Planning
Planning the trip was quite tricky – we were restricted to very poor flights to keep within our Christmas travel budget – leaving a measly 1:40 for a transfer and planned arrival to Lome, Togo at 2:40. Planning what we do after arrival was so hard, there are so many choices: to go east and visit Benin and Nigeria, north to Burkina Faso or West to Ghana.
We decided Ghana would be the best option as I’d set my eyes (and heart) on Mole National Park in Ghana, although we did consider some other options such as travelling along the coast to some really cool looking villas Tarnya spotted on TikTok. That meant a yellow fever jab each, anti-malarial tablets, two visas and sufficient stock of Deet-based mosquito spray.
The visa for Togo was a relative doddle compared to Ghana, all online and for a reasonably small fee, however Ghana required intimate details on every aspect of our lives. We thought we had timed the visa perfectly with the days we had left until Tarnya’s secret trip to Albania and Montenegro, but received a really disappointing message from the High Commission that the passports would not be returned until 3 days after we need them due to not counting the day after receiving the passports and the day they are sent and also counting a Ghanian National Day. Fortunately, the only non-cancellable thing was the flight (£35 ea) so not too much pressure, just disappointed that we might miss our anniversary trip Tarnya was so meticulously planning.
I tried to get in touch with the High Commission in London and the only option was an online chat. The lady on the chat was friendly but scolded me for not advising our departure date was the date we need our passports back, and ended the chat stating it would not be possible to expedite delivery. We received the passports back after just 4 days for which I am so grateful to them.
The trip is on!
Day 1 – 22/12/2024
Preparing the house was painless and we were ready to roll nice and early so headed to McDonalds to buy a couple of McPlants to help digest the Malarone. The car park was a nightmare – we had two near misses in less than a minute – think their customers must have been merry already! We were directed to the car park to wait for the food and after a fairly long wait a man ran over in the rain to deliver our food, but in my haste I kept double tapping the window button, leaving him getting soaked and the window stuck closed. He did say ‘you’re alright duck’ when I got it open and apologised though so that’s pretty cool…
Making our way to Manchester airport, encountering snow, heavy rain, two pheasants with a death wish and then the realisation half-way that we had left our yellow fever certificates at home, doh!!! Tarnya’s heart rate rose to 110 BPM, but fortunately we had enough time to return home and make it back to the carpark on time. On arrival at the car park we couldn’t find a space until we got to the very last corner and then Tarnya almost froze to death while we waited for the bus.
Check in was a little rough too, a super-long queue and a last minute faff to try and secure the straps on our backpacks so they don’t get snagged on the conveyors en route. We were a little concerned with the short layover and asked as nicely as possible whether it would be possible to be relocated closer to the front of the plane. Unfortunately not, row 32 of 33 it was to be.
Flight delayed from 17:15 to 18:00, panic starting to rise. Lots of googling on Casablanca airport, hotels and EU/UK 261 legislation (flight compensation etc.). Flight now delayed to 18:35 with arrival 25 minutes before we are supposed to take off from Casablanca.
Finally on board, extremely slow and chaotic boarding, I don’t think I have ever seen so much luggage on one flight?! There was a very drunk lady beside us, who asked for some wine with the inflight meal and was given four bottles, fortunately she bagged these up for later and didn’t exacerbate her current issues. Flight crew not able to help us disembark any quicker so we asked the lady next to us if we could jump up, she was too slow however and we only made it one row ahead of where we planned.
23:05 onto the bus to the terminal after helping a lady with her luggage and spoke to a lovely man who lives in the UK and Morocco who then asked everyone to clear the path for us to exit and he will run with us and show us where to transfer.
Ran for too long until we got to security and then asked for their help, they chuckled and said, ‘your flight won’t leave don’t worry, everyone is late’. Not quite convinced we threw both backs into the closest scanner and raced through the body scanner. Tarnya set off the scanner, but there wasn’t a female to check her so security just asked her to lift her top slightly and away we go. Interestingly we managed to bring 1l of Pepsi through the no liquids scanner.
23:20 Sprinting towards the gates and we could only see A1 and A2, but ours was A7. It took too long for us to realise they were behind us, comical in hindsight but that was definitely not funny at the time. I sprinted towards A7 waving like a madman at the staff who waved back. The screen didn’t even have our flight on it anymore, but the lady scanned both of our boarding cards and almost let a strange man in with me as Tarnya was still catching up.
23:35 not quite believing our luck we ran onto the flight and saw someone in Tarnya’s seat so took a couple of seats on an empty row expecting to need to move. Mouths dry, out of breath and caked in sweat our minds started to turn to the luggage. Looking at SmartThings it looked like they were moving towards us, but didn’t quite make it. Guess we will have to find out when we arrive tomorrow (only 4 hours).
Flight leaves at 00:00 after no one else managed to make it on board. Viewing the online departure board it did say this flight had departed so maybe they saw that and gave up? Glad we didn’t do the same, the next flight wasn’t until Tuesday at 23:15 (2 days later).
Day 2 – 23/12/2024
Arrival into Lome with a delay that we are grateful for. This holiday is very stressful thus far, I just hope the rest of the trip gets a little more relaxed!
We were so relieved to have arrived; I had to capture a photo of the airport!
The border procedures were fairly painless, we had a form to hand in and evidence that we had organised our visas, then the border police lady stuck the visa stickers in our passports. She did make a real mess of mine though, very creased, lucky she didn’t do the same for Tarnya though, she is much more proud and careful with her passport than I am.
Through the border and waiting at the belt, but would you believe it…
No luggage! Great. Not quite the relaxing turn we were hoping for.
Trackers refresh in the bags and show that they are still in Morocco so we head straight over to lost baggage and show the lady at the desk. Another 6 people join the queue behind us over the next 20 mins – seems the trackers gave us a real head start which is good as the paperwork takes us 45 minutes to complete and she doesn’t serve anyone until our form is submitted (via fax?). She tells us our bags will arrive tomorrow, but given we had been assured they made the flight I’m not so convinced!
We try to head out, but while we’ve been filling paperwork they decided to close the customs area and block the exit. We find a worker who says go the same way as another worker who had just climbed over the barrier and so we do.
We’re outside the airport now and Richard (our transfer) is nowhere to be seen. While we glance around I see whether we can exchange some money but there is no one there, and then I check the ATMs and find them all offline and broken. Not feeling too great about this. I’d messaged Richard when we were waiting for our luggage report and he hadn’t replied, could it be that our transfer isn’t waiting for us either?
A confused WhatsApp call later and he says he is waiting for us, we just need to leave the airport. Having already left we keep walking towards a crowd of people near the main road and spot someone on the phone with a board and wave. He waves back and are immediately swept with relief. I didn’t fancy finding a taxi at this hour (4am)!
The hotel is a short distance from the airport, 10 Togo minutes, 20 in the rest of the world, but we spot some interesting sights on the way and our excitement and anticipation for visiting West Africa builds.
