Travel Guide Dabou

The capital of the Grands ponts region located some 50 kilometers west of Abidjan, the small town of Dabou (also called Leboutou) is one of the oldest military posts established by the French army in Côte d'Ivoire. Following the expedition led by Commander Baudin, head of the Naval Station of the Western Coasts of Africa, and the recognition of French sovereignty by the chiefs of Ebrémou, capital of the Dabou country, Louis Faidherbe had a fort built here on the edge of the Ebrié Lagoon in the 1850s, some of the remains of which are still visible today. In the past, products from Europe landed in Assinie and Grand-Bassam passed through Dabou before being sold in the interior of the country by itinerant merchants. The construction in 1931-1932 of the Dabou steel bridge - also called the "Eiffel Bridge" - reinforced this commercial vocation, since the northern highway did not yet exist at that time. The construction of this 41.6 meter long structure opened one of the first national roads linking Abidjan to the rest of the country and, until the delivery of the northern highway, the "Agnéby Bridge" was the main gateway to the country and the city of Abidjan. The opening of the first national highway diverted Dabou from the major strategic exchanges and since then, the small town has become nothing more than a city that one crosses to reach the coast without taking the time to stop there. Count on 9,000 to 12,000 FCFA for a VTC ride