 Welcome to Côte d'Ivoire! Côte d'Ivoire is the first producer of cocoa all around the world and home country to famous soccer player Didier Drupal. Known for our vibrant culture, our wonderful dishes and our beautiful dishes. We share borders with Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Guinea. We are holding the next African Cup of Nation starting next year in January 2024. Do not miss a chance to come and visit because this place has been one of the safest places to visit here in West Africa. We're currently in Abidjan and Abidjan is the economic capital of Côte d'Ivoire. As we say here, Abidjan est le plus doux au monde, meaning Abidjan is the sweetest in the world. Listen, I feel so ashamed that my neighboring country looks this beautiful and I never knew anything about it. I think you guys can blame me as much as you can because every Côte d'Ivoire Abidjan is not what I expected. Listen, I've travelled across West Africa and I would say that hands down, this is the most developed country in West Africa. The roads. People has really impressed me and I'm not even gonna lie to you that this country got one of the best roads that I've seen in the whole of Africa. Listen, I'm not saying this to make the people of Ivory Coast be so happy but the fact that I'm on my way to Nyamizukro, which is more like three hours away from Abidjan and the roads that I'm using is a double lane from Abidjan to Nyamizukro. This is absolutely incredible. I mean, if a connectivity of a country works, if the road is better, definitely free movement of people within the country will not be a problem. You know what, let's all do this, like this video, just to appreciate the people of Ivory Coast. I mean, every ground of our plots man, this is incredible. Wow. The real reason why I travel within Africa is to showcase the beauty of Africa that you all have never seen on TV. It's important to educate you about our own various countries. You've been hearing Ivory Coast, Côte d'Ivoire, but do you know the origin of the name? In English, because of the Ivory trade, the Ivory of the Elephants. When the Westerners came here, they traded Ivory and they named it Ivory Coast because it was on the shores of Western Africa. So that's why we have Côte d'Ivoire, which is Ivory Coast. As a Ghanian traveling within this beautiful country, I found so many similarities between Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire that made me question the origin of the people of Côte d'Ivoire. I even met people that interacted with me in a common language that we speak in Ghana, which is tree. And to my surprise, they were Ivorians thinking that they were Ghanians. What kind of tree are you talking about? We are Ghanians, we are Ivorians. We are Ivorians. We are Ghanians. How old are you? I'm 83 years old. I'm Ivorian and I'm Ghanian. I'm Ivorian. Is that a quaba? Yes, a quaba means what is your tribe in Ghana? I'm an Akan. In Ivory Coast, again, I am Akan. Why? In Ivory Coast, we have four big groups. But we have 62 tribes. First, Akan group. Most of them provide from Ghana. We have similar culture. For example, you use Kente. We use Kita. Kita and Kente are similar. Just the name will change. Do you understand? I really understand. That's why now we use a quaba again to say welcome. You also say a quaba, which is welcome? Yes, and we have a place which is not far from Airport. Which is called a quaba. Wow! Do you know the Queen Ablapoku? No. Let's go back to history. In the 18th century, a queen named Ablapoku was born. She was the niece of the king, Osai Tutu, the co-founder of the Ashanti Empire in Ghana. When the king died, a succession war broke out. Ablapoku's second brother, who was one of the heirs to the throne, was killed. Fearing for her life and family, Ablapoku fled. She led her people from modern-day Ghana to Ivory Coast around 1770, where she founded the Baolik Nation. She believed that she sacrificed her son to the river so that her people would cross the river. She arrived in front of a river and she sacrificed her baby and appeared a bridge of hippopotamus and the people crossed it. And when they finished to cross, the bridge disappeared. And the Ashanti people returned. And she saved his people. It's why she called Baolik. Baolik, which means in Ashanti language, my son is dying. Wow! It's why today we call them Baolik. And Baolik is the most important group of Ivory Coast. The city of Abidjan really surprised me. My goodness, look at this beauty. We love how organized Abidjan is. Can you guys see what I'm seeing? Look at this