ivory
coast - sierrra leone - liberia - sao tome
november 2001- march 2002
after making it through guinea, ivory coast was a paradise. there was great music, fantastic food and there was always cold beer. i will never forget the first night in a town called man, where the six of us quickly emptied the hotel bar. two days later we drove to the beautiful beaches at sassandra in the south. here we chilled out and recovered from our previous adventures. these were wonderful, peaceful days of reading, swimming and spending the nights around bond-fires on the beach.
carsten left
us in sassandra, and when the rest of us got to abidjan the group finally
dissolved. lucy had to fly back to hamburg, tim and robert started to
head back towards algeria and europe, and andy continued his trip towards
eastern africa via chad and sudan. i stayed in abidjan, and made it my
base for several trips. the first one was a short visit to ghana where
i spent christmas with the swiss ambassador who is a friend of my family.
when i was back in abidjan i spent a lot of time with sebastien, a french
citizen, who was born and raised here. he shares my passion for BMWs and
helped me to service my bike. we became really good friends. at nights
we would ride around abidjan, visit bar after bar, and one nightclub after
another, until the early morning hours. on the weekends we drove out to
the beaches at assini, usually taking along antoine, sebastiens little
son who lives with his mother. these were wild times; they were good times!
i booked a round trip to sierra leone, liberia, and back to abidjan. i
had always wanted to see the two countries but the ongoing conflicts made
it quite impossible to travel there on a motorbike. i left the bike and
most of my luggage with sebastien who brought me to there airport where
i took off to visit these ill reputed countries.
in sierra leone the government and the rebels had just signed a peace
agreement and the situation was quite relaxed and peaceful. one could
virtually feel the hopes the of the people for a better future. when i
told them that i was a tourist many of the people smiled and said that
it was a good sign that tourist were coming back to the country. i spent
most days in freetown where the spirit of the people could make you almost
forget that you were walking between ruins and make-shift homes.
liberia, on the other hand, was a crazy place. i only saw monrovia, the
besieged and destroyed capital. most foreigners here were dealing in diamonds
and gold (and probably drugs, weapons and human beings). when i told somebody
that i was a tourist he burst out laughing. after i had convinced him
that this was in fact the truth, he recommended me to tell people that
i was a diamond-dealer. "otherwise they will assume that you are
a spy… and spies don't live for long in liberia". on my last
day in monrovia i met a minor minister with whom i had a couple of beers.
he offered to drive me to the airport in his limousine and i happily accepted.
during the drive he tried to convince me that he was the best business-contact
i could have in liberia. anything would be possible, no matter what kind
of dealing i was in…
i made one more round trip out of abidjan and left via gabon to the island-state
of sao tome & principe. here i met detlef, my friend form zurich.
we had long ago decided to spend a weeks holiday together, and this paradisiacal
island proved to be perfect the perfect place for it. we rented a little
suzuki jeep and drove around the island. i could not understand that there
is virtually no tourism here, it's so beautiful. we spent much time at
the beach, did some snorkelling and emptied the odd bottle of beer; just
a real holliday.
after my return i spent another couple of days in abidjan before leaving
for ghana and 'the rest of africa'., i said goodbye to sebastien and all
my other friends and was back on the road again. when i drove out of abidjan
i realized how much this city had become like a home for me; i'll be back
some day, that's for sure!
the beach at sassandra
the sassandra river
on the road in ivory coast
sebastien and antoine
people in freetown
young boy from sierra leone
downtown monrovia
stunning nature on sao tome