The International Schools Review Forum

Does anyone have information about living on the Ivory Coast? Can you save? The community? Anything?

It's pretty easy to live on the local economy in the city, but it is possible to spend a lot going out to restaurants and bars. Even with going out, savings potential is pretty good. The country currently has the fastest growing economy in Africa, so a lot of effort is being put into developing better infrastructure and moving past the troubles the country had earlier in the decade. Travel within the country is pretty easy, but it can be expensive to travel within Africa by air.

You can save.

It is expensive here, especially if you buy imported foods from Europe. Going out to eat in a restaurant will run about $30 USD for a meal and a drink. Eating at a local maquis is much less expensive.

The school is located in a section that does not have much to do but does have a large hypermarket nearby. Getting around is by cab unless you buy a car (expensive, reapirs are a problem) so you need pretty basic French for that. The city itself does not have a ton of things to do. Music venues start late, 8 pm or later.

The city is rebuilding fast. Flights leaving the country are very expensive.

I would only add that to make any measurable savings youd need to be a pretty strict homebody.