We arrive and are quickly shown to a room with a key in the door without checking in as the main staff are all still asleep. This suits us perfectly. Undies and bodies rinsed, teeth brushed without paste and a frantic search for a charger leaves us ready for bed at 5am. Minds racing and cockerels crowing, we struggle to sleep well, drifting in and out of consciousness hundreds of times over the next 4.5 hours until my alarm goes off at 10.
We force ourselves out of bed, check the delayed baggage status online (not updated) and start to formulate a plan for the day. We need toothpaste and suncream as a priority and must purchase some lighter clothes so that I don’t melt in my jeans. Looking online it appears pharmacies are the only places that stock suncream so we head to the nearest one, which is 6 minutes walk away.
No luck at the closest pharmacy and it didn’t look too hopeful on google maps either so we returned to the hotel and try to pay for the room, but their card machine is broken so now a visit to the ATM is a priority too. The exchange rate seems to have gone crazy, was originally going to be £213 but now it’s £329? That does include an additional night so maybe not so crazy, but that’s a fair bit of cash to faff around with at ATMs in Togo!
There is a white man sat in reception, and at this point, being quite desperate to remove my hoodie, I asked him whether he has any suncream we could use. He didn’t speak English but we managed to muddle through on google translate. He kindly booked a taxi for us on his app to take us to the biggest supermarket in Lome, Champion. The taxi took three times longer than they promised, and when we finally arrived at the supermarket we were scammed for twice the fare, but I doubted myself because he showed a screen with a ‘per person’ price so I didn’t argue it. Worth noting the fare was only £2 after the scam so probably not worth the effort to argue it unless I wanted to help protect others. Never mind.
The supermarket had everything we needed (at a premium), except for any clothing, however they did accept card payments so that was a huge relief. We were able to stock up on our essentials this morning and finally remove my hoodie. The ATM next door was no longer in the wall so we didn’t quite get a win there, but we had enough money to get back after a short and unsuccessful walk to see whether we could find any clothes.
I messaged Richard to see if he was available and he said he could be after 2pm so we agreed to meet so that he could help us find some clothes. The taxi got us back at 2, but Richard was on Togo time so we had a good 20 minutes or so to enjoy a cold drink, suncream top-up and brief rest before our next outing.
Richard took us to 3 different ATMs before one let us withdraw two lots of 100,000 CFA, not even enough for the hotel, agh! After that we headed to the market and met with a lady who seemed to take charge of everything Richard then did. He was very much hands off and we were held hostage by this lady everywhere we went or wanted to go. Even when we popped into a supermarket she got involved, so strange! She didn’t speak English so we were in a silly predicament where I would agree a price with Tarnya, tell Richard who tells the lady who then tells the shop keeper and back. Crazy!
The street sellers do not have it easy in Togo – these women must be carrying so much weight on their heads!
We saw so many interesting things around the market, but the thing that stuck out to me mostly was the hospital with casket stores outside of it and vendors selling hundreds of mats as the hospital was lacking beds. I asked Richard about it and the wooden products nearby and he started talking about voodoo rituals in Benin and a special event on the 10th of Jan so I would deduce that he didn’t quite understand me. He did offer to pop to the airport in the morning with us if the bags arrived so that was pretty kind of him, albeit I imagine it comes with a premium!
Back at the hotel and I popped next door for some water before we sat for dinner in the hotel restaurant, enjoying a delicious vegetarian meal of Togolese chips and dips and cheese/vegetable quiche. Much tastier than it sounds – the chef was French which always helps!
After this, we washed today’s clothes in the hopes that they will dry off overnight and tomorrow and enjoyed a short episode of the new Dexter series. Pretty good day, especially after the rough start we had!
Day 3 – 24/12/2024
Alarm at 8am, first things first, the all important smart tag location check. Yippee, the bags are in Togo! I WhatsApp our guide for the day, Tao, and he says we can go to the airport to collect the bags together, great stuff. Richard also messages to say he will be back at 6pm and could help us too if needed, but I don’t think he will so politely decline for now but let him know we will be in touch later.
Breakfast was a calm affair, a couple of pancakes, some toast and super-strong marmalade. It took about 10 minutes to translate orange juice to the waitress as we didn’t fancy tea or coffee, but we got there in the end and it tasted great so no complaints from me.
At 5 to 9, Tao appeared with two other guys and a very large tarp with ‘West Africa Tourism’ printed on it. We made a short introduction before being shepherded into a photo with the banner. What a great start, this was a sign of good things to come today.
Luggage Reclaim
We headed to the airport with Tao and the driver, passed a cute security dog, and then climbed up to the departures floor because the escalator was in pieces and the elevator didn’t seem to be in the shaft? Glad we didn’t try to get in that then! They wouldn’t let us in departures, but told us to go to arrivals and speak to the officer there. The officer sent us to another counter who then told us we need a photocopy of our passports and missing luggage report. Off to another counter and Tao kindly paid to photocopy our documents which we then took back to the third person we had spoken to.
We were given a lanyard, but not permitted to take our passports back which was quite uncomfortable. Both fortunately and unfortunately Tao was not allowed through so was able to keep an eye on our passports. We joined the queue for the staff security check and whizzed through the scanner in no time. I’m not convinced that the security is quite up to scratch in this airport – they barely looked at anyone! In the queue a staff member helped us with the check and took us to the lost luggage store.
We smelled the stores before we saw them. The rank stench of fish is difficult to describe in ways that colour the experience we endured, but I can say the smell was enough to give me a very bad feeling about our luggage. Luckily our bags weren’t in the stink-room, so we headed to the next room which didn’t have an odour and spotted our bags on top of a trolley. Success!
The man was still with us at this point and we were starting to suspect he was about to rip us off somehow, we couldn’t lose him, but he was still fairly useful for the time being because he showed us where to fill the form to claim the bags. He started talking about customs checks and I was at this point sure we’re headed into a shakedown. Great. Tarnya also picked up on this and was able to distract him from me and the form for a moment as he helped remove our clingfilm and tape from the packs so that we could wear them.
Form signed, we headed to customs and our very helpful friend shouted something across to the customs agent who then told us to forego the scan and head straight to the inspection table instead. Joy. The customers agent asked what is in our bag and I answered a little bit too literally, listing out clothes, sprays and other goodies we missed out on over the last day. He wasn’t quite patient enough to listen to my list and rushed us to the juicy bits, ‘have you got phones, laptops anything like that?’ The answer was no, and with a kiss of his teeth and a very frustrated helpful friend we were allowed to leave.
There was no shaking our friend, he even started to get a little physical, asking if we need a car sorting, and then pushing into my side and saying I need to pay him now when I said we don’t and walked to Tao. We ignored him, sped up and greeted Tao and headed across the carpark. Our helpful friend realising we weren’t going to pay started to give Tao some grief, grabbing his lanyard and asking who he is, asking his identification, then griefing the driver, and then back to us again. We hastily jumped into the car, but then Tao started to look through his wallet. Oh dear. Who is this man if he has our very cool guide looking for money. I found 3 100 cedi coins which Tao gave him.
