Ecotourisme Taï — Attraction in Montagnes

I spent one night in a traditional B&B in the village of Daobly and three nights camping inside Taï National Park, and it was honestly one of the best eco-tourism treks I’ve ever taken.

Everything was super well organized from the start — even before the trip, the team helped me figure out transport from Abidjan to Taï, which made things much easier.

When I arrived, everyone was very friendly and welcoming, both in the B&B and in the park. You can really feel how involved the local community is and how proud they are of what they do - for example, the son from the B&Bs owner took me spontaneously to a local event in the next village which happened to be that night where local dance groups competed in front of an audience of 150-200 villagers.

Going into the forest, everything ran smoothly and the nature is overwhelmingly beautiful. The team takes health and safety rules seriously, especially when it comes to protecting the monkeys and apes - incl. sanitising hands and boots and wearing masks around the monkeys.

My guide Guillaume (“Didier”) was great — incredibly knowledgeable about the animals we've seen and heard. Thanks to him, I saw 7 of the 11 monkey species in the three days in the forest, plus antelopes, birds, crocs, frogs, reptiles,... We also found tracks and droppings from chimpanzees, leopards, forest elephants, and pygmy hippos - who would have guessed one could get so excited about poop. The forest itself is breathtaking — the smells, the sounds, the shapes of the leaves, the colours.

The small camp was more comfortable than I expected — delicious food, friendly staff, and even a proper toilet (thanks to the person who actually carried a toilet bowl the 10 km into the forest). The tent beds were comfy too, and falling asleep to the sounds of the forest was pure magic. Plus, there were barely any mosquitoes or other bugs - so little that I stopped using repellent and still had no bites.

Above all, what really stayed with me was how genuine and passionate everyone is about protecting this beautiful place. You can feel the pride in everything they do.

I wish they succeed in their plan to develop this eco-tourism part, to finance eco guards and all other activities and can protect this treasure. Truly hope I have another opportunity to...

On paper this is good but in practice there are issues. The poor sanitation inevitably resulted in contamination of food. All of the non-locals (3 of 4) in my party had gastrointestinal problems, which according to the guide is a common occurrence in the camp. Despite how nice the lady cooking was, the food was vile, meals were low in protein and what little meat there was was essentially just gristle. Furthermore, when a member of my parties left the camp, leaving the loaned sandals he had been wearing in the allocated zone, he returned to find them gone. In response to his inquiry regarding their location, a member of staff replied, "The good sandals are for the guides." It seems that the phrase 'the customer comes first' does not apply here. In addition, the guide we had, though well-meaning, was patronising and often unwilling to accept new information. However, the wildlife is great. One can easily see civets, and various species of primates and birds. It is a very healthy forest and abounds with mammals, though you may need to scrape yourself on branches and leaves to see them. As to be expected, the insects are abundant, but the tent has a built in mosquito net for that. Overall, do not go if you value sanitation, healthy bowels or a...

What a fantastic initiative! Ecotourisme Tai is 100% a community project - every single guide, driver, chef, etc that I met is from within just a few km from the park. The community came together to create this fantastic tourism project to both fund critical conservation research and actions, and also generate money for the local economy. It was extremely educational and the monkeys were amazing!! The guides are super knowledgeable about this ecosystem and how special it is. Communication was also extremely easy, thorough, and fast. Would highly recommend for anyone.

Also, I am vegetarian and they were easily able to...