Togo or not To go

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That is definately the question. The answer is a little bit of a mixed bag. When we first arrived in Togo we headed to Klouto where we went for a guided walk through the forest. There were three guides trying to get the business from our group and this is where our limited knowledge of french paid off. Two out of the three guides spoke english (though not very well) and the other spoke only french. We chose to go with the french guide along with another couple from our group and it was the best decision we could have made. Being in a small group allowed us to get a lot more out of the experience and we both feel that we'd rather try and understand someone else's good french rather than the broken english of a french speaking guide. We saw all kinds of plants used for everything from medicines to paints. The best part of the day was definately the water falls. Since leaving Burkina Faso, running water has been a luxury and most showers are only a trickle if there is any water at all. We all felt nice and clean after getting drenched under the falls.

On our way to Agbodrafo/Lake Togo we had a bit of an unfortunate incident involving a motorcyclist and our truck. We won't go into details, but it took us a little extra time to get to our final destination. In the end, everything worked out. The next day we took a pirogue across Lake Togo to Togoville, supposedly the origin of Voodoo religion. There is really not much to say about the town and our guide left little to be desired. He made little effort to explain anything to us about voodoo culture and took us to a couple ceremonies where we didn't really feel welcome by the locals. He also stole a bottle of water from one of the members of our group and drank the rest of his water without even asking.

Overall, Togo was not the best experience we've had in West Africa, but the first part with the forest walk was definately worth going to.

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Photos

Butterfly
We saw all kinds of butterflies on our forest walk.

Pinapple
No, pinapples do not grow on trees.

Crowded pirogue to Togoville
Hard to believe, but 20 people can actually fit on a pirogue...

Female Voodoo
That's about all the description of this that we got from our guide.

Male Voodoo
In case we didn't notice...