The helpful friend was not impressed with this amount of money, he was blocking Tao’s door from closing which meant we couldn’t leave. Eventually, slightly defeated looking, he backed off and away we went! Phew, with hindsight I feel that could have turned quite nasty, but we are so used to dismissing scammers that I’m not sure I would have done anything differently otherwise.
The Tour Begins
We headed straight to the fetish market from the airport. I had read quite a few negative things about the market online with regards to general hassle and restrictive camera use, but Tao reassured me he has paid everything we don’t need to worry about it. We had a 10 minute wait for the English-speaking market guide to arrive before he took us up to the first stall to talk about the items, their uses and a little bit of voodoo history.
I wasn’t really convinced that the market is authentic, whilst there were some locals around, a ‘voodoo priest’, and they showed where a ritual had been completed, the high entry fee and well spoken guide made it seem like it predominantly caters to tourists. There were a lot of animals there and in different states of decay, so they could well be genuine, I just have my doubts.
After we had seen the animals, voodoo masks, dolls and souvenirs, it was time to sit with the voodoo priest. We were walked into a dark room behind a shop and introduced to them. There were lots of nicknacks on his floor and he had an interesting shrine with lots of objects on it, including, funnily enough, two empty bottles of whisky. Maybe that helps with the authenticity! One of the gods outside was the ‘4 x penis god’, god of fertility. I asked the voodoo priest what the earthy lump was underneath an upside down tortoise shell with power and an egg in it, and he said it was the real fertility god. Interesting, and frankly quite intimidating to be in the presence of a real god.
When the guide offered to show us the god of fertility, I was in autopilot and asked which one is that… Tarnya swiftly suggested it was the one with four penises which resulted in a lot of laughter…!
The voodoo priest presented us with several objects, one a rather dirty looking stick with a tiny hole and a stick you put into it to protect you when travelling, a tree seed, a little necklace with a tiny stuffed pillow and a shell attached to it, a voodoo doll and just for me, a fertility stick to make me ‘fuck like a buffalo’. Cool stuff, but didn’t quite tempt us to part with any cash. No pressure though, very easy to say no and leave.
While driving to the next destination I sent a message across to the hotel to confirm how much cash we need, breaking it down in to the fine details – room rate, tax, transfer, meal, amount paid and balance for the current stay and confirming the amount for our stay on the 30th. They responded ‘I think not !’ and sent a photo of the invoice which confirmed what I had said. 5 minutes later they followed up with ‘For the room it remains for you 80 000 to pay for all And for the meal you will pay it to the waiter at the end’. I had to clarify that we were essentially saying the same thing, although they didn’t quite understand I’d already eaten the dinner the evening before…! If they had just accepted card payment or bank transfer like they had stated on the booking then this wouldn’t have been a challenge.
Next we had a short visit to Marcelo Beach Club and saw where the original coastal road was – now many metres out to sea. I have never seen coastal erosion of this magnitude and felt a little sad that I wasn’t able to share it with my GCSE Geography teacher. Reading after the visit I have found that they lose up to 5m of coast every year due to a huge sand drift caused by the nearby port. Apparently Lome will disappear in 50 years if nothing is done to stem the erosion.
We walked along a mini rope bridge to a closed wall and looked down at fishies and a crab, before walking back along the beach at the club. Along the front of the beach there were signs warning people to not swim if they can’t swim and also not to urinate into the sea. These were the only English signs I’ve seen so I dread to think what caused them to be placed there! It sounds strange to say urinate into the sea, but you should picture the beach as being on a cliff edge, with the ocean contained within sea defences and accessed by pool ladders. I’m not convinced that description really explains it, I don’t think it’s a typical thing to urinate like that in any part of the world, but we have a lot of places left to visit so I may be wrong. Overall it was a strange place, but we could see the sea pounding the wall at the back so it seems necessary, especially given Tao told us very few people swim in Togo. With that context it makes perfect sense as to why they would contain it within a controlled zone the way they have.
While we were there the hotel miss called me, but said it was an accident when I messaged them shortly after. That was a relief – I had assumed it might be a follow up to our previous conversation.
We headed over to the Grand Market after our beach excursion and found a familiar face along what must be ‘tourist street’. We were given a different shopping experience today with a visit down into the back of some shops to places we didn’t realise existed yesterday. The shopkeeping told us we were family, then tried to rip us off horrendously for 6,000 CFA for a bead chain. It’s only £6.50 but we paid 1,000 CFA yesterday (well, x2), so it doesn’t sit right to charge that price. I walked straight out of there, but it took a minute for the rest of the cool crew to follow. I told the shopkeeper he does treat us like family, but I think the joke went over his head. Probably mine too.
The found luggage was in the back of the car and we were originally told the driver will keep them safe all day. The temptation to join our entourage must have however been too much as we had a ‘friend’ and the driver join us everywhere we went all day. I must say it was bloody effective for keeping pickpockets and touts at bay, but it was a little strange to have a crew with you everywhere.
We stuck our heads into the underwhelming, German-built (1901) largest cathedral in Togo and then went for a walk to the public beach. We walked to the front and observed some local life and learned that the two ruins from the beach to the sea were originally temporary German and French ports. Not much has survived of these, but they like to say how much older the German one was and how much better it looked after 100 years.
We made a brief visit to the independence monument and then the artisanal village where Tao kindly purchased us a fridge magnet, but the highlight of the day was yet to come.
We arrived at Koumy House, but nobody was in! We spent the next 15 minutes wandering around, taking photos and waiting for somebody to open up.
A lady arrived instead of the artist, Koumy and she did her best to explain the art on the outside of the building. Tao’s friend was obsessed with love becoming one where there was an image of two heads and torsos joining together in a heart shape. It was half interesting at first, but really lost its charm after the 5th and 6th time he explained it.
Koumy’s home was a sanctuary, entering his home through a large gate, you found a beautiful garden courtyard in the centre with dozens of birds darting through bird feeders, trees and plants. To the left of the entrance was a two-storey museum with a viewing platform to see in and outside of his home. Next to the museum was a fantastical and arty swimming pool which connected to his home with a terrace facing the best bird feeders.
Before Koumy arrived we walked freely around the property, walking through another gate and seeing a large mural, a workshop with vast amounts of in-progress artworks, then we headed back through the gate to sit in his courtyard with Tao and the rest of the gang.
Koumy returned not long after and flooded the entire area with personality. He spoke several languages and made an effort to both greet and speak with everyone in their native tongue. He took us on a tour of his workshop, talked about the mural and his life in Belgium, some of the famous people he has met and who have visited his sanctuary and why it was important for him to return home to Togo.
He walked us around his home, showing us artwork in his kitchen, bedrooms, bathroom; everywhere you looked was something else interesting. We bought a lovely trinket from him as a reminder of his home.
Saying bye to Tao and the gang was a little sad, we had had such a great day with them and I didn’t want it to end. We promised to keep in touch, although I didn’t realise how soon we might be speaking again.
We enjoyed a dip in the pool in the tranquil surroundings at the hotel, before making our way out to a local restaurant.
