Togo (or not to go?)

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Monday 26th July

Togo is the country immediately to the east of Ghana, and the nearest one to Accra, so we decided it would be worth trying to visit it. Togo was originally a German colony but was divided between Britain and France as part of the war reparations in the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The British part became part of Ghana but the French part remains the separate independant country of Togo. While the official language of Ghana in English (though for most Ghanians it is their second language), the Togolese speak French (which caused us a few problems!).

Before describing our visit, it might be worth mentioning the currencies in Ghana and Togo. The main unit of currency in Ghana is the Ghana Cedi which is divided into 100 pesewas. When we changed British currency into cedis last week we got an exchange rate of 2.12 cedis per pound sterling which means that a cedi is worth about 50p. Togo uses a currency called the CFA (Central Franc of West Africa), a currency which is used by Togo andf a number of other ex-French colonies. When we changed Ghana cedis into CFAs we got 333 CFAs for one cedi.

To get into Togo we had to ensure we had the correct documentation. It was very difficult to find reliable and up-to-date information on this on the Internet or in the guide book. We had heard second-hand reports that it was possible to buy a visa at the border, but that this might involve having to pay a "tip". To be on the safe side we decided to get our visas in advance, especially as the Togo embassy in Accra was only a short distance from Osu where we were staying. On Monday morning, therefore, I went to the embassy armed with our passports, 3 copies (each) of the visa application form, along with 3 passport photos (each) and the fee of 35,000 CFAs (each - about 50 pounds sterling). The fee has to be paid in CFAs so i had to change enough cedis into cedis first. The visa application has to be handed in before 11:00am if you want to collect the visa the same day. When you hand in the application and the fee you get a reciept which you take back between 2:30 and 4:30pm to collect your passports with the visa inserted. In between lodging the application and collecting the visas, I also need to make a trip to the Tudu STC coach station in central Accra to buy the bus tickets for tomorrow to ensure we got a seat. When I got there I found that it was not possible to buy tickets in advance as the booking system was out of order! However, I was assured that the coach would not be full so I needn't worry (but see tomorrow!). So, back to Osu, had some lunch then back to the Togo embassy to collect the visas, then we should be all set to go there tomorrow.

Tuesday 27th July

There are many border crossings between Ghana and Togo, but the main one is on the coast road where the capital of Togo, Lome, is literally adjacent to the Ghanaian town of Aflao. We decided we really needed to get the 6:30am bus to give us enough time to get to Aflao, cross the border, get to the hotel in reasonable time and still have time to look round Lome. Because we still had not got tickets (see yesterday) we needed to be sure we got there before they sold out, despite what I was told yesterday. We therefore set the alarm for 4:30am, left at 5:00 and got to Tudu bus station at 5:45. Tro-tros had started running at that time so we caught one to Tema tro-tro station and then walked round to Tudu bus station. The STC coach was there waiting with a number of people already on it. We bought our tickets and got on. The bus steadily filled up and eventually left, full, 45 minutes late. There was one 10-minute rest stop half way and we arrived at Aflao at about 10:30am.

It then took us half an hour to travel the hundred yards across the border - we can only imagine how much longer it might have taken if we hadn't got the visas in advance. First we had to fill out a disembarcation form on the Ghana side - the same type of form they normally give on airflights half an hour before you land. We than joined a real crush of people actually passing through into Togo. We were tightly hemmed in and effectively carried through by the throng. The Togo border guards seemed to randomly pick out people to question and we saw one poor African guy literally stripped naked right in front of everybody. We then had to fill in a Togo embarcation form - basically almost exactly the same information we had just filled in on the Ghana side. We eventually emerged on the Togo side with two new stamps in our passports. We strolled a few yards to get past the hordes of money changers and hotel touts, found a taxi and drove to the Hotel Galion.

