Dear Viven,
Our visa application stop in the desolate city of Conakry turned out to be
serendipitous: it was there we felt (at the time) ripped off for only being
able to apply for the more expensive 90-day multiple-entry Ivory Coast visas
being issued. In the end, because of a
visa issue with the DR Congo, followed by a car accident, our
original route changed. This
meant not only a longer stay in the Ivory Coast, but a need to enter a second
time. Because of this fortuitous rip-off,
our crossing from Ghana to the Ivory Coast instead formed the last stage of a
circular route we took from Abidjan, through Burkina Faso to Benin, and
returning via Togo and Ghana. By being
able to return, we were able to make this two-week circuit with only a couple
backpacks, while keeping our mass of belongings in a hotel storage room in
Grand Bassam.
A long-haul bus to Abidjan that we caught in Lomé took us across from Togo to Ghana prior to crossing from Ghana to the Ivory Coast. Our crossing previous to the bus was by taxi
from Benin to Togo.
We are one British and one Canadian.
This letter is accurate as of the day we reentered the Ivory Coast, on
Sunday 11 August 2013.
Visas
Our 90-day multiple-entry Ivory Coast visas, acquired
in Conakry, Guinea, were still valid for this second crossing into the
country. For how we originally acquired
them, see my previous letter, How we crossed from Liberia to the Ivory Coast.
Language
French is the official language of the Ivory Coast and it is widespread,
moreso than most other countries in West Africa, where tribal languages are
still commonly heard.
Money
The Ivory Coast uses the West African franc (CFA).
The Route
We took the STIF bus from the station by the beach in
Lomé, Togo (where we were dropped off by a shared taxi from the Benin border),
direct to Abidjan. The bus called at
Accra, Ghana, around 1am, was stopped at the Ivory Coast border between 8:15am
and 12:30pm, and dropped us off on the highway in Grand Bassam at 3pm, which
implies it would have arrived in Abidjan between 3:30 and 4.
Our Means of Travel
This section is repeated in my previous letter, How we crossed from Togo to Ghana, from 16 August.
Though we planned to spend a night in Lomé before rushing back to the Ivory
Coast, we found out the schedule of the direct buses to Abidjan on the
afternoon of our arrival and decided to get tickets for the 24-hour journey.
STIF buses from Lomé go to other cities on the Abidjan-Lagos corridor, and
there was a list of prices behind the desk at the station. They were as follows:
Lomé to Abidjan: CFA 24,000
Lomé to Noe (the border with the Ivory Coast): CFA 17,000
Lomé to Accra: CFA 6,000
Lomé to Cotonou: CFA 5,000
We arrived at the STIF bus station at 2pm (after a one-hour back time
change from Benin) were told to be there at 3 for the bus, which was to leave
at 4. There was no bus in the courtyard
until 6:15, at which time other passengers rushed on to claim their seats (we
weren’t as quick). The bus departed at
6:45.
After only ten minutes of driving the bus arrived at the Ghanaian border,
and was off again by 7:30. The bus
crossed Ghana through the night, passed through the arduous, heavily delayed
Ivory Coast border in the morning, and arrived in Abidjan in the afternoon. Total travel time (from arrival at Lomé
station) was 25 hours; total time on the bus: 16 hours; total waiting around
and border shuffling time: 9 hours.
The sheer inefficiency and timesink of the STIF bus should give some
impression of the journey, but let me make it a little clearer. The average-sized bus, raised to store
baggage underneath, had five seats per row (two on the right side of the aisle,
three on the left) and for our trip it was mostly packed. The awful sounds of the wheels on all right
turns would have been horrifying had it not been for the relatively straight
roads all the way to Abidjan; but there was little further consolation in that
none of the doors could close without a wire or rope holding it in. Toilet breaks were limited to just two
ten-minute stops along open stretches of road.
