Elmina, Ghana

2019-04-21. Elmina Castle. 500 years history on the Gold Coast.

Elmina's great interest is her fortress Sao Jorge Da Mina (St. George's Castle).
The tour is guided and costs 40 Cedis per person. We can only recommend this visit because - it is quite rare in Africa - it is conducted very professionally and the site is very well maintained.

Elmina Castle

Entrance of Elmina Castle

The castle, perched on a rocky promontory that advances into the sea, was built in 1482. It is the oldest colonial building still well preserved in all of sub-Saharan Africa.
Built in 1482 by the Portuguese, it was the first trading post on the Gulf of Guinea. He later became one of the main centers of the black slave trade in Africa. The Dutch take the fortress to Portuguese in 1637 and continue of course the profitable slave trade. The entire Gold Coast passed under British rule in 1872, the fortress as well of course.

Inner cout

Most interesting of all, of course, is all about the sinister era of the slave trade. Up to 1000 slaves were stored here before being shipped to the Americas. 600 males and 400 females. We are shown the women's dungeon and the cells where they were parked and of course the famous wooden staircase that led directly to the governor's apartments because he used to choose in the lot to meet his needs. And woe to those who dared to refuse.

The women's dungeon

Stairway to the governor's appartment

Then we enter a narrow hallway to the No Return Room with its door that gave directly on the soon leaving boats, it is there that the selected slaves waited to be embarked for a trip without return.

Gate to the waiting room

No Return Gate

Another major point of interest of the fortress is the two dungeons to the right of the entrance. The first airy and relatively well lit by daylight was reserved for whites arrested for drunkenness or other offenses. The second without ventilation and without window was dedicated to the blacks, nobody never came out alive. The death's head adorning the top of the door leaves no doubt.

The two dungeons

After this very interesting visit we take a tour in the center of the small town directly to the east of the castle. We reach it by the old steel bridge on the mouth of the lagoon and which allows us to discover a nice view on the small fishing port.

The fishing port of Elmina

A busy street, Liverpool Street, leads us to the church in the historic center of the colonial city. Liverpool Street is lined with old colonial houses in addition or bad condition. It was here that prosperous merchants lived in the early 19th century, mostly mulatto or Dutch married to Elmina's women

Liverpool Street in Elmina

Dry fish in Liverpool street

Old colonial building

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Nzulenzu, Ghana

2019-04-19. Village on stilts !

The small village of Beyin is the main tourist attraction on the west coast of Ghana. This is probably due to the stilt village of Nzulezo, a beautiful beach and the presence of the last fort built by the British on the Gold Coast.

Fort Apollonia:

Fort Apollonia renovated in the 50s, built in 1770 with the permission of the local chief. The name of the fort dates much longer from the beginning of the 17th century. It is a maritime fort mainly dedicated to the defense of the coast but which also had cells for the "storage" of the slaves. Its construction is very solid, it is assured until today, despite the damage suffered during the war between the British and the French and a long period of abandonment. After being transformed into an inn in the 70's it has now become a museum.
We arrive at the fort by the small streets of the village. We go around the back before presenting ourselves at the front door. The guided tour will cost us 30 Cedi. The explanations of our young guide, Jud, are very detailed and interesting although his English is not the best. He tells us about the 7 traditional families in the region, each with their own symbols and even their own dialect. He tells us about the festival which is held here every year in October, a big fresco describes the various stages and the different manifestations of this festival. And of course he showed us the cells where the slaves were held before their embarkation to the Americas.
 

Fort Apollonia

Part of the fresco in the fort

Chrurch in Beyin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stilts village:

We are preparing for the excursion to the lake village of Nzulezo. We register at the GWS office with Francis. After careful consideration we choose the rowing boat version at 50 Cedis per person instead of the ride in motorized canoe for 85 Cedis. It seems much more pleasant and, what is more, less expensive. Apparently, the tourists seem to choose the motorized canoes because for the rowing boats it is necessary to walk about twenty minutes on a dike of the wetland to reach the end of the channel where they are moored.

Walk along the channel

Our guide is called Stephen. It takes us to the end of the canal in about twenty minutes. We embark for a nice ride in the wetland by narrow channels in the middle of water lilies and rushes. In the middle of the afternoon, birds are rare. We dive into the secondary jungle by sneaking into dense tropical vegetation before reaching Lake Tadane.

In the jungle

Approaching the village

A lake of a little more than 2 km², two and a half kilometers north of Beyin. We go on a little less than 2km to the south-west shore of the lake to dock on a pontoon of the village of Nzulezo. The village is entirely built on stilts on both sides of a central aisle nearly 300 m long. The 7 traditional families are divided into the lanes perpendicular to the central alley. One of them extends occupied by the family of our guide who is himself from this village. The hygienic conditions in which the 850 inhabitants of the village live leave much to be desired, diseases and epidemics are very frequent.

