Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’ and Mosquée de Nambira ou Namboura missiri kor

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’

   Across the savanna of northern Côte d'Ivoire stands a small family of mud mosques that look as if they were grown rather than built. Eight of them were inscribed together by UNESCO in 2021 as the Sudanese style mosques of the north, among them the mosques of Kong, Kawara, Sorobango, Samatiguila, Nambira and Tengréla. They belong to an architectural tradition that came south with Mande traders and clerics along the old caravan routes from the Niger bend, and that took root in the cotton and kola country between the Sahel and the forest.

   Read the complete Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’ write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’ is where the day begins. Next is Mosquée de Kouto.

2. 2. Mosquée de Kouto

   Kouto is a small town in the far north of Côte d'Ivoire, close to the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, and its mosque is one of the best-known of the Sudanese-style buildings of the region. Mud-brick walls rise in battered buttresses, each topped by a small pinnacle, and timber beams project from the surface like the quills of a hedgehog. Seen across a field in the morning light, it looks as though it grew there.

   Read the complete Mosquée de Kouto write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Mosquée de Kouto comes up about 71 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mosquée de Nambira ou Namboura missiri kor.

3. 3. Mosquée de Nambira ou Namboura missiri kor

   In the north of Côte d'Ivoire, where the forest gives way to savanna, the villages are built of mud and every mosque looks like a sculpture grown out of the ground. They belong to the Sudanese style, a tradition from the Sahel that spread south along trade routes carried by Dyula merchants, and UNESCO listed several of them in 2021. The mosques of Kaouara, Kouto, Nambira, Tengrela and others are the survivors of that tradition in this country.

   Read the complete Mosquée de Nambira ou Namboura missiri kor write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 154 km into the recorded legs you reach Mosquée de Nambira ou Namboura missiri kor. Next is back through Mosquée de Kouto.

4. 4. back through Mosquée de Kouto

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Mosquée de Kouto write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Mosquée de Kouto, late in the day. Next is Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’.

5. 5. Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’ write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’. That is the ride.