Ivory Coast

by Tom Sykes 

Publication Date:  25th Jul 2016


£18.99

The Ivory Coast Travel Guide – Expert travel advice and tourist tips on everything from Yamoussoukro and Abidjan highlights to Cote d’Ivoire history and culture. Also featuring natural history and endemic wildlife, visas and safety, Dix-Huit Montagnes, Comoé and Taï national parks, local cuisine, music and talking drums.

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About this book

This is the only English-language guidebook to focus solely on Ivory Coast, a country of crimson savannas, sublime mountains and cream-hued beaches that is becoming popular for ecotourism and wildlife, surfing and off-the-beaten track travel. Having only recently re-opened for tourism, Ivory Coast is West Africa’s hidden treasure. In-depth and comprehensive coverage of everything from chimp-watching and hiking to food and the Ivorian music and dance scene is featured. Packed with vivid descriptions, detailed maps and essential practical advice, this book is invaluable to any visitor, whatever your purpose. Wide-ranging information on food and accommodation is given for each region.

Ivory Coast’s nature is as alluring as its culture, whether you want to surf off beaches of Assinie, trek through the savannas of the north or scale Mount Tonkoui for panoramic views of Liberia and Guinea. In the Comoé, Taï and Marahoué national parks, it’s possible to glimpse leopards, lions, chimpanzees, aardvarks, antelopes and 500 bird species. The guide includes sections offering advice on hiking and trekking the northern alpine regions and on birdwatching and wildlife-spotting in the various national parks.

About the Author

Tom Sykes has been a travel writer and editor since the 2005 publication of No Such Th ing As A Free Ride?, an anthology of hitchhiking tales that he co-compiled for Cassell llustrated. Since his first visit to Ivory Coast in 2013, he has published articles on everything from the persecution of Ivorian Rastafarians to the 2015 presidential election for The Scotsman, The London Magazine, African Courier, British Guild of Travel Writers website, New Statesman, New Internationalist and New African (it seems that magazines with the word ‘new’ in their titles like his stuff ). Now Lecturer in Creative and Media Writing at the University of Portsmouth, UK, these days Tom has to do most of his travelling during the summer holidays. He is currently a coeditor of the Nesta-funded hyperlocal news project www.starandcrescent.org.uk and is working on a novel about memory, writing, relationships, living as an expat in Manila, and Western perceptions of the Philippines (and vice versa). My interest in Ivory Coast began by accident. Knowing nothing about the
country, I was invited to teach at a university there, arrived to discover that I didn’t have a lot to do and so got myself commissioned to travel around writing about my experiences for some of the publications mentioned above. Since about 2000, the Western media has only bothered to mention Ivory Coast when it descends into war, so it was no surprise that my friends and family members were worried about my going there. However, I’m pleased to report that ordinary Ivorians were immensely kind, tolerant and helpful. This was equally true of the most recent trip I made with the photographer Alexander Sebley in summer 2015. Indeed to this day, I’ve witnessed far more violence, petty crime, prejudice, bullying and intimidation in the Global North than in Ivory Coast or indeed any other part of the Global South. All my writing – this book included – aims to present a balanced and nuanced picture of a given place, celebrating the good things as well as explaining – never excusing – how the bad things came to be. In doing so I’ve tried to
avoid the lazy stereotypes and generalisations that can sometimes be found in writing about Africa.

Reviews

“The author puts the largely unexplored Cote d’Ivoire back on the map (…) fascinating texture and observations.” Travel Africa Magazine

Additional Information

Table of Contents

Introduction

PART ONE GENERAL INFORMATION
Chapter 1 Background information
Geography , Climate, Natural history and conservation, History, Economy, People, Language, Religion, Culture, Sport
Chapter 2 Practical Information
When to visit, Suggested itineraries, Tourist information and tour operators, Red tape, High commissions, embassies and representatives, Getting there and away, Health, Safety and hassles, Women travellers, Gay travellers, What to take, Money, Budgeting, Getting around, Accommodation, Eating and drinking, Public holidays, Media and communications, Cultural etiquette, Travelling positively

PART TWO THE GUIDE
Chapter 3 Abidjan and Around
History, Getting there and away, Getting around, Orientation, Tourist information and tour operators, Where to stay, Where to eat and drink, Nightlife, Entertainment, Sports and activities, Shopping, Other practicalities, What to see and do, Around Abidjan, Further afield
Chapter 4 The Southeast
Grand-Bassam , Around Bassam, Assinie and around
Chapter 5 The Southwest
Sassandra and around, San-Pedro and around, Parc National de Tai (Tai National Park)
Chapter 6 Central Ivory Coast
Yamoussoukro, Bouake, Around Bouake, Daloa and around , Abengourou
Chapter 7 The Dix-Huit Montagnes and the West
Man, Touba, Around Touba
Chapter 8 The North
Odienne and around, Korhogo, Around Korhogo, Kong, Parc National de la Comoe (Comoe National Park), Bondoukou

Appendix 1 Language
Appendix 2 Further Information
Index