Comoé National Park and Grande Mosquée de Kong · 1423 km

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Comoé National Park

   Comoe National Park is one of the largest protected areas in West Africa, more than a million hectares in the north-east corner of Cote d'Ivoire, and it is built around a river that does something unexpected. The Comoe flows through savanna country, but along its banks it supports strips of dense gallery forest, in a way that lets forest animals and plants reach far north into the grassland. The result is an unusual mix of habitats and a wide range of wildlife, and the park was added to the World Heritage list in 1983.

   Read the complete Comoé National Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Comoé National Park is where the day begins. Next is Comoé National Park.

2. 2. Comoé National Park

   Comoé is the largest national park in West Africa, an enormous block of savanna and forest in the northeast of Côte d'Ivoire, and its name comes from the river that runs through it. The Comoé keeps flowing in the dry season when nearly everything else dries up, and thanks to it, strips of dense gallery forest push deep into open grassland. The result is a mixture of habitats where forest animals and savanna animals share the same space, which is rare, and was one reason the park gained world heritage status in 1983.

   Read the complete Comoé National Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Comoé National Park comes up about 164 km into the recorded legs. Next is Grande Mosquée de Kong.

3. 3. Grande Mosquée de Kong

   In the north of Côte d'Ivoire, in a savanna country of scattered shea trees and red earth, the town of Kong has a past out of proportion to its size. In the eighteenth century it became the centre of the Kong empire, a Muslim-led state of Dyula traders that controlled routes for kola, gold, cloth and salt, and it grew into a famous seat of learning, with Quranic schools and libraries that were known across West Africa. The Great Mosque, built in the Sudanese style of mud, with wooden beams jutting from the walls and buttressed towers rising like pale fingers, is its monument. It belongs to the group of Sudanese-style mosques of northern Côte d'Ivoire that UNESCO inscribed in 2021.

   Read the complete Grande Mosquée de Kong write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 714 km into the recorded legs you reach Grande Mosquée de Kong. Next is back through Comoé National Park.

4. 4. back through Comoé National Park

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Comoé National Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Comoé National Park, late in the day.

5. 5. Comoé National Park

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Comoé National Park write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Comoé National Park. That is the ride.