The streets were pitch black and it was a little bit scary being out on our own not knowing the area. It didn’t seem like the best area with security placed in front of the hotel and tall fences everywhere, but I thought we’d be OK to walk a short distance to a restaurant I’d seen on google maps.
We were attracting a lot of attention during our walk and I’m not sure it was entirely positive. After a very rough looking man got into my face shouting in French and tried to stop us leaving we decided we should probably head back to the safety of the hotel. We made haste and returned in record time, but now feeling positively ravenous we turned to the internet to find food since the hotel restaurant was closed for Christmas.
I managed to download an app to order food online and we found a decent looking takeaway so that we needn’t venture outside into danger again. The delivery was fairly simple, handed over the cedis in exchange for food, no different to many other places. The food itself was a little crazy, more cheese than we’ve ever had in our lives but we managed to eat enough of it that we felt satisfied and ready to sleep.
Sleep wasn’t on the menu yet however! The driver, Erico, I’d organised before we left the UK through the Accra Airbnb contact decided that 120 EUR wasn’t enough money to drive us to Accra, despite me being certain I was already over paying by 50% for the perceived safety and convenience of using someone known and trusted by our host. He demanded 180 GBP because fuel prices had gone up and the exchange rate had changed. The exchange rate had changed, as we’d experienced with the hotel, but not in the time since I booked this driver.
I messaged a few other drivers and companies to see what other options we had for a last-minute Christmas Day transfer. You can probably imagine the interest we had… I mentioned it to Tao and he blamed ‘crazy English speaking countries’. He tried to get us a taxi too, but wasn’t able to in such short notice (also, Christmas Day!), but offered to help us get back to Aflao and Lome next week.
Day 4 – 25/12/2024
Goodbye Lome, hello Accra
I had been quite anxious about today after reading lots of negative things online about the Togo-Ghana border. I think I was right to be anxious, but didn’t need to think about it too much.
Alarms set for just before 8am, we clambered out of bed at 10 past, and then repacked everything we had into backpacks and our new Togolese market bag. The driver messaged us at 8:55 to say he was 45 minutes away from the border, despite us agreeing to meet at 10:30 the night before. I messaged Tao who messaged the Togolese driver to let him know we can go to the border whenever suits him, but that we were having a quick breakfast first.
The driver turned up at 9:50 and we headed towards the border, with a brief stop for some soft drinks and water and also some fuel. So far on this trip, all of the drivers top up their fuel with a couple of £s at a time.
The border was terrifying, people were swarming the car as we approached and also as we turned around to find parking back from the border. The driver asked if he dropped us off would we find out way through the border and with our confidence already knocked, we said no don’t think so, please could you help? He was already offering to help, but we hadn’t realised. He pulled into a space a little down the road, picked up one of our bags and we headed to the border on foot with an unwelcome and growing entourage.
We went through a little gate and into a tiny hotbox office with an officer in front of the desks and two behind. We were asked a few questions, then given two forms and a pen to fill them in with. I noticed a few people walk through very quickly after giving the man behind the counter a 2,000 CFA note, but I sensed it might be inappropriate (and likely illegal) to do the same. Our driver then popped back to the car to grab his ID so that he could help us through the border and within 3 seconds an official border ‘guide’ started helping me to fill the form. We said multiple times that we don’t need any help but he would not leave, even when Tarnya got a little cross with him. Forms signed and handed to the official and we were waved through and walked straight out into a free area.
Seconds later we were in a larger, fan-cooled room with an initial yellow fever check, the lady in the office had two small children on her lap which isn’t something you’d see in the UK! We then had a quiz from a line of military-styled police who were actually funny and rolling with some banter. We went to a window and were subjected to a very long interrogation, had to hand over all of our hotel reservations, itinerary details, home address and so on. Tarnya caught the brunt of this however as the police lady who took my photo fingerprints seemed like she couldn’t be bothered, other than to tell me a 100 different ways to pose for my photo which I was too deaf and dumb to tolerate well.
While this was happening the policeman with the banter asked if he can come to Mole NP with us, I clarified the question and suggested Tarnya might want to swap me with him and he decided he might like to stay in Aflao instead after a roar of laughter.
After that the unwanted helper pointed us to the customs desk where again the lady quite clearly did not want to be there. She was very quick to ask for a Christmas present. Finally, this was the border experience we were told to expect. I unpacked a packet of oreos, but Tarnya told me to not make her unnecessarily angry, so I also went into the trusty bumbag for a 5 euro note to stick to the oreos. That was seemingly enough to avoid a full check and away we went.
I called Erico, our Ghanian driver, and he told me where he was. The unhelpful helper and our favourite Togolese driver accompanied us, despite Tarnya reiterating to the former that he will not be paid under any circumstances. Erico was in the distance waving away and we were pleased to drop our bags straight into his boot.
The Togolese driver then started speaking in perfect English to ask the driver if he knew him, took the money we paid him and we spoke for a few moments. We had no idea he spoke such perfect English, I’d tried speaking to him a few times but he always looked to Tao to translate. How strange, but a sweet surprise in some respects. We asked if he would meet us again on the 30th when we return and he agreed, but asked me to WhatsApp Tao, the tourism dealer.
The path to Accra
The drive was fairly painless, we had two police stops, the first of which waved us through after a merry Christmas, and the second who lingered for far too long and asked several times for a Christmas present. I had given my Christmas present to his revenue and customs colleague, so he was out of luck and eventually gave up hassling us when he realised we didn’t yet have any Ghanian cedis. I imagined this was a sign of things to come, but it so happened that that was the last time we were asked for a Christmas present today.
There was an immediate change in fashion across the border, Ghanians were wearing more typical western clothing, jeans and t-shirts, rather than the colourful traditional African garbs we were now familiar with in Togo. Some women still dressed in African garb, but I don’t think we saw any men outside of western clothes until we were much closer to Accra.
We stopped at the Nkyinkyim museum en route to Accra and had an hour and a half tour. The artwork was really interesting, especially with the engaging tour guide the museum offered us. Unfortunately the museum wasn’t able to accept card payments so we had to pay with USD which were subject to a poor exchange rate and meant we struggled to find smaller notes to tip with afterwards.
They have a spiritual place for the souls that didn’t receive a proper burial during the Arab and Atlantic slavery periods, it’s all outdoors and it isn’t permitted to use a mirrorless/DSLR camera in the spiritual place. You must also remove your shoes and walk across the hot earth. The artwork in this area was particularly moving and it did make you feel deeply for those who have suffered.
The guide told us about the BLM movement in Ghana and that they had a state funeral for George Floyd. I personally was very surprised that this US-centric protest movement had had such a global impact, especially considering the impact it had in the UK too.
Arriving into Greater Accra, we popped to Accra mall to visit and ATM for cash and a supermarket for some coke, water, crisps and a couple of fried egg sandwiches. This cost around £5, a far cry from a similar shop in Togo which cost around £20. Crazy.
