Ferkessédougou
Ferkessédougou, often shortened to Ferké is the second big town in the northern part of Côte d'Ivoire. It is an important pole of development as it is the obligatory gate towards Burkina Faso and Mali. It is also a major transport crossroads and is known for its market and hospital. The agricultural economy of the surrounding area is based on cotton and sugar production (...)Top photos chosen by u all:
Ferkessedougou, Ivory Coast
Made by Robert Dorion
June 5: We’re hoping to get all the way to Mopti in one big swoop, but we’re not sure which taxi gare to go to. We ask the driver of a city taxi and he says he’ll take us to the big gare in Adjamé and we can ask around. So that’s what we do. We finally work our way (through the mud) to one counter that has a list of prices painted on the wall for Sikasso, Bamako, Mopti, ... The route to Mopti is 16,000- yikes- and we take it. After boarding, stopping, going, stopping, going, etc. we’re finally off. It’s another big bus so it’s not too bad of a ride. To eat, we buy the random things sold by women as we stop: corn, little sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs. Once we even see a girl carrying a huge plate of giant red shrimp, although we don’t buy any. The only bad thing so far is that the bus doesn’t seem to have much power, and is going very slow. We finally get to Yamoussoukro in the late afternoon, and get another peek of the basilica and the spot that was our Waterloo (as Alan put it) several days ago. It doesn’t look like we’ll make it to Mali today. At night we arrive in the northern town of Ferkessedougou. Here, we are trying to figure out if we need to change buses or not, since our tickets are issued to here only. After lots of inquiries, it seems that we stay on this bus until the town of Ouangolodougou, about 40 km north of Ferkessedougou. Apparently, at Ouangolo, the road splits: one goes to Sikasso and the other to Bobo Dialasso. Finally, we load back up. We go one block. We stop. We wait. We go back to the station. The final word: we get the privilege of sleeping at the Ferkessedougou station tonight until 4 or 5 in the morning when we “really” leave. So, I find some bread and cooked potatoes for dinner. Alan attempts to sleep among the mosquitoes on the outside bench. I eventually lay across 3 seats in the bus and manage to get a decent amount of sleep.
IMG_8338
Made by k_r_o_42
train trip from hell. Somewhere between Bouaké (cote d'ivoire) and Banfora (Burkina Faso)
Nearest places of interest:
| Korhogo Boundiali Bouaké Agnibilékrou | banfora Bobo Dioulasso Sikasso Kaaran |
