Kong Mosques

Kong was a major trading city on the routes carrying kola and gold between the Niger and the forest, and its mosques are built in the Sudanese style that came south from Djenne: earthen walls with projecting wooden beams, buttresses and tapering pillars, replastered every year by the community. Kong is one of eight mosques inscribed as World Heritage in 2021 as Sudanese-style mosques in northern Côte d'Ivoire, a group built mainly between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries.

What you actually see

• The earthen construction - mud walls with projecting timbers and tapering buttresses.
• The annual replastering - the community maintenance the buildings depend on.
• The Sudanese style - the building tradition brought south from Djenne.
• The old town - the remains of a trading city on the kola and gold routes.

When to go

November to February is the dry season and the most comfortable; the harmattan brings haze but cool nights. The rains from June to October damage the plaster and repair follows. Replastering is a community event worth timing for.

Honest expectations

Kong is remote and the drive north is long on rough roads. Non-Muslims may not be admitted inside and this varies by mosque and by day. Facilities in the town are minimal.

Nearby

Ferkessedougou is southwest, and Bondoukou is south.