Day 22 April 24 Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast with an area of 322,460 km² and a population of 31.5 million (2024 estimate), is the third-most populous country in West Africa. The area became a protectorate of France in 1843 and was consolidated as a French colony in 1893. It gained independence under the leadership of Felix Houphouet-Boigny in 1960. Since independence, it has endeavored to develop close political-economic ties with its neighbours while maintaining close relations with the West including France. Its relative political stability was disrupted by a coup d’etat in 1999 and two civil wars (between 2002 and 2007 and in 2010- 2011). A new constitution was adopted in 2016. The country is the world’s largest exporter of cocoa beans and its economy relies heavily on agriculture with smallholder cash-crop production. It has experienced high economic growth since the return of stability in 2011: the GDP(PPP) for 2024 is estimated to be around US$2,700. Yamoussoukro is the capital while Abidjan with a port is the largest city and economic centre. French is the official language while many indigenous languages are also widely used.
It was my first visit to Ivory Coast. The smooth sailing into the harbour at sunrise was beautiful. I joined a full day tour to visit Grand-Bassam and Abidjan. In the morning, we visited the historical centre of Grand–Bassam, the old colonial capital in the late 19th century, which is a World Heritage Site because of its outstanding examples of colonial architecture and town-planning, and the juxtaposition of colonial town with a traditional Nzema village. We first went to a large indoor market selling artifacts and clothes. Though I love the vibrant African colours and patterns, I can no longer afford to accumulate more junks in my tiny apartment in Hong Kong. The second stop was the National Museum of Costume housed in a beautiful colonial mansion. Our enthusiastic guide explained in great details important artifacts including the costumes of different tribes, the culture and heritage, and the bathroom that was built a century ago. We drove around before dropping off at a resort by the beach where we had a nice lunch.
After lunch, we proceeded to Abidjan, the capital from 1933 to 1983 and the biggest and most important city of Ivory Coast. Lying amid canals and waterways, Abidjan often referred to as “Paris of West-Africa” is the second largest city in West Africa after Lagos, Nigeria and looks pleasant, modern and organised with good infrastructures (bridges, roads and water transportation). I saw numerous restaurants, hotels and shops along the roads. We first went to the iconic St Paul’s Cathedral designed by Aldo Spirito, an Italian architect. Pope John Paul II consecrated the first stone of the cathedral in 1980 and dedicated the building upon completion in August 1985. It is one of the largest cathedrals in the world: it is modern and unique with an enormous Cross outdoor and an exterior face covered by 14 panels made in terracotta ceramics with the Cross and the story of Christ as the main theme. The interior is remarkable with six colourful stained glass windows covering an area of 370 metres. The themes for each panel are related to the life of St Paul.
Next we visited the Museum of Civilisation of Ivory Coast nearby. I was impressed by the wooden sculptures and pillars. Unfortunately only one hall was open. . Here we watched a dance performance before rushing off to a large souvenir market. Once we were back on the boat, we attended Captain’s welcome cocktail reception when the Captain introduced his senior officers.
Day 23-24 At Sea Lecture Days
April 25 – 26. I attended four interesting lectures on the first day and learned more about the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, birds of West Africa by Jonathan (who is a most passionate experts and a wonderful speaker on birds), insects of West Africa and sugarcane – the grass that changed the world. On the second day, I again spent most of the day in the show lounge to hear Clifford talking about “Abolition and the Return of Africans”, Manu on “Blood Diamond” by and an “Introduction to Sierra Leone”.
These talks prepared us for our next destination – Sierra Leone. The country’s current territory was established in two phases: in 1808, the coastal Sierra Leone Colony was founded as a place to resettle returning Africans after the abolition of the slave trade; and in 1896 an inland Protectorate was created following the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. Sierra Leone with an area of 73,252 sq km, attained independence from the UK in 1961. A protracted civil war broke out in 1991 between the government and the Revolutionary United Front rebel group. The conflict partly funded by the trade in illicit “blood diamond” with participation of child soldiers, lasted for 11 years before the rebel group was defeated. Relative stability has gradually returned and it has experienced substantial economic growth in recent years. It has rich mineral resources including diamond, gold, bauxite and rutile. Today, it has a GDP(PPP) of USD916 (2025 est) and a population of about 8.5 million with a life expectancy of 58.