Shortly after we arrived at the apartment and checked in with the security desk. As part of the checking process they take your photo so that you can unlock the doors with your face. An American lady in front decided she wanted to record this process so help her phone in front of her face to record the whole affair. This tickled me, and confused the heck out of the security lady who jovially argued that she needs to take the photo not her, not quite understanding what on earth was going on.
The apartment was a little grotty, but it’s well located and also comfortable enough for a single night. The pool looked tempting, but it was getting late so we prioritised ordering some food so that we could prepare for our day tomorrow which starts at 3-something in the morning for a 6:30 flight to Tamale.
4 Ways to Irritate Your Wife
The takeaway came with two separate riders, and when I looked inside the bag I realised it was leaking oil onto the bed so transferred it back to the kitchen area. I lifted the first item out, jollof rice and placed it on the side and then reached in and pulled out the okra soup for the container to collapse and spill upside down within the bag. Tarnya had washed two plates so I rescued what I could with an xxl spoon, but meanwhile Tarnya was looking for a towel to dry the plate so that the tap water on them didn’t make us sick. Unfortunately I plonked food onto the plate in haste so it was mixed with tap water. She swiftly informed me of my mistake and as I tried to correct it, but mosquito band fell off my wrist and into the food. I was doomed!
I was sent away from the kitchen to stay out of trouble and not ruin the food any further. I tried the vegan ice cream we had been sent and it was terrible, separated, icy and, well, just plain horrible. The jollof rice was delicious and spicy, but the rescued food was tasteless and had the texture of vomit, maybe the voodoo blessing we received yesterday was trying to protect our palettes. Maybe I’m just clumsy. Unfortunately we will just never know.
As if that wasn’t enough I had one last faux paus, I shook Tarnya’s frozen ginger and root drink thinking I was helping by defrosting it and making a nice slush that she could drink sooner. This wasn’t a welcome change to the drink so I didn’t do very well so far on this night.
A hot shower was then welcomed, although it didn’t stay hot very long, just enough for me to clean the dust off, but then Tarnya had to suffer a cold shower. I’m not sure I’m in her good books at bedtime. I just hope a 4-hour sleep is long enough to forgive me!
Day 5 – 26/12/2024
3 hours and 40 minutes later and we were up. No driver allocated to our prebooked Bolt either, this is not looking great, but we head on out to reception and wait patiently. Moments after arriving a taxi driver offers to taxi us somewhere; I ask for the airport price and he says 100 cedis. This is triple what Bolt offered, but we are considering it. We ask him to wait 5 minutes and we will talk to him again and he agrees. The Bolt is cancelled so I ask him if he will do it for 80 cedis, he looks over the moon, and frankly so am I. He heads into reception to speak to security as he was waiting for somebody to pay his previous fare, then shortly after we head off to the airport.
Terminal 2 is confusing him a little as he is expecting to drop white people at off at terminal 3 which is the international terminal. He seemingly forgets again and heads to terminal 3, but I remind him and he says he missed the turn and can just keep driving for terminal 2. He zips past terminal 2 and brakes harshly at the private terminal. He then tells us they moved terminal 2, it used to be where he stopped, but now we have to reverse back to the terminal for a minute or so.
I would like to make it clear that there is zero chance that terminal was moved!
We entered the terminal, seemingly before it opened, but within 10 minutes a large group of white people entered the opposite end and started queuing. Curious I wandered over and asked where they were going and if they are going to Tamale for Mole National Park. They were so I said we will join them shortly.
When Tarnya and I returned to the queue we introduced ourselves properly, and the main lady introduced herself as Katherine, (sister Findley), and advised that they are latter day saints on a mission for two years in Ghana and that their daughter and son in law had joined them for Christmas for a visit. They said they had treated themselves to the luxury resort in Mole National Park which also happened to be where we had chosen to stay too. They made it clear that it was a real treat to stay at Zaina Lodge, and seemed a bit put out when we said we were staying there too, especially a few of the group who were staying at Mole Motel.
Security was easy enough and no sign of corruption was evident, despite the things I’d worried myself about on Google reviews the night before. We had an hour and a bit to wait after security and then a lady announced a flight departure from our gate, 20 minutes before we were due to leave. Doubting ourselves we went to the gate desk and double checked that it wasn’t for our flight, thinking that they couldn’t possibly dispatch two flights from the same gate within 10 minutes of each other. Well, they could and did.
The bus to the airplane had chocks under the tyres which the driver removed before we started driving to the plane. I hoped the aircraft would be better maintained than their airport buses.
It was an extremely short flight, so I chose to read their magazine rather than start a TV show or movie. In the magazine their new CEO (new in 2022, 2 years ago), stated he has, ‘been immediately impressed that our engineers can execute the best repairs for our aircraft relying on rudimentary facilities with simple equipment’. I’m not sure about the rest of the planet, but don’t we usually overstate the facilities and equipment, I’m not sure ‘rudimentary’ and ‘simple’ are adjectives I want an airline to describe anything by!
Funnily enough the Mormons had booked with the same local company as we had! Fortunately the tour company provided Tarnya and I with a private car however so we did still get what we paid for. We asked if we could visit a supermarket and as soon as we entered we had a lady working as our assistant. This was really uncomfortable for us, but she was insistent and I didn’t get any bad vibes whatsoever.
The Mormons had requested a visit to a leather maker. This was a particularly gross process with potent odours, but the area was interesting and I saw some handsome goats with half colours as though their heads had been dipped in a golden brown paint.
I really enjoyed the drive to Mole NP, the whole place felt very BBC-Africa. I wasn’t expecting to see so many mud huts and rudimentary agricultural sites after seeing Accra, but there were many.
When we arrived at Mole NP we went to Mole Motel for lunch as it is significantly cheaper and better than at our hotel the Zaina lodge. We had our first baboon, warthog and elephant sighting in the first 10 minutes of our visit, but the highlight was grandma Mormon with four smartphones frantically playing pokemon go on all of them during lunch. Reading this back I don’t believe it, but I swear it is true!
The safari wasn’t planned until 3 and we arrived with enough time for a lovely dip and had chance to acquaint ourselves with the lodge and organise our bags a little bit.
The safari was a slightly different experience to what we had in India, Nepal and South Africa in that we were asked to leave the 4×4 to chase down an elephant on foot.
After chasing down the elephant in the bush, and then following a pair along the track, we headed towards a watering hole and had the most wonderful sighting of two elephants taking a dust bath.
After heading back we enjoyed the last moments of sunlight before preparing for dinner and meeting the cutest critter ever!
Day 6 – 27/12/2024
We started the day with a walking safari, starting from the Mole Motel with a friendlier spotter than we met yesterday, we didn’t encounter as animals by virtue of the walking unfortunately, but it was so lovely to walk through the bush and quite exhilarating not knowing who you might encounter. The spotter taught us a few things about the flora and fauna and ways you could use the various plants and trees for food and medicine and pointed out the different birds.
During the walk we visited a watering hole and got pretty close to the crocs, the spotter told us it was safe to get close to the bank as they would be swimming at this time so I risked standing at the edge to take a couple of photos.
