AN OLD PARADISE ........

Dear Diary,

To-day I can feel the madness coming on, my fingers are twitching, I haven't slept, and I am smoking two fags at one time..........save me!

It all started with the newspaper phoning me yesterday and asking me to contribute to their attempted "travel diary." Now as we live in Africa, and the subject matter is Africa, what was I going to do?

aaahh, I know, I will rummage in my memory and see if I can conjure up a memorable trip for everyone to share. (This of course was a challenge,) as the usual boring financial articles that I write, (which nobody reads) were beginning to get me down.....do you think they could tell? and this was to keep me sweet?

In these self same articles, I have taken to running down the government, I know nobody reads them ...'cos I'm still here and not in jail; oh! but wait a sec., we don't do that anymore do we? All this new transparency etc.....hmmmmmmm

So, I closed my bloodshot, larger-than-life-eyes, and thunk.......AH! yes, I said to myself, I will tell them about an old paradise......so this is what I wrote...........

Greeting fellow Imvoites, whilst our esteemed President has been in Germany begging for money to pay you all, I nomlontsi, have been on a quick trip up Africa. Let us hope that Madiba has been successful; judging by the lack of funds in the department of education, and the fact that my son has yet to receive his January salary, one wonders if the entire trip can justify the expense?

Prince Mnykiso, our honoured editor, asked me to "lighten-up a little," he feels that the doom and gloom that I constantly bring to these pages, the constant "nagging like an old hen" might just affect the sales of our ever booming newspaper. It is therefore at his "polite" request that I share with you my journey to West Africa.

Kwavencha and I , had never travelled to West Africa, and as such we were not prepared for the difference in language and customs, so if you will just bear with me, I will explain as I go along.

The point of convergence of former fragmented Kingdoms, stemming from the centuries. Old Empires of Mali, Ghana and Assante; between the equatorial forest regions and the savannah grasslands of West Africa, lying just over the equator, isolated groups of people, separated largely by choice, from the outside world live, farm and fish.

In a place where the three lands of Upper Volta, Ghana, Niger and Bukuna meet, lies a country known as ABIDJAN. This is situated on the West coast of Africa, and in days past, was known as the "Ivory Coast", (Cote D' Ivoire). On the Atlantic Ocean, known too as the "Gulf of Guinea", the country is made up mainly of converging peninsulas and islands, the entire main capital itself, is located on the Ebrie Lagoon.

The impression that one gets as one steps off the aeroplane, is that at last! we have arrived in "Old" Africa. Words cannot convey the actual place. All the films you have ever seen, all the stories you have ever heard, the hot sensuous, muggy atmosphere of "real" Africa? This is Abidjan. This is where the great kings met! Were the first stories began. If you close your eyes for a moment, you can smell the tropics, it is like no other. The meeting place of civilisations, traditional Africa puddled clay architecture; a city that itself testifies to the contrasting facets of the Ivory Coast; meeting all the challenges of modernity, unique in its ability to mix futuristic steel and glass buildings of the business quarters, to its "markets" full of local "colour".

Abidjan remains profoundly African. Known as the "Pearl of the Lagoons", it is a veritable melting- pot of more than sixty ethnic tribes. They compose a living mosaic of people who largely live, work and co-exist in a cultural and religious harmony.(appro., population 15 million)

Who knows if this is the result of the autocratic dictatorship of the late President Houphouet-Biogny? He of the sixty-five million dollar Palace he built in Yamoussoukroo? The one that is an architectural replica of the St.Peters' Basilica? Never mind what it cost!!!!!!! Nu? thats Africa for you....all pomp and cenremony.

The capital of Abidjan, boasts an international airport, harbour and modern freeways. An excellent race course and a very acceptable golf course. The freeways of course, as in most African countries, do not continue beyond the city limits! ( what a ride we had!)

It is said, that the Portuguese discovered the Ivory Coast in the 15th Century. Europe had been in contact with the region, sometimes peacefully, as traders, often by force. But they came; the lure of the gold-trade with the Assente, together with the trade in Ivory, palmetto and slaves attracted merchants who were fascinated by the legendary and fabulous kingdoms. Since trade was the only thing that counted at that time; the Dutch, Portuguese, French and English, succeeded in varying degrees of violence and rapidity.

