Tourism: To escape gridlock, residents in West African region of Côte d’Ivoire turn to boats
Commuters in Ivory Coast’s bustling commercial capital Abidjan are turning to waterways to escape worsening road traffic, with growing boat fleets offering faster and cheaper trips across the lagoon.
It is estimated that residents in the West African region spend about three hours a day in transit, often on congested, poorly kept roads.
According to African News, many are increasingly traveling to work and school using boats that sail on the lagoon that goes around Abidjan. “I come from Azito and with the boat, it is 30 minutes of the journey. With the traffic jams, I can take one, one and a half, even two hours. It depends,” one passenger told Africanews.
The Ivorian government liberalized transportation on the waterways in 2016. There are three lagoon transport operators at the moment trying to satisfy the demand for alternative transport. About 100,000 people per day now travel by water in Abidjan, nearly half in traditional boats. The state wants to see 300,000 travelers per day in the next five years
“You have a lagoon that extends from Adiaké to Grand-Lahou. Imagine the potential in terms of lagoon tourism. We must develop lagoon tourism. Ivorians must learn to rediscover their country through the lagoon and this is a challenge that we want to meet,” said Désiré Messou, the manager of STL, one of the boat transport operators.
Almost every neighborhood in Abidjan is on the water, presenting an attractive alternative. Five million people call the city home.