Meanwhile the seats were very small, both in width and length (I am of
average height, which means below average in much of Africa, but could not
create more than one and a half fingerlengths of distance between my knees and
the seat in front of me by sitting back) and there was a screw which stuck out
from the wall that I had to avoid being cut by.
How fruitless is it to mention, that it was hard to sleep?
The Border
This was the longest border crossing of our trip, but certainly not the
hardest or most painful. The duration
was presumably the result of the border officials having not only to inspect
the passport or identity card of each passenger on the 60-seat bus, but also
(as usual in bureaucracy-loving francophone Africa) copy outinto a logbook the
details of each passenger on the 60-seat bus.
At 7am on the day of crossing the bus conductor walked up and down the
aisle to collect vaccination certificates for both Yellow Fever and Meningitis,
plus CFA 500 each for processing.
Because we were to be processed separate from the other passengers, the
rest of whom were all ECOWAS citizens, the conductor did not collect our
certificates or the CFA 500. He did,
however, warn Al that she would have to explain herself to the border
officials, as she did not carry proof of a Meningitis vaccine, and only held a
photocopy of her Yellow Fever certificate.
We arrived at the border at 8:15am, and Al and I got off the bus in advance
of the others. The Ghanaian officials
sat behind windows in an air-conditioned room, with computers and cameras. As upon entry into Ghana, we filled out the
same simple one-page form, had our headshot photos taken digitally and our visas
checked over, and then received an exit-stamp.
To fill the forms we required a pen, and had forgotten ours on the
bus. It sounds ridiculous in this little
nucleus of African bureaucracy, but nobody would lend us a pen. It took a couple minutes before a friendly
police officer gave us his – and he made sure to hound us for it back. We were clear of Ghana by 8:30.
At 8:45 we were taken into the office complex of the Ivory Coast border
officials and gendarmes. We had our details entered by hand into a
logbook at one end, then we returned to the front to get checked out and
stamped in for entry, and then by 8:55 we returned to the bus, still between
the Ghana and Ivory Coast sides.
All the passengers waited by the bus until 9:30, when Douane officials inspected the luggage both onboard and stowed
beneath. A crowd gathered to watch the
procedure.
At 9:45 we were all escorted through the Ivory Coast border, with the first
barrier to check for Yellow Fever and Meningitis vaccination certificates. Al explained that her original certification for
both was at the hotel in Grand Bassam (which was only half true: Al did not
have a Meningitis vaccination at all), and the white-clothed health officer
waved us on. The other passengers waited
in a queue while their names were called out, and one at a time their
certificates were returned to them (they had been collected by the bus
conductor). Those who did not hold a
certificate had to go into a building behind the barrier to get their
injections for a CFA 2,500 fee.
Al and I walked through the Ivory Coast border offices, having already been
cleared and stamped, while the other passengers handed over the identity cards
after inspection. We all waited on the
side of the road until 12:30pm, when the bus came to pick us up. Once on our way, the conductor called out the
names of the other passengers and returned their identity cards or passports.
The whole process from arrival to departure took four hours and 15
minutes. Again, as with every border
crossing since Burkina Faso, there was no mention or hint of a bribe, gift or cadeau.
What We Needed
See information on acquiring our 90-day multiple-entry
visas in my previous letter from 4 July.
For the bus
- CFA 48,000 (24,000 each)
- 24 hours from the supposed boarding time to arrival in Grand Bassam
- Some measure of mental toughness
At the border
- Passports with Ghana and Ivory Coast visas
- Yellow Fever and Meningitis vaccination certificates
- Four and a quarter hours
I’m not aware of any other border (and had not been aware of this one)
which requires a certificate of vaccination for Meningitis. Perhaps this requirement is on the rise, so
if you’re traveling to Africa I would recommend you get your shot and bring the
proof of it with you wherever you go.
Oh, and one more thing which should by now be clear: whenever you find
yourself in or near the thrall of French or French-inspired bureaucracy, get
ready to sit around and wait.
Happy trails,
QM
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