PRESIDENTIAL PALACE AND SACRED CROCODILE LAKE

The presidential palace, once open to the public, is now closed to the public. Palace is a very generic term for what is in fact more akin to a Pharaonic complex, a sort of "fortress" in the city, with its moat (actually three artificial lakes) and its wall (Yamoussoukro's is 22 km long, after all...) separating it from the "popular" area. This excessive residential complex, of which the average person can only see the guest house where President Félix Houphouët-Boigny used to receive foreign heads of state in Côte d'Ivoire, was built in 1983 by the Frenchman Olivier-Clément Cacoub, known as "l'architecte du soleil", the darling of African potentates and therefore of the Old Man. In Yamoussoukro, he is also responsible for the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Foundation for Peace and the Hôtel Président, which won't be to everyone's taste, but have the merit of fulfilling their role: making a statement. The plot of land on which the "palace" stands was once home to the small hamlet of N'Gokro huts, the town's original expansion point. In addition to the gigantic building, there are houses for the former president's relatives and staff, now in a state of disrepair. At one time, there was talk of restoring the palace and turning it into a museum dedicated to the memory of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, but this project seems to have fallen through.

The chapel. It overlooks the family vault where "the Old Man" has been laid to rest for over twenty years. In the family of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, to evoke the origins of Boigny N'Dri, the presumed founder of the town that was to become the future Yamoussoukro, they would simply point to the rising sun and add that he had come from beyond the river. No doubt in allegiance to his illustrious ancestor, "le Vieux" insisted that his tomb should also face the rising sun.

The artificial lakes bordering the presidential residence were dug in the 1950s and are home to a population of some 200 Nile crocodiles, mistakenly called "caimans" by the locals (the species being on the American continent). Some of the specimens, from Cameroon and Mali, were gifts received by Houphouët from the heads of state of these two countries. The "Commandant" in particular, which was the oldest and most snarling of the crocs, is said to have been a gift from Modibo Keita, the first president of independent Mali. He passed away in 2017. From now on, "Captain", "Sergeant" and "Chief of Staff", the largest of the remaining saurians, reign supreme over the dark waters of the sacred lake, even if the females don't let them get away with it when snack time rolls around. Problem in May 2020: multiple floods in Yamoussoukro have enabled some clever saurians to escape peacefully. They were found on the asphalt in the middle of the city, among the terrified population, wandering the streets.

Feeding. If you wish, you can talk to the guards about feeding the crocs. They'll tell you to bring a chicken bought at the market (3,000 FCFA) and call the saurian keeper in charge of the ceremony. But - sensitive souls beware - seeing the poor beasts terrorized and hearing the fatal cracking of their bones is not to everyone's taste. In the past, every day at around 5 p.m., in accordance with tradition, the phlegmatic reptiles were given their feast, consisting of quarters of rare meat (two whole oxen every two weeks) and/or, to impress the tourists when there were any, chickens tossed live into the pit. To carry out this perilous task, Houphouët had several Bozos specially brought in from Mali, although it is said that "le Vieux" never failed to feed the critters himself when he was in Yamoussoukro, and had even set up a poultry farm specifically for this purpose. For 36 years, however, it was old Dicko Toké, the sacred crocodiles' regular caretaker who died in tragic circumstances in August 2012, who carried out this strange ceremony. At the time of his death, he was in the process of training his son in the trade that he himself had learned from his father. The announcement of the death of the "uncontested master of saurians" deeply saddened Ivorians. Since then, it's barely possible to step onto the sidewalk of the "allee aux caïmans", as the area is closely guarded and strictly regulated. While this practice, which is rooted in local custom, may seem a little creepy to the uninitiated, here it's surrounded by a mystical aura: more than a simple meal, the chickens are seen as an offering to the spirits inhabiting the sacred lake. For many, feeding the chickens to the crocodiles is a ritual act, a mystical right of passage to the sacred land of the Old Man, the guardians of the mysterious palace stubbornly hidden from view.

Security. To avoid any unpleasantness with the guards of the sacred body of water, it is officially forbidden to (1) walk along the lake; (2) sit near the lake; (3) lean against the fence; (4) fish in the lake... on pain of prosecution (no less!).