long stretch bridge connected the city. The city got wide roads. Listen, very clean city. But do you know where the name Abidjan came from? That's the Republic. This is the first place the colonizers see when they came in Abidjan. So that's like Abidjan, they were colonized by the French. So this is the first place that they came? Yes, when they came in Abidjan is the third capital of Côte d'Ivoire. We have first Grand Bassam. Secondly, we have Benjamin, third Abidjan. And why Abidjan? Why Abidjan comes from the name? The French colonizer, when they arrived in this place, they saw a woman here. And they asked this woman, where are we? And she understood what are you doing? And she answered, I'm going to cut leaves in my plantation. And the colonizer, the French, they understood here is Jambidjan because she said in the local language Jambidjan. Jambidjan means I'm going to cut leaves in my plantation. So they think, ah, we are in Jambidjan, so Abidjan. This is where Abidjan comes from. Believe me or not, Côte d'Ivoire got one of the best transportation systems that I've seen across my jennies in Africa. The Ivorian BRT is definitely one of the best that I've seen in Africa. The buses look so new, it's affordable, well organized and it's so beautiful to see the buses riding across the city. This is the kind of transportation that we need across the continent. And believe me or not, this is incredible man. Tell me about the taxis in Ivory Coast. Okay, for the taxis, there are two kinds of taxis. They are the one that's the orange one. They can go like everywhere in Abidjan. But sometimes they have, from every city in Abidjan, they have different color. For example, for Yopupon, you have blue, like sky blue. Okay. And for Ajame, it's like yellow. And when you are in Mercury, it's yellow. Yellow or green, I don't remember. Because I'm not always in this kind of city. So does it mean that even within Abidjan, different districts got different kind of taxis? Yeah. Wow, every district in Abidjan has different colors. Different colors? Even for the market, the places, everything is different. What about the taxes? Oh, for the taxes, it's like everywhere the same color. The same color? Is it affordable? Yeah, kind of. It's affordable because when you are talking about taxes, you just talk about it. But when you want to travel maybe for one place to another place, like the less is something like 200 sifa. But 200 sifa is not expensive. Okay. It's like small money. For the buses, they are between 200 and 500. But 500 is like common place money. It's not so expensive. Wow. So we have people traveling from Yopupon to maybe Plateau or Mapo. They prefer taking buses because buses would be like something like 500. 500. But if they take taxes, they need to take three taxes. That would be 300, 200 and 300. Something like 800 total. So they prefer the buses. The buses are for the government. Yeah, they are for the government. That's incredible, man. Thank you so much for taking to me. It's okay. The fact that they also keep the city clean. Wherever you go in the city, you'll see. Refills down like this. I don't know if you guys can check around me for a whole leg. It's super clean. So as soon as you're done with whatever you're doing, just put it right in here. You don't think that's incredible? You know, some of you don't even use your refills down. But they use it. In every course. Abidjan is the most populous city among all the cities in Côte d'Ivoire. But since I'm here, I just want you all to know that there is more to Côte d'Ivoire. Welcome to Yarmusucrum, the home of the first president of the Republic of La Côte d'Ivoire. Félix Wouffet Boani. The largest church in the world. Bigger than the St. Peter Basilica in Rome. It's been built by the first president of our country, Côte d'Ivoire, from 1986 to 1989. It took three years to build the Basilica. And the capacity of the church is almost 20,000 people. They can gather and pray God here. And the width is 150 meters. And the Basilica in Rome is only 115 meters. I'm still here exploring the second capital and also the second largest city in Ivory Coast. Should I say Ivory Coast or Côte d'Ivoire? We have to say Côte d'Ivoire from now on. Why not Ivory Coast? Because the presidents, when you go to people starting translating the language, you know, so when you go to English-speaking countries, they say Ivory Coast. And then when you go to Spain, they say Costa de Marfil. Because it's like Costa of Ivory. That's the initial origin of the name. So every language starting translated the