I'm in Abidjan for the African Water Congress, and my employer (Aquaya) is supporting 18 of our partners from 6 countries to attend - from Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Senegal, and Guinea. And for some of these partners this means getting passports and worrying about having to eat different food for the first time. Should be interesting.
When I arrived yesterday, I realized that Cote d'Ivoire is one of the countries that requires Yellow Fever Vaccinations. If you don't have yours (or if you're missing the certification papers), they usher you into a room and give you the vaccine. No other options. So I'm prepared with my vaccine certificate, but what about our partners? Is anyone going to be offended if they have to get the vaccine, especially if they already had their injection and just forget the paperwork? I should know in the next 24 hours.
What else has happened in my first day? I went for a glorious walk yesterday evening, hoping it would be a little cooler than during the day (it wasn't - it's 8am and 82F/28C and 89% humidity). I looked up and there were flocks and flocks of birds. Their squawking almost reminded me of insects, just a constant buzz.
Then I looked closer and realized that they were not birds but BATS. Thousands and thousands of bats, in all types of trees downtown Abidjan, even palm trees. Crazy. I later read that Abidjan has 1 million bats and 3 million people. This is especially dramatic against the backdrop of an interesting church on the hill:
When I arrived yesterday, I realized that Cote d'Ivoire is one of the countries that requires Yellow Fever Vaccinations. If you don't have yours (or if you're missing the certification papers), they usher you into a room and give you the vaccine. No other options. So I'm prepared with my vaccine certificate, but what about our partners? Is anyone going to be offended if they have to get the vaccine, especially if they already had their injection and just forget the paperwork? I should know in the next 24 hours.
What else has happened in my first day? I went for a glorious walk yesterday evening, hoping it would be a little cooler than during the day (it wasn't - it's 8am and 82F/28C and 89% humidity). I looked up and there were flocks and flocks of birds. Their squawking almost reminded me of insects, just a constant buzz.
Then I looked closer and realized that they were not birds but BATS. Thousands and thousands of bats, in all types of trees downtown Abidjan, even palm trees. Crazy. I later read that Abidjan has 1 million bats and 3 million people. This is especially dramatic against the backdrop of an interesting church on the hill:
I saw the bats again this morning on my run. Another thing I discovered while running is that it is customary to give the other runners you see 2 or 3 claps. It took me maybe the first 5 runners to get this but by the end I had it down. Awesome.
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