History tells, that the epicentre of West Africa, was at first Mali; trade which had previously been in North Africa and particularly Morocco, gradually deviated toward the West. It is said too, that the first French missionaries landed at Assine in 1637. Wonderful tales are handed down of men such as Sieurdu Casse Bouert-Wilaumez and Arthur Verdier and many more. These gentlemen set about turning this part of Africa into a "little France." They traded, taught, built schools and hospitals: oversaw to the planting of coffee, cocoa and coconut palms, even rubber.

As you travel through the fading splendour of Grand Bassam, and "half Assine," you can almost hear the long ago explorers, see the bustle of the sailing ships. Grand Bassam, was the first capital, later through overcrowding and sheer necessity, the Viric Canal was opened, linking the Ebrie Lagoon and the sea.

For an experience of a life time. To "laze" and be restored. Go and visit. From the moment you step onto the "Air Afrique' plane, "free seating madam," "a little more wine? madam?" Set your mind into neutral, enjoy and flow, you will not be sorry. If you spend time in the City, take a taxi! (you will never forget that!) explore the markets, play some golf, gamble and go to the race track. If you are daring enough to book into a Club Med, then rest assured that the hair-raising journey, is a scenic wonder!

Never mind which side of the road you might travel on. Wave to the friendly people. Resist if you can? the eighty-five kilometres of craft markets along side the non-existent road!

When you disembark into the capable hands of the caring G.O.'s, Club Med with its air-conditioned bungalows, tropical gardens and Endenic beaches is truly a paradise to behold. If you just want to sleep and eat? beware! Banquets unimaginable before, are set out daily. Sport of every description, aerobics, dancing, water-ski-ing, musical shows, swimming, picnics and excursions, its all there. The incredible peninsula, that forms Assine throbs with an underlying feeling of excitement.....it is almost a dream. Leave civilisation at home!

                             If, you have never been a joiner-in, forget! you will find yourself clapping and humming and singing in French along with the rest of them. (you will want to adopt the staff!)

No-one cares if you have cellulite, a fat tummy, no hair, or if you have forgotten your make-up and bathing costume. The sophisticated, continental French, who run the Club Med, make the mundane seem trivial and foolish.

If you want bird-life, go inland ("they" pack a picnic like no other). There are no coral reefs, as the Atlantic is flat and almost tideless at this point in heaven. Witness the "locals" fish on the beach with nets, note too, that they only "take' what they need for daily quota for food, throwing back into the sea, what is surfeit. For fishermen generally, it is almost too easy. The seas abound with the most incredible fish. Sightseeing on the lagoon, in a dug-out, which is hand-carved and painted,(these are whole IROKO logs) boasts a petrol driven motor for ease and comfort.

Sadly, as you pack to go home, wrapping up your "sand-dollar shells," your carved "Colonial wooden men," you will pause, smiling all the while at the memories that flash by, the king of Abusondi, in "Reggae regalia," the Raffia Palm "still," where you misbehaved. Your introduction to the famous "speed" of Africa, "Kola Rouge." (did I tell you about this? ) the strange beans in an enormous bod, that when sliced and eaten....you fly? The towering Bamboo plantations, having lunch in an abandoned "pub," where carved animal figures, still hold up the bar. The "Flag " local beer, drunk in a "reed hotel." The swim on new-years day, where as it was full moon, the tide stood still for a whole hour.

You pack and sigh, thinking, "should I have bought those carved wooden doors?" you ask yourself, "or those cane chairs?" or kidnapped those colourful Nomads, in flowing purple outfits from Mali?" (the Rudolph Valentino look-alikes?)

You leave amid a rousing send off, from the staff of the hotel, comforting yourself with the thought, that given the wisdom and forethought, credited to the "politicians," Africa, Cote D' Ivore, will still be there for you to see again and visit. That they will find a cure for "aids." That the "rape" of the forests will stop; the elephants will come back; and that God in his infinite way, will; forgive us our greed, thoughtlessness, yet applaud our tenacity.

Viva Africa! nomlontsi.

Dear Diary,

I found this quotation, in a hospital in Assine, it was from Albert Schweitzer............

"When people have a light in themselves, it will shine out from them. Then we get to know each other as we walk together in the darkness, without needing to pass our hands over each other's faces, or to intrude into each other's hearts."

but my best one is this........

We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is a least one which makes the heart run over.

The madness has finally taken over..............goodnight dear diary......

P.S. shall I meet you there gang????

bev

**This is where I live. PORT ALFRED. EASTERN CAPE. on a Marina....and its bliss, it is the closest I have yet come to the peace I felt in WEST AFRICA, although, there is NOTHING to comapre really...........aaahh ONE DAY!

Back to the Home Page