country name into the languages. So at some point the president says, stop it, we just have to say Côte d'Ivoire. Bienvenue la Côte d'Ivoire, exactly. Bienvenue en Côte d'Ivoire. Oh, bienvenue en Côte d'Ivoire. You know what? We are at Yamusucrom. Exactly. And where are we right now? This is behind me. This is the best and the biggest university in Côte d'Ivoire. All the smart students after high school, they come here. We have like different university, different department and faculties inside. The biggest. The biggest. I guess everything in Yamusucrom is big and wide. Based on first impression. Number one, the road. Yes. Is wide. I mean, I've traveled across West Africa. And this city got one of the widest roads that I've ever seen. And I feel like the city was so planned. Exactly. The city was, has been drawn. Yeah. They drawn the city in the paper before building it because the president wanted like a nice city and an organized city where everyone would feel good. So you see the road, you see the house, you see everything was planned. That's how they built Abidjan. Exactly. But when I came here, I see it's a bit deserted. More like, there are not many people here. Yeah. The thing is, people still want to live in Abidjan because they think that there are a lot of things in Abidjan to do because the money is in Abidjan. The economic capital is Abidjan. Would you ever stay here? I think I would stay here but even if I stay here all my businesses are in Abidjan. So we need to go to Abidjan. More often. That's for most people. Stay in Abidjan but then they come to Yamsokro during the weekend. You see, Yamsokro is calm, is greener so people come to rest and spend good time in family and everything. Second thing is that the biggest church in the world is found here. Exactly. Notre Dame de la Paix in French or Our Lady of Peace in English is here. It's been built by the first president of Côte d'Ivoire, Félix Soufibouanie. Definitely, this is not your everyday Africans that you see on TV. The ones that you see in house flies on their faces. See, these are young kids in Africa enjoying themselves, exercising, playing basketball. This is definitely what the media will never show you and that's why I am here to let you know that this is also Africa. I prefer food over women in any country that I go to hence I cannot be in Ivory Coast without trying the most popular dish in this country. Welcome to Ivory Coast, the home of authentic Acheke. So this is actually how we eat breakfast here in Abidjan. This is breakfast. This is breakfast. It's not only breakfast because we eat it all day. You know, in the morning at lunchtime, first night in the evening, at nighttime. So this is the most affordable food in Côte d'Ivoire. Wow! Yeah, it's very affordable with like, let's say half of a euro, like half dollars you can eat here. The fish doesn't cost very much and the Acheke also is good. So it's mostly Acheke which is made from cassava, the kind of cassava couscous. Only made in Côte d'Ivoire but then all the Chinese starting. All the Chinese starting making them. Only made in Côte d'Ivoire. Only made in Côte d'Ivoire so far. So we eat it with tuna, fish. I've seen some slices of pepper. Pepper, so then we add all the pepper and some vegetables. Wow! We try to pour it. So we have the pepper we eat. We have to eat it with a lot of pepper. A lot of pepper? A lot of pepper. So I hope you guys love pepper. This is a typical breakfast in Ivory Coast, man. Yeah. Just come along with us, man. Let's get to see what they eat in Ivory Coast. So one of the things we eat in the morning. Yeah, but I love the fact that everyone is here. Yeah, you see so many people. Yeah, you see so many people. So many people here. That's so cool. When I say seafood, do you know what is seafood? That's the minimum. Or when I say cassava couscous. You guys don't have rice? No, no, no rice today. We eat a chicken. You eat first. No, I will show you how to eat it. You guys are super hungry. Wait for it. So what you do? What you do? You take the a chicken. No, let's take the fish first. I'll take the fish first. Actually, you have to mix everything together. Take the fish. Put it in that chicken. It's hot. It's hot. Be careful. I put it in my mouth. You take the vegetables. A lot of paper. And you take everything like this. Mm-hmm. That's good. Okay, so I take the fish first. No. I take that chicken. Take everything. Paper. Paper. Yes. Don't die here. And then you go for... You have to eat the whole thing. Oh my God. How is it? It's trying to... I think you took too