Introduction To This Ivory Coast Blog

This blog is about Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire), a fascinating country I had the good fortune to visit in November 2007. I had met some people on the Internet and for several had corresponded with them from my home in Northern California. Finally I decided that since I wanted to take a photographic expedition, because I needed something of a change and a vacation, and because I would be able to assist these folks in getting better known all over the world with my photography, I would take a trip there.

In October 2007, I flew from JFK Airport in New York via Emirates Airlines. Having spent more than a deade some years back in the travel business when I took innumerable trips to many distant places, I can tell you that Emirates proved to be a wonderful airline that greatly exceeded my expectations. The journey to Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire did, however, seem endless. After crossing the Atlantic, we flew across the Sahara to Dubai, where we had an 8-hour layover. We then went on, again via Emirates, to Accra, Ghana, stopped briefly, and then continued on to Abidjan.

Later, in October 2008, I returned to Cote d'Ivoire. Photos from both trips are mixed through this blog. This second time I took Air France from JFK to Paris, changed planes and boarded a flight from Paris to Abidjan. Coming from California, where I started my voyage in San Francisco, made this an entirely too long a trip to do in one stretch. Next time around I shall overnight in Paris -- see my relatives there -- and try to get a little rest before continuing on.

Arriving in West Africa makes one feel as though he has been living all his life in a black-and-white movie and has suddenly been thrust into a Technicolor world. The colors everywhere seem more vivid than they do at home. And people dress more colorfully, too.

With that introduction, let me show you a few of the sights I saw during both my stays.

Africa's Poor

In Cote d'Ivoire as in many other African countries you cannot help but notice that millions of people live in poverty. If you have struck up a friendship with any of these impoverished people, ma single questions nags at the back of your mind: how can these people be lifted out of their situation into something economically better

Between Abidjan and Grand Bassam lies a stretch of highway that passes through an area I was told is inhabited by Nigerians. The poverty there is dreadful. Huge piles of trash that make a few spots look like an American dump, thousands of rudimentary shelters, and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people. I mention the sight not to judge anyone, but to note that the sights in this stretch of road absolutely force anyone but the most jaded to reflect on poverty and the difficulties of lifting anyone out of it.

This is a problem I have been wrestling with for moire than a year.