Rarely venturing from their plantations in order to avoid confrontation with locals or soldiers, many immigrant cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast lead reclusive, isolated lives.
A brief 2002-03 civil war in the world's top cocoa grower stoked ethnic tensions and hostility towards foreigners who were once encouraged to come and farm its fertile soils after the former French colony gained independence in 1960.
Often suspected by indigenous locals of supporting rebels who seized the north of the country during the fighting, many have been killed or chased off the cocoa-producing land - a resource increasingly coveted as war-related poverty spreads.
Others have stayed - but are conscious of the risks.
"We're not really safe on our farms especially when the Young Patriots are in town but thank God no one comes to cause us trouble," said Dominique Bassoule from Burkina Faso who farms a 14-hectare plantation in the southern central town of Divo.