The lagoon in front of me is quiet in the sunshine, save for the rustle of a tropical breeze and the putter of a boat engine making its way towards me. The latter has just departed a jetty on a strip of sand 200 metres away across the water. A low roaring suggests the waves beyond its swaying line of coconut palms are in fine form.
You’d be forgiven for thinking I’m in the Caribbean. But this is the Côte d’Ivoire; a West African nation you might know best for its recent resurgence to World Cup football, and less for its swathes of glorious Atlantic coastline and UNESCO-listed tribal cultures.
But with direct flights from Paris, Brussels and Istanbul to Côte d’Ivoire’s de facto capital Abidjan – one of Africa’s biggest cities – now is the time to put this country on your travel map.
A Caribbean feel
I’m on the coast in beautiful Assinie-Mafia, just an hour-and-a-half east from the modern skyscrapers and energy of Abidjan. It’s peaceful here, and arrestingly beautiful. An eclectic collection of hotels, guesthouses, fishing villages and upscale beach clubs line the calm waters of the Aby Lagoon, separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a long strip of picture-perfect golden sand.
I’m waiting for a boat to take me from the jetty at the gallery-esque boutique hotel, La Maison d’Akoula, to its private beach club across the water. Behind me there’s a soft hum of chatter and a clink of glass as guests, mainly Abidjan’s elite, take a sip of champagne in the shade of a sprawling fig tree and Ivorian art. Next to me, a weaver bird flits into a nest in a flash of yellow.
Assinie’s beaches are popular with wealthy Abidjanais, but you’ll see few European tourists. And holidays here imbue a sense of having found something before everyone else.
Birdwatchers will love boat rides along the Aby Lagoon, past small fishing villages and lagoon-side restaurants to the dense mangroves of the Ehotilé Islands National Park, a protected wetland. Forty-five minutes west along the coast, you can watch ceramic artists at work in the crumbling old colonial capital of Grand-Bassam.
Then there are the sparkling pools, lagoon-side restaurants and elegant beach clubs at La Maison d’Akoula and its equally-upscale neighbour, Hotel Coucoué Lodge. Days here have all the hallmarks of an exceptional Caribbean-esque escape without the cruise ships and crowds.
But while parts of the Caribbean fight against overtourism, there’s an argument that Côte d’Ivoire needs more visitors.
UNESCO-listed culture
Two days earlier I’m three-and-a-half hours inland in the village of Kondeyaokro, close to the country’s sleepy official capital, Yamoussoukro. I’m watching a traditional Goli dance. A spiritual ritual that connects the Baoulé people – one of Côte d’Ivoire’s 60-plus tribal cultures – to their ancestors.
The drumming is incessant and demanding, reaching a crescendo as two masked figures, bedecked in palm fronds, reach the centre of our circle of onlookers. Each takes his turn to out dance his opponent, feet flying impossibly fast in the dust.
As more people turn up to watch, the village’s young men urge on their favourite. The atmosphere is electric. And what starts as a performance for us tourists, ends as an event for the entire village.
Over dinner (and a toast or three), the village’s King, Nana Yao Daniel, explains tourism is needed here. Since the ribbon of smooth tarmacked dual-carriageway opened connecting Abidjan with the country’s remoter north, roadside sales of the village’s acclaimed hand-woven cloth have plummeted.
During a break in the drumming, I’m shown the outdoor looms where Baoulé men still weave long narrow strips by hand before sewing them together to create loincloths worn around the body. Women prepare the cotton and the dye.
Do I feel pressured to buy something? No, but I’m moved by the deep indigo blues and geometric patterns of the cloth I choose – and it feels like a privilege to own a piece of craft inscribed on UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Ecotourism funding conservation
The dual carriageway whizzes us further north, beyond the Baoulé weavers to the outskirts of the small town of Bouaké.
Here Karl Diakite, an Ivorian eco-entrepreneur, has turned his family’s private fishing spot into the 41,000-hectare N’Zi Wildlife Reserve. Conservation is funded by stays at N’Zi River Lodges, a collection of comfortable stilted cottages connected by suspended walkways, where you sleep to the sound of tree hyraxes calling in the darkness.
“Most of our rangers used to be poachers,” says Diakite. “They have understood with time the importance of preserving wildlife, the environment, and also can see the benefits from it.”
Places like N’Zi are desperately needed. Since 1960, Côte d’Ivoire has lost 80% of its forest cover and more than 90% of its native forest elephants.
The reserve is still in its infancy, but there’s an all-pervading feeling of hope. Wildlife numbers are increasing and safaris through the forested savannah reveal forest buffalo, Western Kob antelope, defassa waterbuck, vervet monkeys and more.
“When we first started it was very difficult to see any kind of wildlife except for birds, but mammals-wise hardly anything,” says Diakite. “Buffalos used to be a myth. When we were told that there were buffalos in the region, we would laugh to the specialist until we started seeing herds of them as well.”
The reserve’s early successes are feeding lofty aims.
“There are herds of elephants that tend to travel through our reserve, not easy to see because of how scarce they are,” says Diakite. “One of our goals is to be a sanctuary for elephants in order to try to repopulate what used to be elephant country.”
For more intrepid wildlife enthusiasts, the vast Taï National Park in the far west of the country is home to endangered pygmy hippos and critically-endangered West African chimpanzees.
Back in Assinie-Mafia, I’m running my toes through the soft sand with a glass of sweet hibiscus juice in my hand. There’s a spontaneous game of beach volleyball in front of me and the smooth dance beats of Ivorian Zouglou music are pumping quietly in the background. It’s bliss, I think.
But the appeal of travel here isn’t just that it feels like the Caribbean before the crowds, but that visiting now and supporting places like N’Zi along the way, can help shape what comes next.
Côte d’Ivoire: How to get there and where to stay
Air France, Brussels Airlines and Turkish Airlines offer direct flights to Abidjan from Paris, Brussels and Istanbul respectively. Flight time is around seven hours.
A full-board stay in an executive room at N’Zi River Lodges costs from £198 (€230 / 150,000 FCFA) per night including a game drive.
A one-bedroom over-water suite at La Maison d’Akoula in Assinie-Mafia costs from £450 (€522 / 340,000 FCFA) per night including breakfast.
Or try Hotel Coucoué Lodge, where garden rooms sleeping two to four people start at £112 (€130 / 85,000 FCFA) per night including breakfast.
Responsible Travel offers cultural and wildlife tours in Côte d’Ivoire starting from £2,450 per person (€2,845) excluding flights.
Sarah Faith is senior values writer at activist travel company, Responsible Travel