Docking pontoon

The village, unique in its kind, is of course very picturesque. The animation is great and it is not easy to photograph because it is expressly asked not to take pictures with the inhabitants, which is easily understandable. We pass the church before arriving at the community center that tries to manage and develop the village. For the school built at the end of the village the state sends only 2 teachers. This is absolutely insufficient for more than 300 students. The community has hired 4 more,payed by itself. The community is also setting up a clinic and needs resources, donations are welcome. I must admit that I do not really like the method even if I understand the motivation. We paid our contribution with our ticket and that should be enough.

 
We pass the school installed at the end of the village, the 6 classes and the bungalows of the teachers. After the school, at the last end of the village, there are the public toilets, a fairly new facility, biological and modern. But so far from the houses of the village that we wonder if they are really used.

We walk the main street upside down in front of the small shop while Christine had bought a small bag of caterpillar palm grilling for a Cedis. We did not dare to taste it but the young people who surrounded us threw themselves on it, it is a delicacy apparently very popular with the natives.

Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire

2019-04-06: Yamoussoukro, the capital. Megalomania is sometime allowed : Basilique Notre Dame de la Paix.

Yamoussoukro:

If Abidjan remains the economic capital of the country, Yamoussoukro became the political capital in 1983. Today the city has about 300,000 inhabitants. At the beginning of the last century Yamoussoukro was still an insignificant village of barely 500 inhabitants. It is the hometown of the first president of Côte d'Ivoire after independence: Houphouet-Boigny.
It is a modern, airy city, with large and wide avenues lined with unreal administrative buildings. Because this city is oversized, everything is much too big, too high, too wide. It sometimes looks like a ghost town that the tropical vegetation around it is trying to regain. Weird!

Yamoussoukro, in the city.

Yamoussoukro, the mosque.

The Basilic:

Notre Dame de la Paix is a monumental construction, monumentally crazy. It is the fruit of the megalogamia of the first president. Officially financed by the private wealth of Houphouët-Boigny and maintained by the income (interest) of one of his bank accounts in Switzerland. I will abstain from commenting!
The dome, or rather the cross at its summit, rises to 158.10 m in height. This makes it the second highest church in the world after Ulm Cathedral (161.53 m). It was built between 1985 and 1987. It is not a copy of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, as we sometimes hear, but it is very strongly inspired.

Arriving at Yamoussoukro, 10 km before the city.

Sokoro, Côte d'Ivoire

2019-04-03: Sokoro, 2 days in the village of our good friend Cissé.

We will spend 2 memorable days in the home village of a long-time friend who lives in Abidjan today. We leave Man early to pick up Yssoufou, his wife Fatou and his mom at Odienné airport early in the afternoon.

Leaving Man in the morning (with the "Dent of Man")

Elchtest nicht bestanden !

On the way to Odienné

Our friemds are arriving at the small airport

After immortalizing this reunion with some photos we take the track to Sokoro, the home village of our friend. It is a good track but with terrible corrugations passages and which becomes downright "Guinean" on the last 25 kilometers.

Meeting at the airport

 
We finally arrive at the village at 18:45. Unfortunately a little too late. The notables of the village had planned an official reception but given the late hour it is postponed until tomorrow. A large tent has been specially set up for this in front of our friend's house.
We eat African: rice with chicken, fish and guinea fowl. We spend a pleasant evening with friends as the neighbors parade through the house to greet us (brothers, sisters, uncles, cousins ... we lost the thread for a long time!)

The children of Sokoro welcome us

Diner with Cissés

The next day the reception committee is already at work from the early morning.
First of all, women come to greet us in the house. Then comes the really official part with the notables of the village. A tent was erected in front of the terrace of the house. The men are sitting on the first two rows, the women have taken place on the last two rows. As for us, we are all four sitting on plastic chairs on the terrace of the house.

The ritual is long and as everything is happening in Bambara we do not understand all the details, even if Cissé's friends take the trouble to translate what is said. We are entitled first of all to the iman's long blessing that the audience confirms by bringing their hands to the forehead after each sentence. A gesture accompanied by a word that is very similar to the "amen" of Christians. The blessing is followed by a long thank you from the village chief. They are really happy that white people are bothering to visit the village, a sign of confidence in its people.

