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Published: November 12th 2008
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I just came back from a 1 week trip in Togo and Benin… and what nice countries to travel to. Since I am in Ghana, I have been keeping myself fairly busy with the project and the school and having this break was deeply refreshing! I have been travelling with an American friend I met in Kumasi (middle of Ghana, deeply impregnated by the Ashanti culture, one of the richest and proudest of West Africa).
After a 3 hour drive packed in a taxi (7-8 people in a taxi, 4 at the back and 3-4 at the front) we arrived in the capital of Togo, Lome, right at the border between Ghana and Togo. Very different than the busy and crowded Accra, Lome has something surreal and indescribable. Called before the “Petit Paris” of West Africa, you can sense that the city, organised by its large boulevard with big old trees shadowing its side, has indeed known a certain level of success… at least in its past. Big buildings, long avenues, beautiful beach front (to avoid at night), huge markets, everything could look like a historical West African megalopolis. But the political situation of Togo has brought the country
too much unstability, hence why you meet so many Togolese living in Ghana and Benin. When you look closer at these big factories, buildings (even the presidential palace, even if they plan to build another one), you can often see that the paint has gone, the walls are falling down, the windows are broken, or nobody is inside the building. One of my scariest experiences was the first time I took a semi-john (a motorbike on which can sit 2 or 3 people, even 4 sometimes) on the main boulevard of Lome. It is often difficult to find taxis in certain part of Togo and Benin, and you therefore need to use these motorbike’s taxis. I remembered my old teenage days, except that this time the driver wanted to win a race over everything else that was on the road, was driving between patches of sand and big holes in the street, and all without a helmet ;-). But actually the people are so nice in Togo. You can feel that they will do everything to help you to find your way. In this part of the world, you are never alone, and it is not its building or monuments
that make its beauty, but simply the kindness and the stories of people.
After another sardine like taxi trip, we arrived to the business capital city of Benin, Cotonou. Mmm I would not advise it as a tourist destination, but more as a hub to go somewhere else. This is how we ended up in Ganvie, a beautiful village built on Stilt. The village was originally created in order to escape the bloody kingdom of Dahomey (meeting in the belly of Dan, as this represents the tree which found its root on the belly of one of the king’s opponent). The Dahomey kingdom, which founds its roots in Abomey, was one of the bloodiest and is renown for being slave-hunters - typically sending warriors to Nigeria and kidnapping the population to sell them as slaves to the French. In this very beautiful village, the Market place is made of boats full of vegetables and other goods sold and transported from boats to boats.
Next stop was indeed Abomey, a very mystique place in the middle of Benin. You can feel that the voodoo culture is very present and there is something intriguing when wondering in these dusty streets.
Religion is actually one of the main differences between Ghana and Togo/Benin, apart from the language of course. Whereas Ghana counts around 70% Christians and 20% Muslims, Benin is more about 50% voodoo and the rest being mainly Christians or Muslims. We had the chance to watch a voodoo ceremony, hidden behind a tree and forbidden to take any pictures (thanks to a friendly semi-johns driver) and to La Lutta, our host. This famous man in the village took me behind his motorbike and offered us a special tour of the city explaining you the beliefs and horrendous stories related to fetishes (the phallus of the fertility fetish was stolen by a French woman… surprising? ;-)) and temples (like the temple of jealousy, where 2 women who tried to kill the king by jealousy were placed in a hole, covered in palm oil and ants - 5 days of suffering being slowly eaten by ants was waiting for them… freaky). We even managed to get a free whisky to accept posing on a picture in a restaurant.
After Abomey, we wanted to have a break from the dust of cities and drive to Ouidah, one of these coastal city
impregnated with the history of slave trade. A very dusty road to the beach constitutes a 4 km sandy bath which used to lead slaves to the boats and their unfortunate destiny. We relaxed in a nice resort for a day, me burning like a lobster as usual, but I spend a long time on the beach at night, and I am sure that any other Parisian would share my enthusiasm at this thought.
A great time really and a strong advice to visit these countries as they are easy, and most people are so kind that it is sometimes difficult to believe it.
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