Day 25 – 26 Sierra Leone
April 27 Tokeh
This was my first visit to Sierre Leone. Around 9 am, we landed in Tokeh a coastal town nestled outside Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, that is surrounded by mountains, forests and beautiful beaches. The Tokeh Beach is considered one of the largest and the most attractive beaches in West Africa. I spent two delightful hours bird watching with expert birders. We saw Yellow-billed (Black) Kite, Common Sandpiper, African Green Pigeon, Black-and-white Shrike Flycatcher, Little Swift, African Palm Swift, African Gray Woodpacker, White-throated Bee Eater, several types of Tern (West African Crested tern and Sandwich Tern), Dove (Laughing, Red-eye and Blue-spotted Wood-Dove), Swallow, Kingfisher (Blue-breasted, Malachite, Giant and Pied Kingfisher), Weaver, and Sunbird, Violet-backed Starling, and Bulbul etc.
As I had not put on proper footwear, I felt extremely tired after two hours’ walk and standing. I felt pain on my right hip. Though I was supposed to take a village walk after bird watching, I gave up and sat down to rest: I had reached my limit. Around 11 am, we gathered in front of the beach where villagers greeted us with traditional dance and music before returning to the boat for lunch. After 2 pm, I joined other guests to return to the beach to watch soccer organised by the “Flying Stars Amputee Football Organisation” for an hour. The tragic civil war has displaced millions, killed hundreds of thousands and left tens of thousands disabled from brutal amputations. This organisation was formed to support the amputees in bettering their quality of life by creating jobs for those living with amputations and ensuring them means to improve themselves. Very inspiring! Because of bad traffic, they were late for some 45 minutes. While waiting, I got into the water for aquarobics: the water was warm and beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed the game: they are heroes and professional playing an incredible game. We got very excited and cheered them on. We returned to boat before 5pm.
Day 26 April 28 Aberdeen
The ship sailed into Aberdeen at sunrise. Guests were offered four tours and I joined a 6-hour “Birding Tacaguma Wetlands and Chimpanzee Sanctuary”. Elaine felt tired and did not join. Tacugama is an eco-tourism hub nestled in a forest outside Freetown. We were expected to walk about 2 km to the wetland. Given my hip problem, I took a ride in a minibus to the destination. We spent less than an hour at the reservoir and wetland: I only saw two grebe. Then I took another ride to the chimp sanctuary established in 1995. In the sanctuary there are over 100 critically endangered Western chimpanzees. As only 20 visitors were admitted at a time, our group had to wait for almost an hour till 10am before we could go in with a guide. Evidence from fossils and DNA sequencing shows chimpanzee is humans’ closest living relative. Four subspecies have been recognised: Central, Western, Nigeria-Cameroon and Eastern chimpanzee. While some chimps were left outdoor, I watched 20-30 confined in a few concrete cells. They were screaming and watched us behind bars! I was not impressed by the overall conditions and did not feel comfortable watching these poor animals behind bars.
We departed at 11 am and were back on the boat around 12 noon. It was a great pity that I did not have a chance to visit Freetown. The ship set sail shortly after 1 pm. I enjoyed Clifford’s talk on “Masks, Masquerades and Militias” in the afternoon.
Day 27 – 29 Bijagos Archipelago, Guinea-Bissau
Bijagos Archipelago the largest archipelago in Africa spanning an area of almost 13,000 sq km, is a group of about 88 islands and islets located in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 40 miles off-shore off the coast of Guinea-Bissau. Twenty islands are populated with some 30,000 inhabitants year-round. Bolama is the administrative capital while the most populated island is Babaque. The area has a high diversity of ecosystems: mangroves with inter-tidal zones, palm forests, coastal savanna, sand banks and aquatic zones, thus attracting long-legged migrating birds and exotic wildlife including saltwater hippos and sea turtles. It is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and an Important Bird Area.