An elephant had walked up the staff quarters, but Brin calculated that we would miss breakfast if we walked to see the elephant so he sprinted back to his car to drive us there. This was a bit obnoxious of us because the whole walking safari had to go with us up to the road where Brin could drive, for us to tear off to see the elephant first. We didn’t have much time to feel guilty though, he had us running up the hill to get to his car so we were well out of puff by the time we got comfortable in his car. We did get to get close to the elephant, and enjoy breakfast however so it was definitely worth the obnoxiousness and embarrassment.
Later in the day we went on a canoe ride on a very sketchy canoe. This canoe was beyond maintenance, with holes all over and requiring constant bailing out. The captain, I assume a canoe driver is a captain? Well, he managed to first crash us into the bank, then he dropped his only oar causing it to get trapped under boat and stuck in mud. Luckily I wasn’t in oblivious tourist mode and managed to catch the oar and free it from the mud before we were stuck up shit creek without a paddle. This was the sketchiest boat I’ve been on, my feet were soaked from sinking and we didn’t really see any animals. Still fun though!
We then headed to a local village where we were shown traditional shea butter making, given a big list of cancers it cures along with pretty much any other ailment, and naturally any skin condition. We were unfortunately, as happens frequently on these trips, distracted by the local animals. If you want us to remain focused you shouldn’t include chickens, donkeys, cats or goats. It’s impossible to listen to you if you have animals running around. We might have missed our chance to purchase the shea butter, but with a little help from a random auntie, we managed to buy two in the end.
There was a very strong theme to our visit around the village, the guides had been telling us about their local medicine man and the remedies they have, one of which was if you have a sick baby or infant you give them pigeon water. Pigeon water is water they leave out for pigeons to drink from, the pigeons use the water to bathe, drink and go to the toilet in. I don’t think there is much worse you could give to a child, especially not a sick one.
With this in mind the last part of the tour around the village was them proving how strong their mud hut roofs are. To that end we climbed the side of a house and stood on their mud roof to look around the village. Getting up and onto the roof was a fairly simple affair, but I couldn’t say the same for getting back down. There were moments I was sure I was just going to have to live on the roof of that hut, at least until they could source me a scissor lift. Perhaps after the next round of NGO funding. I couldn’t really wait that long so Tarnya proved it was possible to climb down without injuring yourself so I copied her shortly after.
We spent the rest of the day chilling at the pool overlooking the watering hole, looking out for interesting animals. We enjoyed a couple of cocktails with four of the Mormons who enjoyed mocktails. I developed a knack for spotting elephants and crocodiles so because the resident spotter for the afternoon, sharing my binoculars with anyone who cared to see the animals.
There was a special treat waiting for us once we’d finished spotting elephants by their watering holes, two decided to pay us a visit around the lodge, giving us the chance to get close to them again.
We had a rapid dinner so that we could do the night safari. The lodge had made the tastiest soup I’d ever eaten, roasted tomato, and it was a bit gutting that we couldn’t just sit there slurping that all night, but we had animals to spot so had to make do with two portions.
It was almost not possible to make it to the night safari after our speedy dinner. After the elephants had entered the lodge earlier in the evening, they proceeded to block our exit from both sides. The rangers and waiters tried to shine lights to encourage them to move, but the elephants are completely wild so they didn’t want to risk them stampeding so we mostly had to be patient.
You cannot pass!
When we arrived at the night safari we had a full jeep because the second one wouldn’t start. They managed to squeeze 8 of us onto the working one and handed two torches out, one to two Norwegian men at the back and one to a German couple up front. The German couple were good at pointing the light, but the Norwegians were either having or causing a stroke. Tarnya took the first opportunity to ask if she could hold the light for a while which improved our change of sighting animals significantly. We didn’t see a great deal on the night safari and it was clear the ranger was frustrating, but we enjoyed it, we saw a mongoose a couples of birds, rabbits and a fair few antelope. For some reason the rangers don’t like showing you the more common animals, but they are still a novelty for us so we were happy.
We returned to an empty lodge, with the staff chilling and watching the ginet (cat like creature). I asked if we could have breakfast for 5am the next day with us going to see hippos and they went and made it there and then! This gave us lots of time to watch the ginet, the staff interacted with him and gave him some treats which was nice to see after some of the other tourists reacted negatively to its presence in the restaurant the previous day.
Day 7 – 28/12/2024
We needed to be up and out at 5am for our trip to Wechiea hippo sanctuary.
The drive was horrendous, it was pitch black for the first hour or so and describing it as bumpy wouldn’t quite express the experience we had. The entire road was missing in some places – a 3 hour drive soon turned into a 4 hour drive. I didn’t help myself by googling the road and seeing that hijackings and robberies are common and that you shouldn’t be on it at night. I wasn’t sure whether this pitch black morning counted as night, but I felt it did.
The car itself was pretty cool, we’d switched to a new guide Emmanuel who drove a big 4×4 which had comfortable reclining seats, better odds of surviving this trip and a generally better ride compared to the sedan we were in with Brin. We did miss Brin though – he was definitely more our vibe than Emmanuel – not that there was anything wrong with him but we preferred Brin’s more introverted nature. I do think Emmanuel would be able to scare any would-be terrorists away however!
Emmanuel had lived in the park as well as Brin, growing up in the park and working his way up to head ranger at Zaina Lodge until 6 months ago when he took the huge leap of faith to start working at Grassroots tours.
He tried to get us some breakfast and cokes, but none of the stalls we tried on the way had any coke or any food worth buying. They all seemed to have mini cream crackers and that was it.
We popped to the community centre, but after a brief conversation it was agreed we needed to head straight to the river so that we could see the hippos with it being later in the day. A short drive later with an unwashed young man we picked up from the community centre and we arrived at the bank where we would board yet another terrible looking canoe. The earth beneath our feet had dried and cracked in an incredibly satisfying way as we approached the river on foot.
This surface was heaven to walk over
We quickly forgot about our concerns with the canoe when we almost immediately spotted two hippos close by.
Emmanuel asked the captain where more hippos are and he said there are lots a long long way away by some rocks. He told him to keep paddling so that we can see them – he’d brought the company camera to get some promotional materials which turned out to be an enormous benefit to us.
They told us to be quiet when we get near to the hippos, they said they were perfectly safe to be near, but we shouldn’t startle them. The poor young man paddled for 40 minutes until we saw a large group of hippos, 8 of them. As we drew closer it was at this point that Emmanuel decided bailing the boat out with a metal tin would be a good idea. The metal on metal as the tin caught the fixings on the boat resonated across the river and got the hippos attention even across the river. What on earth possessed him to start bailing the canoe out at that point I’ll never know.
Emmanuel told the young man to keep paddling to the rocks so we can see them more closely. As we got as close as we could we found that not only did he decide to bail us out so loudly, but also that Dom Joly had joined us onboard with the loudest, most obnoxious Nokia ringtone you could imagine, followed by him telling whoever was on the other end that ‘road is bad’ and that we’re with the hippos now.
