March 26, 2023
Today we went for a walk in the Banco National Park within the city of Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast. It is a popular weekend destination for the citizens of Abidjan and we met many other walkers and bicyclists on our long, hot walk. (It got up to 90 degrees.) The forest was beautiful with many tropical, hardwood trees.
The day began with a beautiful sunrise over the city of Abidjan.
When we arrived at Banco National Park, there were egrets hanging out at the entrance.
The bus parked and let us off and we began our walk through the park to the forest school. We had a park guide along as well as our tour guide to tell us about the forest. He spoke in French and our tour guide translated for us. She kept us moving along at a fast clip as there was a lot of ground to cover in a limited amount of time. During our brief stops while the guide showed us the native plants, we enjoyed the towering trees and occasional flowers.
One of the plants he showed us was katamfe. It had a large broad leaf with bright red fruits. He cracked the tough outer covering and let us taste the sweet black fruit within. It was delicious. The fruit is used as a natural sweetener, leaving a sweet taste in your mouth even after you have eaten it.
We saw some bee eaters, enjoying a snack on electrical lines.
We continued to explore the forest, seeing amazing trees and vines, mushrooms, flowers, towering bamboo, and ferns.
Finally we reached the forest school. There was a lesson going on at the time so we didn't interrupt.
We made our way to the catfish creek. We tossed them bread, but they weren't particularly hungry as the previous group had just fed them. It was amazing how long their whiskers were!
On our way to see the next sight, I stopped for a brief detour to watch the butterflies.
The next stop was the tallest tree in the forest, with a huge root structure as well. It wouldn't fit in the picture, so I just have the base of it.
Nearby was a woolly caterpillar, perhaps a baby of one of the butterflies I'd seen.
It was a relief to get back on the bus for a brief rest from the heat as we drove to the next site. Time was short so we were given a choice between visiting another catfish pond or another large tree. The group voted for the catfish. As we drove there, we passed a large group of people who were on a pilgrimage.
The bus had difficulty passing under the low hanging tree and bamboo branches, but we made it through!
The catfish here were more receptive to the bread.
It was also fun to watch the butterflies, although they were hard to catch on camera as they didn't stay still for long.
As we left the park, we stopped to watch people doing laundry. It is a thriving business in Abidjan. The people pick up the clothes from people's houses, wash, dry and fold them and return them. Even though they do laundry for several people at once, they always remember which clothes belong to which house.
As we drove around the city of Abidjan, we saw many other examples of small businesses run by the Ivorians - horse rentals, portable markets carried about on the head, small businesses run out of the backs of vans, as well as outdoor market stalls and indoor store fronts.
Families and friends were out and about- shopping, having a snack, and socializing.
Buildings varied from old to new. The closer we came to the center of the city, the more apartments and larger buildings predominated.
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