Yamoussoukro; An African Ghost Town
Join John M. Edwards, a writer for bootsnall.com, as he traverses the almost empty African city, Yamoussoukro, in his article; Capital of Ghosts Cote d’Ivoire.
“We arrived in Yamoussoukro basted and broiled by the crowded bush taxi, feeling like extras from “Apocalypse Now.” When we tried to check into a hotel, the concierge first told us it was full, then ran after us, yelling, “Messieurs!” Of course there were rooms – the town was a veritable morgue; we’d simply broken Ivorian protocol by neglecting to dash him with a little baksheesh. We later met the other guest, a Frenchman who read old copies of Le Monde every day in the lobby.
We walked to a nearby village, where very poor, very friendly people lounged in the shade by a malarial pond to escape the heat. A village elder pointed to the basilica, rising over the landscape like Ayers Rock, and smiled ironically, as if to say the country’s recent economic misfortunes were somehow linked to it.”
Anonymous
April 2, 2006 @ 6:46 pm
Oh how I miss Ivory Coast and Yamassoukro 🙁 Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. The basilica is beautiful, even though its in the middle of nowhere! Abidjan will alwasy be in my heart. The day peace comes I will deinitively go there again..Regards, Jon from Norway