Thankfully we survived despite those two loud noises.
The return was upstream and the poor boy was using all his might to get us back. The 40 minute journey turned into an hour and a half. Approximately half way back we got to some rocks in the river where there were rapids. His first attempt to get us across the rocks wasn’t successful, but was close. As we were pushed back downstream and away from the rocks he re-angled the canoe and took a slightly different approach. Still no success.
A third attempt and a crash, led us to all needing to temporarily evacuate from the canoe whilst he tried to pull it through the rapids next to the rocks. We all left the canoe and scrambled onto the rocks while he pulled it upstream against the current. The rocks were quite slippery and we didn’t feel completely safe whilst we watched him pull the boat along, there were no signs of crocodiles on the rocks currently, but they had pointed their marks on the banks earlier while we cruised along the river.
After eventually making it back to the car, we tipped the captain approximately £10 which caused Emmanuel to tell us off for tipping too much, but to ask him if he will eat fish today. We then went back to the community centre, had some breakfast and listened to their informational speech about the river and hippos. There was a uni student who wanted to survey us for his studies so we completed that with him. We didn’t finish up our breakfast boxes and asked if there was somewhere we could bin the leftovers. The local guide asked if he could take them to share with the community and was over the moon with this.
We returned to the lodge for another nice relaxing afternoon with plenty of swimming and drinks. Later on a very noisy Israeli family turned up with 9 children splashing, shouting and just completely taking over the pool area and sadly ruining for us and the others who were also trying to enjoy the space. One of the guys was friendly and complimented my rhino tattoo, but that didn’t make up for the disruption.
We enjoyed the rest of the evening watching the sunset from the room and trying to spot any last animals around the watering hole.
Day 8 – 29/12/2024
We’d been exhausted and fell asleep before packing the night before and then we were up really early for safari so there was no time before the safari to pack our bags.
There was the usual waiting around in the morning for the safari to start. I asked if we could go on the rooftop jeep instead which I think the guide doesn’t like to promote because you see fewer big animals, but it meant we went a different route, had a softer ride and still saw some animals: baboon, cob, elephant, hornbill, kingfishers and more. We shared the safari with another couple who thought I was the safari guide because I had my finest safari shirt on, paired with my binoculars and keenness to jump up into the jeep I could understand a little bit why they might have thought that. By this point of the trip I felt like a well seasoned regular in the safari game so maybe I could have kept it going a little longer if Emmanuel hadn’t burst out laughing first.
We returned from the safari and the big family had eaten pretty much everything – we managed to get a small bit of omelette and some other bits they didn’t like then headed to the room to pack our bags for the flight.
After we finished packing we chilled in the lobby with a coke. With our bags ready to go, the bartender suddenly seemed very interested in what we are up to and ensuring we had a good time. I’ve never seen anyone so obviously hankering after a tip, but he has been so rude throughout our stay, only showing an interest now we are going, so I’ve switched on oblivious tourist mode which was (un)surprisingly easy to switch on.
Back with Emmanuel at 11, heading to Laranbanga mosque before the airport. Lots of people interested in football, being told who Derby is playing today. Warned not to give a big tip because it doesn’t go to anything good. Emmanuel disappeared which was a little concerning given the amount of people interested in us. It is a well visited place however so I am sure we were safe, was just a little annoying he left.
On the way he asked if he could buy some charcoal for his home because gas is too expensive currently. Agreed, but regretted it slightly when the act began. Poor kids trying to lift a 40kg sack of charcoal into the boot, but wouldn’t fit around our bags. Tarnya’s bag moved to the front, mine on another kids back while everyone tried to squeeze it in. Meanwhile, a crowd of children appeared and were taking selfies with their shared phone (mobile money?), pulling faces and putting their noses on the door. I didn’t pop out and say hello because the poor kids were filthy with moving the charcoal, but that seemed OK with them.
The airport was only a year-old and the whole experience in there was seamless: straight through check in, really friendly and polite staff and we found a nice souvenir shop with acceptable prices for a fridge magnet for work.
Arrival into Accra and the airport was pretty easy going there too. Straight through, bags too. Trying to order an Uber for at least 10 minutes whilst our sim card connected and disconnected constantly. Eventually managed to order one, walked to the right place, then they cancelled! A taxi drove by us and we tried to agree a price, but a security guard went ballistic at us. The taxi shouted to us to follow him, so we did but he was too quick. Eventually stopped, we agreed a price and jumped in very quickly with the bags squashing us down.
He drove the opposite way to our Airbnb so I barked the directions his way and he managed to follow them fair well until he overshot a turn on the main road, then reversed whist being subjected to dozens of horns.
Some offroading required for the Airbnb, not the best sign but seems common throughout Accra from my limited experience. We took the taxi drivers’ number so that we could agree a price to take us to Aflao tomorrow, but he started at 1,500 cedis which is double what we expected. The check in process was simple enough, but the apartment itself was pretty poor. Electronic lock in a place with common powercuts, bars on the windows, no deadbolt, stained bedsheet, towels with holes in them, and a dozen ants crawling over the bed to name a few.
Tao messaged to say he negotiated a good price with a driver and to message them because they will be able to pick us up in the morning.
Day 9 – 30/12/2024
We rose early this morning with the intention of booking a Bolt/Uber to do a mini tour around Accra. Looking at the traffic it seemed it would be a little bit tight to visit the city and get back in time to meet our driver to Aflao so I messaged them asking if they could take us around the city for a little bit of extra money. They agreed, but were busy at the carwash so wouldn’t be available until later.
Sat by the pool for a few minutes once he said he was on his way, then headed to independence square. Took a couple of short video clips and then a lorry with a large cage full of men arrived on the square with a few military personnel behind. There was so much hollering and noise from the people within it, the driver said these are prisoners and that they will work on the square cleaning it today. A couple of minutes later and two pickups arrived full of military which led to an eruption from the van.
We then moved onto Labadi beach for a brief look. We enjoyed the drive through the city and saw some interesting things like the parliament and presidents’ palace and weren’t too interested in seeing much else in Accra after our two brief stops with having such a long journey planned ahead for us.
A few minutes after leaving Labadi beach we got to some roadworks, there was a queue on our side of the road (N1 – main road) so our driver (of questionable judgement) decided he would drive against the traffic on the other side to skip the queue. Tarnya closed her eyes and waited for us to return onto the right, right side of the road. I couldn’t help but watch and I can safely say, his decision was not the safest choice!
Leaving Accra there were many street sellers, selling such a variety of items: washcloths, loaves of bread, skewers of meat, fried foods, biscuits, fireworks, various drinks and countless other items. I always find it so fascinating seeing what enterprising individuals were selling from the baskets on their heads.
On the way to the border we stopped to purchase some drinks and snacks, picking up American cheese Pringles and a few Benin cokes, for a good price. With that small purchase, we had managed to spend all of our Ghanaian cedis and energise ourselves for the border crossing ahead.