April 29 Bolama
Bolama was uninhabited when European colonists arrived in 1792. In 1879, it became the first capital of Portuguese Guinea and later a logistical centre for seaplane transport. A seaplane crash in 1931 is commemorated by a statute in the town. However as a result of shortage of fresh water on the island, its importance ceased in December 1941 when Bissau replaced it as the capital. Colonial buildings including the Governor’s Palace, were abandoned and fell into decay. Today the island with a population of about 5,000, is surrounded by mangrove swamps and is mostly known for its production of cashew nuts.
I joined a 3-hour guided bird walk and disembarked after 8 am. The broad main street lined with colonial buildings has a derelict and somewhat eerie feel. Not many locals were in sight: it felt so empty! We wandered through the deserted main road before turning off after the church. We spotted different bird species on the roofs, power lines and trees. We walked into a dry forest before reaching the swamp I was excited to find and be able to watch a colourful Lilac-breasted Roller, Red-throated Bee-Eater, Green Pigeon, Purple Glossy Starling and Sunbird. On the way back, we walked through ruins with gigantic trees with thousands of fruit bats. Very atmospheric!
In the afternoon we had an enrichment lecture with Joao-Wellfound who operates in remote villages across the islands and mainland of Guinea-Bassau providing critical access to water, food and continuous support aiming at improving the well-being of indigenous communities. His work is admirable. At 5:30pm we had a sunset zodiac cruise where we saw lots of shorebirds feeding on the mudflats.
April 30 Canhabaque
We had a sunrise zodiac cruise at 6:30am. It was atmospheric and excellent. After breakfast, Elaine and I joined a guided traditional village walk. Canhabaque Island is matriarchal headed by Queen Mother and leans heavily on ancient rituals. The village is located about 2.5km from the beach. I was slow taking my time to enjoy nature and the atmosphere. By the time I arrived at the centre of the village, the locals (all men) were performing the welcome dancing with hundreds of villagers gathering around. The dancers were all men covered with leaves. There was one man wearing cow horns on his head and blowing the horn occasionally.I found the dance powerful full of energy. Some ladies and young girls also danced on the side.
The highlight was to meet the Queen Mother who did not smile: her face was expressionless. After filing in the her hut to pay respect, she sat outside for us to take photos. It was delightful to walk with Clifford back to the beach and I learned more about the way of their way life on the island. The villagers seem to be well-built: I suppose they have a decent diet with meat from chicken, goat, pig and cow, seafood from the sea and vegetables and crops from the field. I got back to the boat after 11:30am. After lunch, I went back to the beach to enjoy the lovely warm water. The wonderful day ended with another fantastic zodiac sunset cruise at 5:30pm.
May 1 Rubane
I had the best sunrise zodiac cruise of the entire voyage. We saw Great Flamingo, Pink-backed Pelican, Cormoront, Plover, Whimbrel, Gull, Tern, African Sacred Ibis, Palm Nut Vulture and Hooded Vulture, Yellow-billed Kite etc on mud-flats. When we were approaching the main town and port of Bubaque Island, the archipelago’s administrative capital which lies just across the strait from Rubane Island, we could see many buildings and locals. The island with a population of over 6,000 was bubbling and lively with a weekly ferry running to Bissau on the main land. We were thrilled to find hundreds (if not thousands) of Village Weaver. I have never seen so many weavers and their nests in my life.
After a wholesome breakfast on the boat, we joined a guided beach nature walk with three dance performances at three different locations. Then we had a wonderful seafood buffet at Ponta Anchaco Resort, a beautiful and comfortable resort run by a French lady. After lunch, I went to the beach for aquarobics. A few kids joined me and I tried to teach two girls to swim. I had a great day!
Day 30 May 2 At Sea Lecture Day
After five days of activities, I enjoyed a leisure day at sea. I attended three interesting lectures on crocodiles, Cape Verde and the Pano-Trade (when Clifford talked about the Portuguese and Lancado Traders).