Ivory Coast

After years of isolation due to an unstable political situation, which has now been fully resolved, Côte d’Ivoire reopens its doors. And from the glass skyscrapers to the clay huts, from the savannahs of the north to the lush forests of the centre, to the paradisiacal beaches of the Atlantic coast, it offers travellers its many faces, reflected in an ethnographic, morphological and landscape variety that has no equal in the whole of West Africa.

Cocoa plantations and palm groves stretching as far as the eye can see, narrow strips of land between the lagoons and the ocean and wild beaches on the edge of the forest, as well as traditional villages, classical architecture, colonial vestiges and cosmopolitan metropolises are the hallmarks of this fascinating, multifaceted country. A varied and polychrome panorama in which the spiritual dimension is predominant and is manifested in a multiplicity of ancestral rites, animist ceremonies and initiatory dances accompanied by the pressing rhythm of traditional instruments.

The absolute protagonists are the masks, guardians of tradition and powerful intermediaries between the tangible and the occult. From the evolutions of the “panther men” among the Senoufo, to the bridges of lianas and the spirits on stilts among the Dan, to the hypnotic dances of the Komian priestesses in the kingdom of Agni, to the rhythmic steps of the Goly masks of the Baulè, everything in Côte d’Ivoire refers to the secrets of the spirits, and it is here, more than anywhere else, that one can perceive the pulsating rhythm of Black Africa.