In May 2013, I visited Comoé National Park for the first time in a fast survey promoted by Max Planck Institute. I was impressed by this incredibly vast wilderness. Most of Ivory Coast former natural spaces have already been destroyed to plant industrial crops for exportation, such as oil palm, cocoa, rubber tree or cashew nut and therefore I was surprised by the long time it took us to surround the park to arrive to its Southern entrance. For hours, I drove the old land-cruiser through the bumpy dusty road that marks the park limit, seeing nothing else than kilometers of savanna and dry forests in the park side, and frequently in the outer side too.
When we finally got to the entrance and headed to the German research station Comoé, following an even narrower and bumpier dirt road, sun was already setting and colors got incredibly hot. Kobs started appearing along the road and patas monkeys jumped over it. I started falling in love with this place.