The official welcome ceremony

The protocol is that we also take the floor, it is I who take the responsibility by thanking the whole village for the great welcome. I try to stay as vague as possible so as not to make a mistake, because the traditions and the protocol are really followed with great rigor in these traditional villages.
Cissé and Fatou experience it with their urban habits. Cissé is trying to change the village with ideas that may be a bit too modern, especially in terms of organization, hygiene and infrastructure. The style and equipment of his house, for example, gives rise to a lot of nods. But, as he says, things are progressing little by little.

A sheep will be sacrificed for the méchoui, partly in our honor (two legs are reserved for us), partly for a religious festival.

A sheep will be sacrificed

Preparation of the meal: Attiéké (Manioc)

Preparation of the soumbara (African Maggi)

Cissé wants us to visit the village. We leave by foot, first to the Mosque, then to the school. But we will change the program and postpone visiting the village until later and enjoy the day to go to the Malian border. A friend of Cisse will try to obtain an authorization from the Ivorian police and customs to go at least to the river that materializes the border within two kilometers. He also wants to contact Malians for permission to go to the village of Sandougoula 6 km from Sokoro in Mali, because we do not have (or more) visa.

In the village, on the way to the mosque

In the meantime we go back to the house through the "historic courtyard", as Cisse calls it. This is the small group of huts around a small courtyard where Cissé, his brothers and his cousins grew up on the piece of land of the grandfather. In the center of the courtyard throne a beautiful guava.

The "historic courtyard" of the Cissé's family

Cissé's henchman reappears with his motorcycle, he has just negotiated with the authorities our passage in Mali. Apparently everything is good, we should be able to go to Sandougoula.

We will follow him to the police station at the exit of the village. The head of the post proposes to accompany us to the border. But as a great religious ceremony is going on right next door with everyone that bears a name in the village, we will first greet them. Many of them were present at Cissé's house this morning for our welcome. A calf is being slaughtered for sacrifice. We are brought chairs to participate in the opening of the ceremony. We do not linger any longer.

Religious ceremony before leaving to Mali.

We arrive in less than two kilometers of bad track at the border post. A border post without a building or any infrastructure. There are only four or five soldiers, custom officers and gendarmes with their motorcycles and their weapons. We are in the middle of the Baoule flood zone, the small river that forms the physical border between the two countries. The river is still dry but in the rainy season the water rises several meters and the whole area is under water.

At the border (no pictures of soldiers or officers allowed)

 The head of the station records our identities in his notebook. The Malians were warned and agreed to let us pass to Sandougoula. So we go to Mali without a visa and without a customs declaration for the vehicle. Our Ivorian friends, as citizens of ECOWAS, do not need a visa and exchanges between the two villages are very frequent, without any formality, especially on market days.
Once the bed of Boualé crossed we are in Mali, on a very rough track. We will take a half hour to get to the village. We park Gandalf not far from the market and start by visiting the village chief as required by the protocol. This one welcomes us warmly at the foot of a beautiful mango tree.

The chief of the village welcomes us

All we have left to do is to greet the customs officer at the rudimentary post at the exit of the village. He had been warned by his Ivorian colleagues, for him either there is no problem: "the doors are wide open .... ". We are fully legally illegal in Mali!

We walk back to the market which disappoints us a bit. It is not lively and we find there very few fruits and vegetables.

At the market of Sandougoula

We find Gandalf escorted by a myriad of enthusiastic children who do everything to be in the photos that of course I do not fail to do.

Children of Sandougoula

We are back at Cissé's house at around 3:15 pm It's time for lunch: rice and fonio to accompany the mutton and fish.

The afternoon is hot and humid. The lack of wind makes the atmosphere very heavy and stuffy. The fatigue of the day extra and we are ripe for a little nap recovery. Everyone in his room.

The night has just fallen when Cisse decides to finish the visit of the village. He wanted to take us to the second district of the village, but given the late hour we abandon the idea.
Sokoro is indeed divided into two large neighborhoods, almost two villages. With about 7,000 inhabitants it is almost no longer a village but already a small town. The streets are unpaved but are lit, at least in theory because we realize that the vast majority of streetlights have no bulb. What has the gift of annoying Cisse who had done everything to bring electricity to the village. He will take care of it.
The school director and two teachers receive us sitting on chairs in a circle and a flashlight. They give us a presentation of the situation in Sokoro. There are actually two public schools in the village, one in each neighborhood, and a koranic school. The school where we are now receives about 250 students in 6 classes (CP1, CP2, CE1, CE2, CM1 and CM2), the system is copied on the French system but with two years in preparation. The other school receives about 130 students and the koranic school 300. Nearly 700 children are thus educated and still far too many children do not go to school at all. What worries the teaching staff. Classes are in French and even the koranic school is little by little in French.

Stop at the old school of Cissé on the way back to Odienné