It has now come about far too quickly, the time to depart Ghana and head off for the next leg of my journey, to the Ivory Coast or better known as Côte D'Ivoire. On planning and booking my route of West Africa and the countries to visit, I was attracted by its close proximity to Ghana and being known as the Gold Coast of Africa. Admittedly I had little knowledge of this country but I also knew little of the others, so went ahead and added it to my already marked up map!

Post booking the flights I did my homework and research to make sure I was prepared, a little concerned to learn it is not the most stable of countries since the civil war only back in 2011 and the ongoing political unrest with its people constantly living in uncertainty. All things in consideration I decided to stick to my plans but with caution and to have a plan for lone travelling. To me Ivory Coast seemed to have just as many issues and poor reviews as all the other countries I was visiting and after all it is the Gold Coast of Africa home to some of the most beautiful beaches.

Now some months on, I am on my way and armed with a better knowledge of Côte d'Ivoire. I learn it was colonised by the French as was Senegal, the national language is French not my strong point but I will get by with a few words and google translate. Ivory Coast gained independence in 1960, although it still remains in close political association with the French and has many western similarities. Today many French corporations and French citizens have settled in Ivory Coast and have long enjoyed lucrative trade and resource exploitation, the French have virtual control over industrial and public works contracts.

Ivory Coast is home to West Africa's vast majority of coffee and cocoa production, it is the largest producer and yet the most exploited too. Despite the beauty of Ivory Coast and the abundance of natural resources, it remains one of the poorest countries in the world with about 60% of the total population living below poverty line. The governments decision to export and encourage foreign investment, has been problematic in the economic growth keeping the country in its developing crisis. Today the situation is worsened as it is subject to greater competition and falling prices in the global marketplace for its coffee and cocoa. This issue compounded with high internal corruption, makes life difficult for the growers and those exporting into foreign countries.

On collecting my entry visa at the embassy in London I met there, a commodity broker heading over for work. Curiously I asked him about his companies role in the cocoa exportation, naively not having yet seen the country I was in disbelief to hear that the coffee and cocoa is sold to the UK for virtually nothing. His role as the broker is to purchase directly from Côte d'Ivoire, he puts a 90% mark up to then sell onto suppliers in various countries to make produce. which again will be sold on for a further mark up. Astounded at these honest figures I couldn't help but question the governments sanity and why they cannot invest in their farmers, much like the issue Ghana have with their Gold mining.

After discovering the recent war in 2011 it seemed evident that this was not a widely reported or I had missed the big news somehow. I did have to read into it and ask many people to learn more about the war due to the lack of press coverage and news write ups, I find this surprising considering this is the largest producing cocoa country in the world. Watching CNN news here I realise world news broadcasts are much wider and brutal to watch. British viewers and listeners are kept mostly in the dark about the real problems, whilst we are exposed to clips on the news mostly showing violent displays of Africans running around killing one another.

After a day of arriving in Côte d'Ivoire I already find myself in the company of well educated Ivorians in the hotel located in Abidjan's business district and have a chance to pick their brains to learn more. I ask their personal views on current leadership which were mostly negative and discover that corruption levels remain at all-time high with incompetent leadership, and mismanagement of funds. Similar to the other west African countries that gained independence it was hopeful by its people to be a success and for the first few decades it would seem the country was thriving on their coffee and cocoa trade. Things very quickly changed in the 1980's when Côte d'Ivoire hit an economic crisis leading to political and social trouble.

I now grow increasingly concerned to find that this place was not only victim to the 2011 war but has seen a decade of disruption in 2002 & 2007, both of which were religiously grounded and left the country in disrepair. After each war the people have been left even more stuck and unsure how or where to start moving forward. I ask my new found companion at the hotel his thoughts on how the country really remains, he explains it is structurally a mess with the terrible economy not moving and the governments disinterest in fixing things. He also tells me that Ivorians remain hostile between each other and divided and cannot see this changing until their is political peace among parties. The foreigns which are mostly the farmers have begun to move forward, refurbishing their homes and restoring their farms for business while the locals are still trying to work out how they can rebuild the ruins post conflict. The Ivorians split by the north and the south which is controlled by its government. The numerous Political and religious conflicts are particularly between the Muslims in the north and the Christians in the South which do not help at all in the democratic process and the development of peace.

Finding myself out of my realm in political conversations with an Ivorian I had to go away and simplify for myself to understand and possibly you the reader. A civil war is between two organised groups within the same state or republic. In this case the war was between the leaders of two political parties, Laurent Gbago who represented the Muslims in the north and the current leader in the south, Alassane Ouattara who was up for a re election in 2011 against Gbago when the war broke out. The main fight between them was the northerns racism toward ivory coasts four million immigrants and the anger of the immigrants taking over the farms as well as a host of other political disputes between the two parties. Gbagos aim was to take control of the countries south Region and to change government policies for the better of its people. In laymen's terms the recent war sprung from the two political parties objectives and new election up coming, Gbagbo had fostered racism toward Ivory Coast's 4 million immigrants. The fight came from racism and anger at ivory coasts immigrants taking over the cocoa farms as well as a host of other political disputes between the president of Côte d'Ivoire and go ago.

Now after only a couple of days arriving I have a slightly different view on Côte d'Ivoire and can't help but feel a little nervous being alone here. I decide to not let this deter me enjoying my stay and head out the following day to explore the business district around me. The hotel are not used to the tourist visitor and are not equipped with tour guides or exploration ideas. Walking around I can't tell what is war torn and what is simply poverty, the buildings are a mix of brand new buildings occupied by foreign banks and firms while contrasting shabby buildings falling apart neighbour them. I do feel assured of safety here as I wonder about the different intersections and avenues of buildings, nearly every step I take there is a security guard with a gun at the ready. It's clear to me already that they live prepared for the worst and hopeful of the best.