Hi everyone!

Hi everyone! Looking for your advise & information, I'm considering moving to Abdijan to accompany my partner in his recent job transfer. Can you please advise me if it's safe in the city, is there active expat community, any info about the city & culture will be helpful. Thank you!

HelloNew Mihaela.

Welcome to Expat.com! :)

Hope you'll get some feedbacks from other members soon.

Thank you,
Aurélie

Thanks Aurelie. I hope I get some feedback and oportunity to meet expats from Abidjan. Also to hear about the expat life.

HI

Welcome to Abidjan, It is comparatively v safe country/city if you compare it to other countries of the world, so rest assured you are safe, there are couple of expatriates here so enjoy

Take Care

F.WAHEED

Hey, Hope you come to the Ivory Coast. I have been living here for about 10 months now, and i LOVE IT=-) and i believe you will too. There are a lot of great opportunities here.
The city Abidjan is safe. plus there are a lot of wonderful restaurants there, if you ever want me to give you some of my favorite hangouts, or other infos you can message me.  Take Care.

Hi everyone!...Can anyone help me find second hand washing machine,
thanks in advance.

I can say that, the security is good with 80 percent

Hi Mimi Kone I do not agree that it is wonderful to live in Abidjan, comparing to Europe it is horrible. First of all there is no way anyone who is not local that can enjouy the weather, second there are no parks so you can enjoy at least walking or sitting anywhere in shadow. Simply to enjoy simple activities are limited to drive to work and drive at home. For English speakers it is even more difficult, going out with car to some bars or restaurants with super expensive prices is not my idea of fun.

Hey, sorry to hear that, I was born in the U.S and i grew up there, and Abidjan to me is almost like New york, and anybody that been to new york or grew up there would easily adapt to abidjan way of life. Oh and yeah it must be really hard if you do not speak french, it took me 4 months to start speaking french perfectly =-) plus i also speak the number 1 biggest native language here which is Djoula aka Bambara, so going to the market is easy for me. So yeah i can see that it's easier on me than you. Oh and there are a lot of Good Restaurants that are not that expensive there depending on what type of food you want to eat. I am sorry but i am not in abidjan at the moment i am in the City of korhogo, if i was in abidjan i would have love to invite you to eat with some of my english speaking friends.  GoodLuck and keep your head up, i believe it will get better ^_^

Hi
I came back to Abidjan on 23/04/2013 and lived there for some time but for some business need I came to Ghana and at the moment I am in Ghana but will be back to abidjan in 4/5 days so hope to see you there my Abidjan cell number is 44 05 42 39 pls send me yours

Regards

oh and there are parks in Ingre, i knew two parks there that i liked to go do jogging in the morning at. And for the weather yeah it sucks, one think i learn is not to wear heavy lotion, any heavy fabric materiel and i keep my hair in a ponytail lol I wear a lot of tank tops and maxi skirts and dresses. GoodLuck!

To compare Abidjan with New York is really ABSURD!!!

Why did you move to New York if it's same living in Abidjan???

New Yorker is the center of culture and art, fashion for God sake at least be realistic.

With the security warnings we - Europeans can only go to the gym as the only fun whatsoever. The language spoken here is not French
so even the french speaking people do not understand anything.

The language barrier is not a big deal as much as the culture, I mean this week in the supermarket twice they tried to charge me for product that I did not even buy, so really I find that very primitive.

