Petite Mosquée de Kong and Comoé National Park

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Petite Mosquée de Kong

   Kong once had many mosques, and the small one is the better way to understand the town. Smaller than the Great Mosque, built in the same mud-and-timber tradition, it suggests how Islam here was not just a matter of grand monuments but of neighbourhoods, each with its prayer place and teacher. The Dyula, the Muslim merchants who made Kong a trading power in the eighteenth century, carried both goods and learning along the old routes from the Niger bend to the forest, and the town became a place where scholars copied books and taught the Quran.

   Read the complete Petite Mosquée de Kong write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Petite Mosquée de Kong is where the day begins. Next is Comoé National Park.

2. 2. 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 comes up 66 km in. Next is Comoé National Park.

3. 3. 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

   131 km in you reach Comoé National Park. 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. Next is Petite Mosquée de Kong.

5. 5. Petite Mosquée de Kong

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Petite Mosquée de Kong write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Petite Mosquée de Kong. That is the ride.