Afrique Noire dans le Noir

My journey from Brussels to Côte d'Ivoire was punctuated with a stop-over in Monrovia, Liberia which actually formed my first ever impression of Africa. Approaching the landing strip I was met with lush green tree-tops, muddy rivers snaking through the land, and then lots of UN choppers in neat little rows. Oh and torrential rain! We stayed on the ground for about an hour or so – just enough time for passengers to get on and off, for staff to come on to the plane and fumigate the place, and for the cabin crew to make several announcements that diamond smuggling is an indictable offence punishable by a minimum sentence of 6 months. I think I'll stick with Tiffany's, cheers. So I finally landed in Abidjan, having forgotten that it would be night time at that point. Its quite scary because you begin your approach into complete darkness and given that you know you're landing in the next 2 minutes, you rather expect to be able to some sign of life outside the window. Finally at the very last minute a sprinkling of lights become apparent on the coast line, but I'll tell you its no Dublin bay. The fear of landing into complete nothingness was rather troubling. On arrival in the slightly less rustic airport than 'Monrovia Roberts International' I was swept up by the delegation head of security (who I'll call 'Miguel' for the purposes of this blog) who was rather reminiscent of a perma-tanned GI Jo with all the accessories to match, including what can only be described as a monster truck with an oversized arial/radio transmitter yolk. Derv also informed me that they're bullet proof. The cars, not the security staff. Anyway, before I had got to that point I was ushered into a 'posh lounge' (I use the term loosely) while my passport was whisked away by 'Miguel' and all details taken care of. Then we waltzed right past the 20m long queu of people waiting at passport control and walked straight out. It was a relief to finally see Derv, who was waiting in a sea of people who had just previously got very excited about seeing the footballer Etto and his team of 10 bodyguards. The 'Elephants' were playing Cameroon on Saturday. So off we went to the compound. I feel a bit sick every time I say that word, but what can you do? I think it’s always a bit strange for your first impression of a city/country to be unveiled at night time. Everything always seems a bit more menacing! But our apartment (since Derv has kindly unofficially moved in to my more luxurious abode for the next 8 weeks) was nice and welcoming, and spacious, if a little Spartan in décor. I'm willing to forgo stylistic disagreements for the privilege of air conditioning!!