Ivory Coast
Spanish international newspaper El País published an English and Spanish version of the story Saskia Houttuin and I made for Dutch newspaper Trouw! The 1300 words piece has appeared on their website, accompanied by a slideshow with 13 of the pictures I took in and around Agou, Côte d’Ivoire.
To read the story, click on one of the two pictures below:
New work for Dutch newspaper Trouw:
It has been forbidden to hunt for Ivory Coast's pangolins since 1974, but the law has never been maintained. Now it is known that the coronavirus may have been transmitted from animals onto humans through a pangolin, Ivorians are fighting for a ban. But it's not easy.
Now that Ahmed Fofana, 21, is out of work because of the coronavirus pandemic, his grandfather's old shotgun comes in handy. For years it lay in pieces in the shed. "It was no longer used," said Fofana, who took the time to give the weapon a second life. Black, wrapped tape and some simple welding now hold the long barrel and wooden butt together.
Almost every day at dusk, he walks out of his village, the rifle in his hand. Agou, a small town in the southeastern department of Adzopé (Ivory Coast), is surrounded by forests and fields. It's an ideal hunting ground. In the 'brousse', as Ivorians describe wild natural areas, Fofana hunts for his next meal. He sums up the animals he encounters: "Gazelles, deer, hedgehogs, rats, pangolins, snakes". If it's edible, he shoots it.
He prefers to do something else for a living. "But I have no choice," he explains. Due to the corona virus, he lost his job as a moped taxi driver last year. "As the man of the house, it is my job to find food for my family." Read the whole story, by Saskia Houttuin, by following this link.
“Ivory Coast is divided,” says Judicaël Yao (who wears a black cap), the coordinator for RHDP Yamoussoukro. “But even about Jesus Christ, people were not unanimous.” Judicaël's party leader and current president Alassane Ouattara decided to run for a third term, but opposition leaders say that this decision is unconstitutional. And so the opposition has urged voters to boycot the elections of upcoming Saturday.
In Ivory Coast’s capital Yamoussoukro, followers of Ouattara aren’t bothered by the claims of the opposition, as they put up posters of Ouattara as if the elections are running in a normal fashion. “Today, we believe that for the majority of Ivorians, those who want the happiness of our people, president Ouattara is the man who is needed,” Judicaël says. "In nine years, he has transformed Ivory Coast.” Ouattara has been praised for Ivory Coast’s economic growth: the average gross domestic product has grown around 8% per year since he came to power in 2011.
Still, Ivory Coast is on edge, and tensions are high. Fears of instability in the country rise, as electoral violence has already led to sixteen deaths in Abou, a commercial district 50 kilometers from Abidjan. The memories of post-election violence in 2010 and 2011, that killed some 3,000 people, are still fresh.
To learn about the elections, check out our reportage for RTL Nieuws or read Saskia Houttuin’s article for Dutch daily Trouw. To see some additional photography and reporting for VPRO, click here.
When I traveled through Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal a bit more than a year ago, Diane Audrey Ngako asked me to take over her @visiterlafrique Instagram account, which "documents rare, hidden hotspots on the continent and disrupts tourism", according to Quartz Africa. Later on, she asked me if she could feature one of the posted photos in the book she made: 'They call it Africa, we call it home'. You can see the result of our collaboration on the pictures and video above! I haven't gotten my hands on my copy yet, so I have stolen some pictures photographer Yasmine Ferdjani uploaded to her Instagram story. I took this photo on Gorée Island, near Senegal's capital Dakar. I uploaded the picture with the following caption on Instagram:
The easygoing island vibe, the friendly people spending their day outside, the crumbling down, colored colonial buildings - Île de Gorée is easily one of the prettiest places we've visited during our trip. This nice island has a gruesome history, though. Because the European colons were initially afraid of attacks and diseases on Africa's main land, they used the islands near the coasts as their bases. That's how Île de Gorée, 3 kilometers from Dakar, eventually became an important center for the slave trade. You can still visit the infamous and impressive 'Maison des Esclaves', where you can learn that also the Dutch have occupied the island, and that they're responsible for Gorée's name: they once named it after the Dutch island of Goeree, which stands for 'Goede Reede' ('Good Port').
You'll find more features, collaborations and assignments on the 'Features' page.
When Diane Audrey Ngako asked me if I'd like to temporarily 'take over' her platform's Instagram account, I didn't hesitate for a second. "To inspire you to travel around Africa", she started the @visiterlafrique account and the linked website two years ago. Eventually, she even quit her job as a Le Monde journalist to pursue her African dream - she now runs a big, and still growing platform with 'ambassadors' all over the African continent.
From last Monday until the end of today, I've posted pictures of my trip to Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal on Diane's @visiterlafrique Instagram account, you can check them out here. I'd love to hear what you think - send me a message !
We’re back from our trip to Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal! And if you haven’t already read about it on Instagram: we had three great weeks. Ivory Coast is tropical, in your face, lively and a bit crazy. I loved the 'maquis', little bars where you can drink a beer and eat some fried chicken, and the Abissa festival in Grand-Bassam was more than awesome.
Mali is a lot calmer, but there’s something simmering, right underneath the surface. It’s weird to visit a country at war, but apart from the military checkpoints in and around Bamako, day to day life goes on. It’s a country with a lot of kids - the average Malian is 16 years old - and we spotted a lot of kids. Even in the sparsely populated areas of the country we had encounters with toddlers that looked at us like they’ve never seen a white person before, which might just be the case.
Senegal is a richer country, more controlled, and we had a lot of fun in the beautiful eastern corner of the country, around Kédougou. We’ve also been to Saint-Louis and Dakar, two bigger cities that used to be very important for the French colons, and that’s still noticeable. You can see some of the pictures I took in those three countries above - I'll also be sharing my thoughts on an African HUB-account on Instagram. Follow me on IG to see which account that's going to be and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to send me an email!
After a cold winter trip to Iceland, after exploring the chaotic streets of India and after visiting Bulgaria for a wedding weekend, I know where the next trip will take me: West Africa! Together with Saskia, I will visit Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal - so if you read this and you know some good places to go, sleep, drink and / or eat, let us know! You can find my email address here.
