Travel Guide Niofoin

About sixty kilometers from the City of Poro is the village of Niofoin, probably one of the most picturesque villages to visit in Côte d'Ivoire. Since the Korhogo-Boundiali road was paved, only about fifteen kilometres of track are needed to reach this amazing place. Although it is the capital of a sub-prefecture, Niofoin seems never to have been able to bring itself to completely abandon its initial status as a village to become a town, and is distinguished by the cohabitation within it of two very distinct architectural styles and lifestyles. At its heart, Niofoin's original neighbourhood-village, Niboladala, is a resistance : gathered in a silent and determined procession, as if to cope with the progressive invasion of permanent buildings, its adorable huts with banco walls and thatched roofs (each head of the family has a square hut, attics whose number attests to his material opulence and a round hut for each of his wives) reaffirm with infinite grace the primacy of the local population's unalterable link with tradition and the sacred (a significant fact is that the power lines deployed nearby bypass the village without crossing it). This link is strongly embodied through the two fetish huts sheltering the Diby and Kalegbin entities, bordered by sacred wood and flanked by the kafoudal, a massive wooden scaffolding that looks like a bonfire built and reinforced by the elders year after year, both a village stronghold and a mortuary site where the remains of the initiates are exposed while awaiting the final judgment. Diby (the black fetish) is intended to preserve the village from enemy invasions through the projection of a thick fog preventing any incursion into the site. The hut that houses it, recognizable by its carved ornaments decorated with motifs reminiscent of traditional Aboriginal paintings and its imposing bevelled conical thatched headdress, the thickest and most elaborate in the village, receives a braid and an additional layer of thatch each year. Much like the rings of a tree trunk, the number of straw layers superimposed on its roof corresponds to its age, which is said to be a hundred years old. Diby is the repository of the wishes and prayers of the inhabitants of Niofoin and the guarantor of the village's good fortune. He has a very particular requirement for acceding to the various requests of his followers: the sacrifice of a dog, hence the presence of numerous animal collars arranged in clusters at the entrance to his hut. Kalegbin, another protective entity of the place, is supposed to prevent any epidemic, spell, bad fate or curse. Thanks to the traditional lightning rod placed on his hut, he also has the power to trigger rain, thus promoting abundant harvests. For the record, Niofoin was one of the locations for the film La Victoire en chantant by Jean-Jacques Annaud (1976), and during his visit to Côte d'Ivoire in 1992, Michael Jackson had planned to shoot one of his music videos there. A village sanctuary that perpetuates with quiet strength the age-old traditions of a people very attached to its history, it constitutes a heritage of inestimable value, and one of the most striking visits in the region. (Source: www.ivoiregion.net)