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West Africa, Malta and the Balkans in 1999

IVORY COAST

Bec
2004-09-18 19:47:27

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Abidjan
Abidjan's various districts are separated by arms of the lagoon that makes it one of the finest ports in West Africa thanks to the Vridi canal giving access to the ocean. The Charles de Gaule bridge seen here separates the skyscraper studded business center called "Le Plateau" to the left from Treichville and Marcory to the south where workers live. Treichville renowned for its busy market and wild nightlife which is more safely enjoyed in a group than alone.

Abidjan has modern six lane highways to move its population of almost 3 million but the traffic in the business center of Le Plateau is generally jammed like what you see here on Delafosse avenue where two major banks are located.

Great fortunes were made in Abidjan's heyday, some of them through honest hard work and others through corruption. The Ivory Coast's 1998 low score of 3.1 out of 10 on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), published by Transparency International, reflects the judgement of the many business people who testified on their experiences in the country for the four independent surveys that went into establishing that score.
This is the famous "Hôtel Ivoire" in the upper class Cocody residential district west of Le Plateau. This 750 room lives star hotel has everything, an ice-skating rink, a bowling alley, seven tennis courts, a cinema, a casino, a luxury grocery store and a major art shop.

Cocody and Le Plateau are well policed and relatively safe compared to Abidjan's other districts. A few years ago Abidjan was one of Africa's most dangerous cities along with Lagos and Johannesburg. The situation has now improved following a resolute campaign of brutal law enforcement which included the payment of bounties for the elimination of known criminals (without trial).

The Ivory Coast has two of the world's largest Catholic Cathedrals even though only one in ten Ivoirians are Catholic. Such are the ways ...