1.    It is absurd to make such a statement without even asking why I had made such a comparison.  Your statement clearly marks the lack of proper reasoning. 
2.    I do not recall ever saying I had moved to New York and for your information, I am in Cote d'Ivoire.  Once again, it is better to clearly read the comment and ask for clarifications when needed before making baseless comments. 
3.    Concerning your statement about New York being the center of this and that, if you had any sense of culture and diversity, you would know some Parisians make the same claim, some people from London as well.  What makes New York, in your eyes, the center of culture and arts?  Perhaps that is what you should have developed and not resolved to “God sake” for lack of a supporting argument on your part. 
4.    I was born and reared in the USA and came in Abidjan in 2011 and finally in 2012.   Yet, I feel as safe as I do in New York, in Atlanta, in Miami or any other city.   Just as in any other big city, one has to choose where to go, pay attention to his/her surroundings and know when to go out… If you have not developed those skills yet, you definitely need to reconsider your choice of city.  If “you Europeans” can only go to the gym or the like, I feel bad for you and you may consider packing and leaving. 
5.    I beg your pardon but obviously you have not spoken to many people.  Yet, to tell you the truth, some people do not understand people from the deep south in the USA but thankfully, I am educated enough to know that accents do not represent one's knowledge of a language.  The language spoken here is French and those who speak French here speak it as well as anyone else.  Perhaps you should attend some classes and you will understand the people or you should strive to have access to normal people in this country as the average person does speak French and is usually more discerning than you are.  Your ignorance about the country might actually start eroding if you make such an effort.  Although I doubt you will.
6.    Primitive?  I will not question your judgment here as it takes one to know one so you must have met people of your kind that day as anyone who reads your message should understand that no one can be as primitive as you definitely and no amount of schooling could have changed that!

After you live in Europe for a while then we can have conversation on higher level dear.. at least then you can have taste of culture, morals and integrity which is totally lost in Ivory Coast.

By the way why are you charging expats 1000 eur for flat when actual rental fee is 250 eur per month?? in my culture even if you do not have money to eat it is better to keep your integrity then rip off and steal from expats living in your country. Very sad.

mmm i have lived in europe....i lived in France for about 2 years Thank you very much, and my mother was born there, let me put it like this to you, i been almost around the world, unlike you i love learning about new cultures and meeting new people. I like looking at things with an optimistic view. So if you dislike the Ivory Coast so much, how about just leaving? I mean it seems your having a really bad time here, then just leave. This is one of my family native country, and it came out of a war not too long ago and at the moment it is doing pretty good for a country that came out of a civil war. I do not expect you to understand this, because you seem to take yourself too highly for my people and my country, and i don't blame you. There are  lot of people out there with your mindset that seem to keep the time frame set back. Again if you do not like it here, then just leave.

Mimi first of all you are not EXPAT - you are local citizen therefore you should not be on this forum. This forum is for expats to exchange experience and ideas how to make their life easier in a new country.

Besides if you read your email carefully..you are the negative one as you are offending me without any reason while I just asked you not to give a false picture of Ivory Coast, since you are a native
you can not be objective to your country and you are attacking expats of they express their opinion and their honesty.
As I said this is Expat.com so RESPECT that and if you want to be a member then hear the critics and try to improve your country instead of getting defensive.

Please do not address me in the forum anymore.

Hi Aurelie,

New here. Visiting Abidjan next week for a week. First time. Keen to maximise the week and find out as much. I have scheduled meetings but free time also.

So, if anyone wants to meet, talk, share news and views of Abidjan and wants to chill with an Irishman, let me know.

I will be around for the week.

Sean

Hi Sean Patrick,

Welcome to Expat.com :)

This thread is dated 2012. I suggest you start a new topic on the Abidjan forum :)

Thank you

Maximilien
Expat-blog Team

LOL wow, look here, i was born in the U.S i am a PROUD African American. I came in the Ivory Coast in 2011 so yea feel free to re-read everything i wrote. for your information Expat.com is for all travelers so that means even for people who left their country for years and are returning back are considered expats. I travel A LOT! so it's normal for someone like me to adapt Easily.
Plus i guess we both do not see the ivory coast the same way. It must be really hard on you.

Mimi please bear in mind that New Miheala is a dejected troll who just wants to quarrel. Thus, arguing with such a pompous would be a lost opportunity for a you.

Hi all,

Can we please don't get off topic or attack others personally

Lets keep up the spirit of mutual help please

Thank you

Maximilien
Expat.com team