Crossing the border back into Accra was a very confusing process. There was no real signage so we just kept getting told off for being in the wrong place every time we tried to enter a different building. Each stage of the crossing was in a separate building, but they weren’t in any order and the border looked completely open so you could walk straight across and risk being shot if you weren’t cautious. After being told we were in the wrong place, the border police officer pointed us to a yellow fever hut, we entered a small sweaty room, where two ladies checked over our paperwork and scrutinised the yellow fever cards against our passports. After a few minutes of them scribbling into a tattered book, they sent us on our way, with no receipt or proof.
We crossed back over towards the border police, assuming we need them to complete the immigration activities. Assumed wrong – we were then told to get our yellow fever checked (again) and pointed back to a room one building back. This building had a backpacker sat on the floor looking a bit glum so I wasn’t feeling entirely optimistic that this border crossing was going to be a smooth one. The border police fairly quickly called us into their private office and insisted we leave our bags in the waiting area and close the door. We said we need to keep our bags with us, we don’t want to leave them unattended which didn’t seem to be a good answer. He told us several times that no one will touch our bags, he’s the police and this is his office so nobody would dare go near them.
We managed to settle on a half-compromise where one bag was with us and the door was left just slightly ajar. Not his preference, but he settled down after we were friendly with him and told him how much we would miss Ghana. This seemed to do the trick and a few moments later we had the all important stamp and were allowed to proceed.
We assumed there would be a customs check but the police outside told us to walk through, this meant we crossed directly over the border and now had the fun of navigating the Togolese border. We swiftly filled the immigration forms, but they were determined to keep us waiting forever. After an eternity I popped my head back outside the office and smiled and said hello and how are you to one of the border police stood around.
This was a risky move after the bribery issues in Ghana, but one that mostly paid off. He shook my hand and headed into the office where the lady had been ignoring us for the last 30 minutes. He asked us about our trip in Ghana and where we had been in Togo, how long we planned to stay and then told us about his amazing sex life, how much we should love each other, that we must come back to Togo and stay for at least a month to see more things and that we should have at least five children. His colleague didn’t seem too impressed with all of these antics, but he had stamped Tarnya’s passport and we were more than happy to humour him while we waited for him to stamp mine.
As soon as the passports were stamped, he wished us a lovely day and sent us on our way. As soon as I popped my head out the door I spotted a familiar and very welcome face – our driver from our Lome tour. He had been waiting since we arrived at the Ghana border an hour or so ago. We asked him how he was and whether he had any trouble since he helped us cross the other direction last week. He told us the guy who hassled us wouldn’t leave him alone and he had to pay him to stop griefing him.
This is something that I found really alien in Togo, everywhere we’ve been previously we’ve just done our best to ignore scammers and touts, walking away, strongly telling them to leave us alone or ducking into a hotel, shop, wherever. It doesn’t seem that you can (should?) do that here, the guides genuinely seem concerned about what might happen if you don’t pay. Very frustrating from our westerner perspective, but just another harsh reality of life here. Given the assurance Tao gave that there is no crime and that our items are safe, it seems very contradictory that it’s accepted these people can exploit them for money and that they don’t see that as criminal. The worst thing for me is that the people ripping them off are in decent jobs!
Our drive back to the hotel was short and uneventful. Check in was easy and we were taken to the same room we had earlier in the stay and told we can just leave our keys in the room when we leave in the morning.
We enjoyed the rest of the day around the hotel, making the most of the pool and watching the birds darting in and out of the tall trees around the property.
Day 10 31/12/2024
We had a ridiculously early start this morning with our flight due to depart at 5:20. Richard our original driver picked us up on time and got us to the airport without trouble, well, at least until we reached the airport perimeter.
I’d read that you can’t trust the security check at the airport because they might help themselves to your money, so Tarnya and I made sure our leftover Euros and Dollars were well stashed about our persons. Not so obvious what to do with our tech, but we just planned to keep a close eye on everything instead of worrying too much.
Extortion Attempt 1
The military police at the vehicle entrance to the airport were determined to receive something from us. They thoroughly searched Richard’s car and spent 10 minutes asking us if we brought them coffees for Christmas, for the early morning and asked whether we had any money left from our trip. It felt like we were going to be stuck at the entrance, with the military police officer poking his head into the passenger window forever. Eventually however, after a lot of grumbles, he allowed us to pass.
Extortion Attempt 2
Richard took us up to the terminal entrance, which unfortunately seemed to be closed! We joined a queue behind others waiting to enter and patiently waited. 30-minutes later the terminal was opened, but we needed to get through a security check before we could go through the doors, then another check once we had entered. We headed over to the check in desk where we felt the lady had tried to extort us, but after making it clear we weren’t going to part ways with any cash we were given our boarding passes and sent on our way to the next check.
The next stop was the border, but before we could go through it was mandated that we use their automatic machines to print off our departure visa copy. Unfortunately, of the two available machines, only one was operational and it had a very, very confused German man trying to navigate it. We helped him complete his, no mean feat, and then started our own. Neither of our passports would scan, then the whole machine crashed and we had to wait for it to reboot, when it finally restarted it wouldn’t let me add a second passport so I did one, and hit print. Unsurprisingly at this point the printer made a mess of the page, but somewhat surprisingly I was able to reprint it; not much black successfully printed onto the page, but at this point I thought it would probably have to do.
Given our recent experience trying to recover our bags from the airport in recent days, I was half expecting this process would be deliberately terrible so that you needed to pay a fee to print it off at the counter, or in an office on another floor. Fortunately however, it was just general dilapidation and not devious in any way. Not today anyway.
Extortion Attempt 3
Next stop – security. We followed the usual procedures, feeling a little more secure that our cash was well hidden, but keeping a very close eye on our bags. I wished the guards a happy new year and they seemed to be a little more friendly, but it didn’t stop them from tearing down my bag, pretending to take photos with my camera and have a very good route around the deepest depths of my backpack. A half-arsed request for a Christmas present was made, but after a joke that they’d seen I have no money left in my bag they laughed and let us through.
Unsurprisingly, the earlier antics had slowed our progress through the airport and we had no time to wait before boarding. With a brief glance towards the gate I noticed there was yet another security check, also going through each and every item in peoples bags, checking pockets and even fanning books out to check for hidden items. I worried this might be the area of the airport I had heard some travellers had their money stolen from so Tarnya and I agreed to hide the cash even more securely during a brief comfort break.
Extortion Attempt 4
It didn’t take too long to get through the security check, but they had a terrible attitude throughout. Credit to them however, they didn’t ask for any money!
A very short while later and we were flying back home via Morocco. It has only been a few months, but I genuinely remember nothing of the return journey, I wouldn’t even be able to tell you the airport we arrived at without looking at where we started from. We were so mentally and physically exhausted from the early start and reasonably stressful airport experience that I must have slept-walked the entire return journey after the left the airport.
Summary
This was an all-time favourite trip. I felt really sad that it was over when we had just got used to navigating the cultural norms in West Africa. Inspired to continue our journey we have since been looking our for good flight deals in the region and hope that we can post more of these chronicles in the future.
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