heritage and is mostly starting an important reforestation sensitisation campaign ; the objective being to reach an optimum plant covering between 14% to120% whereas it is only 11% today.

The forest is spread all over the Southern part of the country (pale green zone on the map). It is limited in the South by the coast of the Gulf of Guinea and in the North by an axis going from Man in the West , down to the region of Yamoussoukro in the South and up again near Bondoukou in the Eastern part of the country.

The primary forest has almost disappeared except for some protected zones such as national reserves of Tai in the South-West of the country and Banco in the surroundings of Abidjan where beautiful specimens could still be found

Cote d'Ivoire is a transitional zone between the moist equatorial climate and the dry tropical climate. As such the country can be divided into two main zones : The South and the North. As a whole, temperatures are high and the difference between the zones is seen at the level of the hygrometry rate in the air which can be close to 100% in the South and fall at 20% in the North during Harmattan (dry winds coming from Sahara). So although often warmer, the Northern Climate is more pleasant, for it is easier to bear warm temperatures in dry areas than in moist ones. Temperatures are generally between 28° and 37°C. In fact the country's climate changes with the movement of the Intertropical Front which inflicts in turn, the very moist oceanic regime of Southern trade winds then the Saharan regime of drier Northern trade winds (Harmattan).

The Ivorian population that used to be 5.4 millions in 1970 was 13.5 millions in 1995 with an annual population growth rate of 3.8%. Projections forsees a global population of about 18 millions in 2000. 48% of the population is less than 14 years old. The cross section of life between 15 and 64 year old represents 49.3% . The beyond 65 years only represents 2.5%.

Those figures show the youth of the Ivorian population. Its life expectancy is 55 years; which is relatively high for an African country. The mortality rate at the birth which used to be 135 per thousand in 1970 is regressing significantly. It fell at 92 per thousand at the beginning of 1990s whereas the mortality rate before 5 years old which used to be 18% in 1975 has now stabilized at 13%. That positive evolution is explained by the very high availability in calories (2,950 daily). It is also due to a very large medical covering (one medical doctor for 9,000 inhabitants). About 25% of the Ivorian population lives in the region of Abidjan (2,700,000 inhabitants) where density is 95.7 inhabitants for a km2. That is the most important concentration in the country. It must be noticed that up-country towns as Bouake (396,000 inhabitants) and Daloa (138,000 inhabitants ) are real city centres.

Cote d'Ivoire has about 60 ethnic groups shared throughout the country according to specific geographic zones.

In the South, region of lagoons and the forest hinterland, between the rivers Comoe and Bandaman one records a dozen of small goups of people. They are "Lagoonars" or KRA. However that land of beach is not a home of fishermen . Nevertheless a few Zema and Avikan fish in the sea.

Only the Eitoles in the far South-East have represented the type of people exclusively fishermen. Apart from the Eitoles then the Lagoonars and the landsmen Aboure, a half dozen of groups live near the lagoon. Among them one finds the Essouma and the Alladian.

The Senoufos, authentic peasants occupy the North of the country around Korhogo in the upper scroll of the river Bandaman. In the North-west, at Odienne and Touba and in the mid-West at Mankono, there are the Malinkes' land. They are farmers but much more interested in commerce and transportation activities.The Lobi and Koulango live in the East. In the North - West mountains, the Dan, Wobe and Toura grow rice and cassava extensively. The South and West of that zone is for the Guere, Krou, Bete, Gagou and Dida.

The Baoule people are established in the savannah and the forest zone respectively the Mid-East and the South-East of the country. Numerous peoples resembling the Guere or the Krou and spread into the forest in a multitude of different important groups can be reported in the South-west. There, one finds the Godie, Koidia, Neyo, Bondoukoua, Tepo and many other more.Ivorians are a deeply religious people, however, 13% of the Ivorian population do not belong to any religion and Muslims represent 23% of the population while Christians represent only 12%. 65% of the population is composed of animists, which is a very significant proportion.

It is to be noted that there is a new tendancy in the proliferation of sects or the division in the Christian Church. Among the new sects, the "Soldier of God", the "Assemblies of God" and "Jehovah Witnesses" are particularly representative of the significant ones.

As can be observed in Cote d'Ivoire, the traditional African religions that may be generally classed as animists have remained in the majority and resisted, for more than a century, the thrust of the Muslim marabous and the white Christian missionaries

nice
its amazing! especially assinie resort! total chill experience