Old buildings
Wooden balconies and weathered walls.
Andelessc — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Negabe — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Slick linda — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Negabe — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Andelessc — CC BY-SA 4.0
Sassandra is a coastal town in southwest Côte d'Ivoire, on the Gulf of Guinea at the mouth of the Sassandra River. It is the seat of the Gbôklé Region and is known for its beaches, its lighthouse and old colonial-era buildings, about 63 km in a straight line east of San-Pédro beach. The Portuguese reached this coast in 1471 and named the river Rio San Andrea after Saint Andrew, the name that evolved into Sassandra. The town became a trading post and then a seaport for timber under the French, but it declined in the 1960s after San-Pédro's port was completed, and fishing is now its main industry. Old colonial buildings with wooden balconies and weathered walls still stand in town, along with an old blue warehouse near the water. In the centre is a large white mosque with green domes and a minaret, and on the edge of town the Niega lagoon is ringed by mangroves, while Atlantic surf breaks on beaches sometimes wrapped in mist. The surf is strong on open beaches, so swim only where locals do and in calm seas. Skies are clearest from mid-December to mid-March, and the main rains fall from April to July. Dress modestly if you visit the mosque.
Wooden balconies and weathered walls.
Mangroves on the water.
Green domes and a minaret.
Sassandra, Gbôklé Region, Côte d'Ivoire
From Rio San Andrea, the Portuguese name for the river.
Mid-December to mid-March, when skies are clearest.