Ivory coast

Day 1: Paris – Conakry.
Welcome at the airport, transfer to the hotel

Day 2: CONAKRY- NZEREKORE
Visit of Conakry, Cathedral, Niger Market, the National Museum then return to the airport for flight to Nzérékoré. Upon arrival, transfer to the hotel. Dinner and overnight stay.

Day 3: NZEREKORE-BOSSOU
Visit of the sacred forest and the Ethnological Museum. We will join Lola where we will ask for the pass to visit Bossou and the Nimba Mountains. Night in a campsite.

Day 4: BOSSOU
We will have to be early to discover the chimpanzees of Bossou. Studied for a long time by a Guinean-Japanese scientific mission, they are acclimatized and allow us to approach them quite closely. The researchers will explain to us how the chimpanzees of Bossou are considered by the village population as their ancestors and their surprising habits, so close to those of humans. As such, they are protected and the tolerance towards their stupidity and theft in the fields is astonishing. Night camping in the village.

Day 5 and 6: BIOSPHERE OF ZIAMA
Day dedicated to the Ziama biosphere reserve, classified since 1942. We may be able to observe, if our research is successful and luck is with us, the forest elephants (the last viable population in Guinea), the reserve contains no less than 133 species of mammals, hence its great interest. This day will allow us to visit traditional Toma villages (with an animist fervor that is still very much alive). Night in the forest or in the villages, camping.

Day 7: SEREDOU
After a short stretch of the Piste du Café, we will reach Sérédou, Toma country, in the heart of the Ziama massif. It is also in this region that most of the liana bridges are located, even if the secret societies that build and repair them are trying to disappear. Some research in 4×4 then on foot after palaver with the village elders and the guardians of the bridge. « Magical », the liana bridges are built and maintained by the secret societies, with the help of the genies. Not everyone can approach them! Dinner and night at the Sainte Ursule Agropastoral Center.

Day 8 to 11: PALE
Very bad track that in a few hours will take us to the village of Palé. Palé is one of the rare totally animist villages still existing in the forest. To the rhythm of the cult of the spirits of the ancestors, life flows slowly there, almost unchanged for centuries. We will stay there for four days, which will allow us to get to know each other and be accepted by the population (be careful to respect the sacred perimeters!). Maybe then we will have the chance to discover the masks. In any case, we will have had beautiful walks around the village, learned a lot about medicinal plants and met villagers from another time, from another world. Nights in a campsite.

Day 12: PALE-NZEREKORE
Return to Nzérékoré. Visit to the Ethological Museum. Night at the hotel.

Day 13: NZEREKORE-MAN
Departure for the border of Guinea and passage to Ivory Coast. Along the way, we visit the village of Lieupleu to visit the famous liana bridges. Meetings with the inhabitants and crossing the bridge. Return in the evening. Dinner and night at the Beau Séjour or Les Cascades hotel.

Day 14: MAN AND SURROUNDINGS
Visit a typical Yacouba village and meet the locals in Zadepleu, visit the waterfalls and the market. Monkey watching in the sacred forest of Gbepleu. Hike to Mount Tompki. Lunch. Return to the village of Zadepleu, where we will spend the night with the locals. Dinner with our hosts and overnight stay.

Day 15: MAN-ISSIA-SOUBRE-SAN PEDRO-SASSANDRA (430 KM)
Departure to the coast via the forest road crossing large cocoa and coffee plantations, visit and continue to Gogoua, to attend a Yacouba tribal dance performance. Return in the evening. Dinner and overnight stay at the Pollet hotel.

Day 16: SASSANDRA AND SURROUNDINGS
​ Sassandra is a city on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean with the most beautiful beaches in the country. We enjoy the day on its beaches away from the city and taste the local cuisine consisting of seafood at Michel’s. Visit the governor’s house, the fishing port, the fish market and its colors, the mouth, the slave route, etc. Dinner in the evening at the maquis le palmier by the sea and night at the Pollet hotel

Day 17: SASSANDRA – GRAND-LAHOU (AZAGNY PARK AND SURROUNDINGS)
Departure for Grand Bassam and visit the Tiagba lake en route. Meetings with the inhabitants of this charming village. Bypass Tiagba by barge in the company of our guide Jérémy, a native of the village. Rest in the village. Continuation of our route through large plantations of palm groves and rubber trees, the main crops in the region. Check-in at the Boblin Hotel (swimming pool and wifi available) Dinner and overnight stay.

Day 18: GRAND-LAHOU-TIAGBA-DABOU BASSAM (200 KM)
Departure for Grand Bassam and visit the Tiagba lake en route. Meetings with the inhabitants of this charming village. Circumnavigation of Tiagba by barge with our guide Jérémy, a native of the village. Rest in the village. Continuation of our route through large palm and rubber plantations, the main crops of the region. Check-in at the Boblin Hotel (swimming pool and wifi available) Dinner and overnight stay.

Day 19: BASSAM – ABIDJAN
The first capital of Côte d’Ivoire, the city of Grand-Bassam is an example of a colonial urban area from the end of the 19th century and the first part of the 20th century. Grand-Bassam was the port, economic and legal capital of Côte d’Ivoire; it bears witness to the complex social relations between Europeans and Africans and then to the movement for independence. The city, a true economic hub of the territory of the French trading posts of the Gulf of Guinea – which preceded modern Côte d’Ivoire – attracted populations from all over Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean Levant. Visit the craft centers and the costume museum. (Presenting the customs and traditions of the country’s 62 ethnic groups and the presence of French colonial administrators at the time) Return to Abidjan. Lunch in a maquis in Cocody. Check into a charming hotel. Dinner in the evening and overnight stay.

Day 20: ABIDJAN
Visit the Abidjan business center and its buildings, the Museum of Civilizations and St Paul’s Cathedral, Adjamé with its amazing market and colors Lunch in a maquis in Cocody Depending on your flight schedule, transfer to the airport.