Thanksgiving Day on the Road
Good day. Today, Thanksgiving Day 2025, I’m starting out in Túncate. Túncate is a prefecture on the Liberian side of the border with Ivory Coast.
Crossing into Ivory Coast
The first town on the Ivory Coast side is Danané. The first task of the day was crossing the border, which generally comes in three parts. First is the administrative step, where your passport information is written as a single line in a large handwritten book.
I’ve been a “one-liner” many, many times. This happens on both sides of the border and seems to be an extra layer of control.
After that, you have to find the person who stamps your passport, and then, in a different location, find customs to stamp you in or out. At the Konet Passage, it wasn’t especially complicated, but it was messy and confusing. The offices are basic—actually, “basic” doesn’t really describe it. It’s less than basic.
The Rough Road After the Border
I had been forewarned that the first part of the road after the border would be rough. About 25 kilometers in, it turned into an unpaved track rather than a road, but it was still very doable.
Meeting Emmanuel and Richard
Along that stretch, some people were waving me down, so I stopped and ended up giving Emmanuel and Richard a ride. They turned out to be cacao farmers, and I dropped them off in another town. Unfortunately, they left a pair of sandals behind, but such is life. They were in a hurry when they got out.
They were nice guys, and the experience highlighted my limitations with French. It has been better in the past, so hopefully it will get better again.
Police Controls and Photo Checks
Another interesting thing today was that at the border, and at several stops on the Ivory Coast side, our pictures were taken three separate times. This included Emmanuel, Richard, and the vehicle. It appeared to be police control.
At one point, near the end of the unimproved road, there was a rope barrier down. Normally that means you can continue, which we did. But once we reached the paved road, there was a stop where we were told we should have stopped earlier. They made us go back, and our pictures were taken again.
It wasn’t a big deal, but it did cost about half an hour that I hadn’t planned on, which put me a bit behind by the end of the day.
Highways and Overhead Cameras
After dropping off Emmanuel and Richard, the rest of the drive was smooth. The road was in excellent condition. One thing I noticed was overhead cameras in many places, including on what I’ll call the freeway—a four-lane, fully divided highway with two lanes in each direction.
Motorbikes sometimes use the highway, and people sell things along the road, so it isn’t completely safe all the time. Still, the road allowed me to make very good time. I noticed the overhead system taking photos quite often, and I’m hoping it wasn’t because I was going too fast. Maybe I’ll find out someday.
Arriving in Yamoussoukro
Yamoussoukro was my destination for the day. It’s now the capital of Ivory Coast, and I arrived just as it was getting dark, which isn’t my favorite time to arrive anywhere.
I didn’t see much of the city, but I did notice that the main roads were paved and in very good condition. It’s also a university town, and I found a reasonably priced hotel with breakfast and all the basics.
Looking Ahead
That worked out well, even though I didn’t get to explore as much as I wanted. I really wanted to reach Abidjan on Friday to get a head start on the visa hunt for Ghana.
All in all, it was another beautiful day on the road. Thanks for coming along.
