Name: Caiman Lake and Presidential Palace
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Côte d'Ivoire

Caiman Lake and Presidential Palace

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Côte d'Ivoire

Caiman Lake and Presidential Palace

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Location: Côte d'Ivoire

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🕊️ 𝑻𝒓𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓

April 1, 2025

Today the biggest free tourist attraction in Yamoussoukro, the crocodiles were a gift to the completed palace of Côte d'Ivoire founding president Félix Houphouët-Boigny.

The view goes across the manmade lake to the palace, not open to the public since he died 31 years ago in 1993, the palatial halls recently served to bestow the Houphouët-Boigny Peace Price on Angela Merkel, possibly the latest German visitor invited to these hallowed halls.

"Le Vieux" as he was lovingly called for the last few decades of his long, almost regal regency — albeit somewhat democratically elected in a one-party system — built his palace and the entire city of Yamoussoukro around it from scratch in the middle of practically nowhere, making his mother's village, where he had inherited the royal chiefdom as a young man, and made it his country's new capital in the 1980s. britishpathe.com/asset/212818

He had already built, just a mile away, the world's biggest Church, larger than St Peter in Rome. His family grave is under a private chapel next to his palace in the 800 hectares park for which he razed the entire former village.

Respected for his wisdom, often staged to great effect in townhall-style press conferences with hundreds of international media and local journalists, and for leading his country to independence in 1960 and subsequently an economic 'miracle' in Africa, he braved all criticism for his billions in personal wealth acquired in this poor country, and the lavish, superlative buildings. His vision was remarkable, perhaps most notably in this city, with its gigantic artificial lakes and vast 6-lane boulevards in the dusty savanna that essentially went nowhere for 50 years, but today seem to be sized right for jam-free modern traffic, compared to the choked and congested old capital Abidjan, where, stubbornly, all the ministries, government and business headquarters remained.

The modernist palace, fronted by large lakes with hundreds of crocodiles 🐊 , was built in the 1970s on top of a now invisible mud brick structure, from where his family had reigned over their regional chiefdom. It contains HB's private residence, public reception halls, and six stories of lavish accommodations where he hosted world leaders with their families and entourage. It is decorated with invaluable French furniture from Louis XIV, medieval gobelin wall tapestries, Picasso paintings, Japanese vases, and ancient Chinese dishes.

Unfortunately the Ivorian Government seems incapable or unwilling to ensure the minimal maintenance this building needs, so that meanwhile water is dripping all the way down into the priceless wooden paneling and threatens to destroy the already fragile ancient treasures housed here without climatization. Plans to turn this into a museum that could help finance its upkeep have been discussed for decades, but still seem far from happening.

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Elevation 240 m

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Monday 6 October

31°C

23°C

70 %

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Max wind speed: 9.0 km/h

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Location: Côte d'Ivoire

Caiman Lake and Presidential Palace

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