West Africa Cruise: Abidjan, Ivory Coast (11.28.24)

Abidjan, Ivory Coast is an elegant African city, filled with skyscrapers and art, covered in tropical green foliage, and bordered by rivers and ocean.  We visited on November 28, 2024, and spent the day touring museums, a modern cathedral, a botanical garden, and a home for orphaned boys.  The brightly colored wall in the photo above decorated an art school.

The French name for Ivory Coast is Cote d'Ivoire.

The Abidjan Botanical Gardens covered many acres, with trees and flowers distinctive to tropical Africa.  I recognized these "cup of gold" flowers from my three years living in Myanmar (Burma) as a little girl.  We had cup of gold bushes in our front yard.

Our guide identified distinctive African trees.  This one looked like a huge house plant!

Some of the trees were so wide and tall that we walked through passages inside of them.

Africa is full of huge termite mounds, like this one.

One of the roads in the botanical garden was covered with an arch of bamboo.

And of course there was bouganvillea, one of my favorite tropical flowers.

I don't often find policemen willing to pose for me.  In Ivory Coast, policemen rode motorcycles, like all the other citizens aspiring to middle class status.

Our next stop was Bingerville, where a former palace had been turned into a school for orphaned boys.  Some boys actually had parents, the school administrator told us, but their parents couldn't afford to take care of them.

Groups of boys lounged about near their playing field.  The school houses the boys until they have finished their education, which can include attending the nearby college.

The posters on the conference room wall were touching, showing the individuality and plucky spirit of the boys.

I hoped the best for these boys, sitting in their school uniforms on the steps.

I was particularly touched by this little boy.  When I asked if I could take his photo, he stood as straight and dignified as he could, to look his best.  He deserved to have parents to love and care for him.

We next visited an art school, where teenagers learned to be painters, sculptors, and graphic designers.

Student and faculty works were displayed in the school museum, including these beautiful sculptures.

We saw more art and historical treasures at Abidjan's Museum of Civilization.  My son, Mike, collects African masks.  I wonder what he would think of this one!

This was a throne of an African king.

This statue reminded me of my mother's collection of African statues, arrayed around the fireplace in our family room.  They were very different from the wood carvings from China in the living room.

Our tour had arranged for dancing in the museum courtyard.

A familiar character in West African dances is a "creature" like this box, which has a man hidden inside.  The box cavorts around the dance floor as if it is alive!

I worked hard, on our trip, to take photos with as few tourists in them as possible.  This picture of the African dancer shows how hard that usually was!

The cathedral of St. Paul is a spectacular, modern building, with soaring ceilings and stained glass windows that portray Biblical scenes in an African context.  

Ivory Coast, also known as Cote d'Ivoire, is a former French colony.  Its citizens are predominantly Catholic, although the old tribal religions remain.

The stained glass window showing Christ blessing the people was fairly conventional, but the window showing the Garden of Eden included palm trees and elephants!

Our final stop was the best crafts market in West Africa.  We visited during our earlier West Africa trip, and spent an hour or more.  This time, we were allotted 15 minutes!