Many have forgotten this sad episode. The “African Safari” has changed its name. It is now called "Wild Planet" and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to Loire-Atlantique every year. But this animal park fifteen minutes from Nantes has a dark history behind it: that of a human reserve which was born there for a few months, in 1994. A project with nauseous colonialist overtones, told by Jean-Pascal Zadi, the director of the very noticed “Simply black”, in the staggering report by Yoann de Montgrand and François Tchernia, “The village of Bamboula”. It is broadcast this Tuesday evening on France 2 and available in replay.
We are in the early 1990s. At that time, Dany Laurent opened a zoo with an innovative concept in Port-Saint-Père (44).
You can discover wild animals from your car.
And go for a walk in a set of shops and restaurants, the "village of Bamboula", name taken from the mascot of a package of chocolate biscuits from the Saint-Michel brand, a local company associated with the project.
But the entrepreneur sees bigger.
Why not create a village with real inhabitants?
He goes to Ivory Coast.
Recruits dancers and artisans who agree to come to the park for six months, in order to present the folklore of their country.
"It was Tintin atmosphere in the Congo, we were at the Universal Exhibition"
A very real project that seems incomprehensible today.
The group of about twenty people is installed in an enclave of the park, closed.
They cannot leave it, benefit from wages much lower than the legal minimum in France.
Their passports are taken from them, they have no social protection.
The children are out of school.
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In the event of a health problem, the management calls on the zoo's veterinarians. “It was March and the girls were in sandals, without sweaters,” recalls an activist, opponent of the project at the time. The highlight of the day for tourists: the show during which women dance topless, six times a day. An isolated tradition, from a very specific region of the African country, yet erected as a symbol of the “village”. It is also one of these women, bare chest, who poses on the park's promotional poster. “It was Tintin atmosphere in the Congo, we were at the universal exhibition”, testifies, shocked, an observer.
For the management, the maneuver is clever: according to their contract, these men, women and children are under the authority of the Ivorian Tourism and Hotel Office and therefore Ivorian legislation. Convenient. “Everything is in order”, assures the director of this zoo, not far from the prefecture which was the main slave port, until the 19th century. Local politicians see nothing wrong with it. Even the Ivorian Prime Minister attends the inauguration. Fortunately, some tick. Associations against racism and for the defense of human rights create a collective, "No to the human reserve", which stands up against the project. Justice will have to be seized for the village to be closed. After five months of opening.
"The village of Bamboula"
, directed by Yoann de Montgrand and François Tchernia, narrated by Jean-Pascal Zadi (52 minutes).