We were quite impressed with the hotel (given that it was quite cheap). The setting is really nice in a shady street only 100 yards from the beach and looks very French. The room was tatty but clean enough and perfectly OK for our needs. The price was 9,000 CFAs for a twin room, much cheaper than the equivalent in Accra. After unpacking and freshening up we wander towards the centre of Lome, looking for somewhere to eat. This was harder than it seems and we ended up in a supermarket buying bread, butter and cheese and making ourselves a sandwich! We then wandered around the markets area and saw, amongst other things, a woman selling live crabs from a large bowl which for some reason she kept stirring, and a taxi bursting into flames right in the middle of a crowded market street.

One of things that Lome is known for, and which we therefore wanted to see, is the fetish market. This small specialised market sells articles for use in religious ceremonies, or traditional healing. The market had about 20 or 30 stalls, all selling a wide range of dead animal parts, mainly skulls. Anything from crocodiles to monkeys, horses to snakes (we didn't see any shrunken human heads though). We paid for guide to show us round, the payment also included the permission to take as many photos as we wanted. This payment is pretty obligatory - we managed to haggle it down to 7,000 for two people with one taking photos!

After browsing round the fetish market we headed back to the hotel for an evening meal. Initial comparisons on Togo versus Ghana (well, the capital Lome really since we didn't see any other part of the country): 1) they don't seem to have tro-tros - we hardly saw any mini-bus type vehicles; 2) they have loads of motor bikes which are nothing like so common in Accra - it was often very difficult to cross some wide roads because of the number and speed of the motor bikes; 3) they seem to speak French pretty well; 4) the beaches are really well-kept in terms of cleanliness.


Wednesday 28th July

We knew we wouldn't really have much time to see any more of Lome because we needed to get a bus from Aflao back to Accra by lunchtime so we decide just to have a lesiurely breakfast at the hotel (lovely French coffee), then we packed and strolled back along the beach road to the border post, really no more than about 1 kilometre. At the border it was basically the same procedure to get back into Ghana as yesterday - filling out an disembarcation form on the Togo side and and embarcation form on the Ghana side. We also needed to show our Yellow Fever vaccination certificates on the Ghana side (we were never asked for them when we arrived at Accra airport two weeks ago). Again the process took about half an hour but we did get two more stamps in our passports!

Five minutes more walking took us back to the STC coach terminal in Afloa where a coach for Accra was waiting so we bought tickets and boarded. the coach left about half an hour late but on the way back we were stopped by police roadblocks something like 6 times when any passengers with luggage in the hold had to get off to identify their bags etc. On the 4th occasion, a customs & excise officer got onto the caoch and asked to see our passports. We handed them over but the driver, presumably unaware that the officer was still on board, set off. The officer because quite angry and a number of passengers thought the banter betwwen the officer and the driver was quite amusing. This annoyed the officer even more and when he finally got the driver to stop, he got off and stormed back towards the checkpoint, but still with our passports. This put Dorothy and me in an awkward position - Dorothy got off and ran after the officer whilst I attempted to explain to the driver what had happened and persuade him to stop and wait for her. This he did and eventually about 20 minutes later we were able to set off again with our passports. All this meant that we were about 2 hours late arriving back at Tudu STC station in Accra so it was already dark but we were able to catch a tro-tro back from Tema Station to Osu without any difficulty.

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Photos

Tudi Bus Station
Just pulling out of the bus station in Accra for the journey to Afloa - 6:30am

Rest stop
Half way between Accra and Afloa

The border
Aflao, just on the Ghana side of the border. The actual border is under the blue arch with the black star

taxi problems!
taxi bursts into smike and flames in Lome market

Lome beach
Fishing boat and nets

Lome beach
Hauling in a fishing net

Le Galion
The hotel we stayed in at Lome

The border
Approaching the Ghana-Togo border from the Togo side

The border
Where the border meets the sea!

Monkey heads
Lome fetish market

Animal heads
Lome fetish market

Lome fetish market
overview

Comments

[Craig]

Nice Trip
Sounds like a good trip, although a little scary in parts. Glad that it is all going well