Togo - 16 Apr 08 to 17 Apr 08

My next stop on my journey eastward from Abidjan to Lagos was the small country of Togo, which is quite long from north to south but very narrow east to west.  Originally colonized by the Germans, Togo was split after World War II and the western third, administered by the British, became part of Ghana.  Thus there are many Ghanaian families you will meet whose parents came originally from Togo.  The eastern two-thirds was administered by the French and became independent in 1960.

The capital of Togo is the city of Lome.  It literally butts up against the border, so after I arrived from Accra in public transport I walked across the border and found a cheap hotel less than half a kilometer from the border.  I could still see Ghana from where I was staying.

Here is a market on the beach just adjacent to the border.  Lome has a most beautiful beach, but being quite steep the undertow was pretty wicked. 

One of the two days I spent in Lome was a bit stormy.  April is a transitional month when the dry season is ending and the rainy season beginning, and the weather was starting to change across West Africa.

Local fishermen on the beach in Lome.

Here is one of the central banks for West Africa's common currency, the CFA (pronounced Sefa).  This currency is used by all of the former French colonies in West Africa except Guinea, and is used in Guinea-Bissau even though they were not a former colony of France.  The symbol you see up high on the building is the official symbol of the CFA and appears on all the currency.

A close-up of the CFA symbol on a gate to the bank.

This is the Place de l'Independance, right across from Parliament and the National Museum.  The big statue in the middle of the roundabout is the Togolese independence monument.

A close-up view of the independence monument.

The monument from the front.

Here is Parliament.

On display in the National Museum, this hat from the Moba people is made out of overlapping strips of leather.  Something about its look really appealed to me.

This photo shows migratory patterns in the Yoruba Empire.  Lome is at the bottom left of the map.

A map illustrating the division of Togo into two parts by the colonial powers.  In the center is a traditional hat worn by the Tamberma people who build fortified compounds known as Tata Somba.  They live in the north of Togo.

Relics from Togo's slave-trading history on display in the National Museum.

I saw this somewhat bizarre fountain (at least I think that's what it was) on one of my walks around the city.

I also saw this guy wearing a pretty interesting backpack.

A canal choked with water plants.  I walked along this canal for awhile, which seemed to demarcate the edge of downtown.

A rather barren and lonely-looking soccer field on the edge of town.

A street scene from Lome.

Another street scene from downtown.

Here is another street scene illustrating the massive amounts of motorcycles and scooters zooming around Lome at all hours of the day and night.  Known locally as "Zemi-Johns", many are for hire and they are the quickest and cheapest way to get around town.  It can be a pretty exciting ride sometimes.  From what I heard, Benin has even more and crazier Zemi-Johns zipping around everywhere, so Lome was a good warm up for what was to come.

Just up the street from where I stayed in Lome.

A very brief visit to Togo.  I would like to return at some point in the future to see more of this fascinating country.  However, there was only so much time in my itinerary so it was time to move on to the next destination: Benin.  Look for it in the next posting.