much paper. But the combination is thick, man. Yeah. It's good. So you have to take the combination because if you take only the Acheke, the Acheke is very bitter. You say you're not going to fill it. It's sour. Yeah, thank you. It's sour. So you're not going to fill it. But you have to take all the combination to be able to fill it. That my stomach is super full. It's about time to dance the food off. But do you all know that Iroco is one of the best places to have fun in Africa? If you've heard it, that's a good one. But listen, whatever you want to have fun in Kodibwa, never go to Abijan. Neither do you have to go to Yamusukurum. But this is a secret and you've got to take it from me. Choose Asini as the place to enjoy whenever you are in Kodibwa. So beautiful, man. It gives me a vibe of Adan in Ghana. You say this is a lagoon right in front of me. And I love the fact that there are coconut ahead. So you've got the lagoon, the coconut and the ocean right over there. That's incredible stuff. This is the Africa that you all have not been seeing on TV. This is one of the best places to, I mean, live your best life. Let me show you something. One of the coolest thing I'm seeing in here. You see the... You see the shali? The shali is right on top of the water right? So as soon as you come out of your room, you just get the view of the water. You just get the view of the lagoon. But in case you're a big fan of speed boats. Brother, this is called your speed boat right here. Have fun in here. Why are you not visiting Ivory Coast yet? What is preventing you? The language should not prevent you. Come and explore this beautiful country. Just like the way I'm exploring. Oh my goodness. Look at them. Are you guys in Miami? It seems like we are. Are you in Miami? Yeah. Are you guys in Miami? This is African Miami. This is the Africa of Miami. No. This is Miami. I would say Miami is trying to learn from us. Because this is natural. Yes. I love it. That's what you need to remember. Countries that you've been to, you decided to settle in this country? Yes. I've been to more than 21 countries in Africa. It's so hard. So can we skip to the good part? Wait. No, no, no, no. Bring the beat back. I'm floating in you. Okay. Anywhere. Africa? Yeah. I've started at 18 years old. Who is the natural country gala? And the last two years I've been traveling alone. Completely alone in more than 15 countries. Why are we traveling? Because the first thing I realized when I was traveling was that totally different. For example, you told me one day that your best country in Africa is Namibia, right? Exactly. But I don't know for you, but maybe you don't see yourself living in Namibia. Okay. Different, you know? Now you live in Akron, you know how it's Akron, blah, blah, blah. And like my favorite, my top destination in Africa may not be Abidjan. Okay. But why you chose to live here? First of all, I'm alone. I'm a solopreneur from Zon, to me. You're an entrepreneur because you're a retail business? Yeah, all those stuff. So you meet so many people that encourage you to do stuff and that motivate you to do stuff. Yeah. And like, I was working in Paris, in Lade Falls, like, big business center in Paris. Okay. And I was in a company, so I had colleagues. So a lot of other people doing like me. But as a solopreneur, I need other people doing like me in a big area and this is Abidjan to me. And it's different to other... I mean, I'm not saying that they're not entrepreneur over there, but like the energy of creating, of impacting is where you're here in Abidjan. That's why I'm here. I'm like three to four years old. Three to four years? Yeah. How's life in Africa? Oh, life is good. Life is good in Africa. Yeah. I was shocked to see Africa is this beautiful. Yeah. You know, that's how it is because if you're in Ghana, you don't know it that way. But unless you're here, you know, when we are... Ghana is just here. Ghana is our neighboring country just close here. But when you are talking, no one will understand you because it's just here. And you know, Ivory Coast experienced war a few years back and everyone is aware of it. But you know, after the war, even after the war, you can't even see. You check around. You can see. Yeah. Even after all those... Very, very, very. Yeah. You can see the difference. Everything. Yeah. Life. Yes. Normal life. It's good. It's good. Yeah. Do you live your best life here? Yeah. You're not coming back to Ghana? I used to go better. I don't stay low. Yeah. I think I enjoy here more than... Yeah. Yeah. But you know, that's the...