Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso

Hi Everyone!

Andrej and I have done a short and sweet tour through 3 countries since I wrote last about Ghana. We have gone through Togo, Benin, and Burkina Faso. I have to admit that I had never heard of Togo and Benin before coming to Africa, so this was a learning experience!

All three countries are French speaking countries. Andrej and I do not speak a drop of French, but have managed to pick up a few poorly pronounced phrases over the past few weeks.

We spent our first two days in Togo in Kpalime, right on the border of Ghana. There wasn't much to do in Kpalime, but the surrounding area was quite beautiful. We spent a day in a small village nearby called Kluoto, where we did a lot of hiking. We went to the top of the mountain and saw great views of Togo and Ghana, including a castle that a French guy built in the 40s. We had a nice guide, Apo, who took us on a walk through the forest, which is known for its butterflies. He would catch some in his net and we would get to check them out close up. The have lots of different and very beautiful species there. He also showed us many plants that produce dyes that they make paints with.

The view from the top of Mount Kluoto.

After being in the country side for a couple days, we went to the capital of Togo, Lome. Lome was pretty crazy. In Lome (and Cotonou in Benin) there were motorcylces EVERYWHERE. You think Sturgis has a lot of motorcyles? Think again. I have honestly never seen anything like it. Many of the motorcylce drivers are also taxis and are generally the easiest, albeit very dangerous way to get around. As far as danger is concerned, coming in at a close second is crossing the street on foot. The motorcylces weave through traffic at absurd speeds, sometimes going the wrong way and not obeying traffic signals. We would often stand at corners for quite some time before it was safe enough to dart across. One time, we were waiting so long and were very absorbed in watching for an opening in the traffic. A man in military clothing ran out into the middle of the street and frantically yelled at oncoming cars (and the regular policeman directing traffic) and cleared the road. Not thinking about anything but waiting for a chance to cross, Andrej and I thought this break in traffic was great and made to cross the street. But, that resulted in even more angry shouting from the military man, this time in our direction. So we backed away and went to stand with the street vendors. Little did we know that they were stopping traffic for the president. The president's motorcade drove past complete with the usual huge black SUVs with security personel, and the pickup with numerous armed guards and large automatic rifles mounted on top. Africa is not shy with their weapons. They very openly display them. We happened to see these same rifle-mounted vehicles later on where he was making a campaign stop.

Anyways, Lome was very hectic and we decided we needed a change of pace and headed out to Lake Togo. We spent some nice, relaxing days on the lake. One day was spent taking a tour of the small town of Togoville. To get there, we had to take a canoe across the lake. Apparently, there was a sighting of the Virgin Mary on this lake, and the Pope even came to visit about 20 years ago. They told us the Virgin Mary was spotted by two voodoo priests out over the lake. I think that sounds a little odd, so that may be something to google another day to get the full story on. But, despite this, the town is voodoo central. We learned a lot about voodoo and saw a number of fetishes spread around town. Don't steal something in this town. If you do and don't fess up, the voodoo priest can strike you dead with lightning. Apparently.

A voodoo fetish in Togoville.

After our 3 days on Lake Togo, we decided to go to Cotonou, the capital of Benin. Togo and Benin are both quite small countries, and the trip was pretty short. We took a bush taxi to get there. A bush taxi can be just about any kind of really ru-down vehicle used for public transport. Our bush taxi was a regular 5 passenger car, which in bush taxi world is a 7 passenger car (2 in the front passenger seat, 4 in back). We stayed in a nice hotel that was located in a surprisingly convenient area of town. Within walking distance, we had a mouth-watering Lebanese restaurant, an internet cafe, some book stores, grocery stores, etc. A couple of times we took our chances and hopped on a couple of motorbike taxis to go get our visas for Burkina Faso. It was a very hair raising experience, especially when they decided to go down the road on the wrong side of the street and ignored stoplights at major intersections. But, we are still alive.

We spent only 2 days in Cotonou, which was actually the end of our stay in Benin. From there, we took an overnight bus to Ouagadougou (say that 5 times fast). Ouagadougou is the capital of Burkina Faso. The bus ride itself was typical- music blaring all night long, random police checkpoints (which also served as bathroom breaks on the side of the road), and other inexplicable stops along the way. It was good to see the countryside of Burkina Faso however, since we were only going to be there briefly. Unfortunately, it seemed to be one of the more poor countries that we have visited. The livestock looked somewhat skeletal, the landscape was dry and seemed inhospitable, and life from the bus window just looked...hard.

The city itself was a typical African capital city. The main roads were paved. The side streets were dirt roads with potholes. We didn't do all that much in the city as we were planning to use it mainly as a stopover on our way to Mali. So, the next day, we hopped a bus and a couple of bush taxis and made our way to Mali! Look for a post by Andrej on our trek through Dogon Country soon!