Benin and Togo

Travel day.

Pick-up and welcome at Lomé airport.

Direct transfer to the accommodation

After breakfast, we set out to discover the city of Lomé and its sights.

We visit the fetish market, the Craft Centre, the National Museum, Independence Square and the Grand Marché of Lomé.

After lunch, we go out to discover the vodun villages, where we attend ceremonies in which followers of these rites dance and perform different dances. You may see some of the followers fall into a trance during the celebration.

We return to Lomé after the visit.

Today, after breakfast, we set off to discover the tropical rainforest.

We head for Kpalime, where we visit the market, the cathedral and the Craft Centre.

We then continue to Kouma-Konda where, after lunch, we walk through the forest with a butterfly specialist.

He tells us about the different butterfly species, leads us through cocoa and coffee plantations and shows us the plants used to make the colours for the paintings.

We get our hands dirty making paintings as a keepsake of our visit.

Dinner and overnight stay in Kpalimè

Today we have a long distance to cover to reach our destination.

On the way we make a few stops to visit markets or villages.

After arriving in Sokodé and having dinner, we go to a village to watch the fire dance.

This moment can’t be described, so it is best experienced!

Night in Sokodé.

After breakfast, we continue our journey to Kara, the second-largest city in Togo.

The day is devoted to discovering Piya, the birthplace of the late president. Tradition lives on here: instead of hammers, the blacksmiths use large stones to pound the red-hot iron, which they turn into farm tools or musical instruments.

We spend some time with them before visiting the doors.

If we are lucky, we will see a traditional dance of the region.

Dinner and overnight stay in Kara.

Today we cross the border into Benin.

Given how long customs procedures can take, we will probably reach Djougou, our destination for the day, around lunchtime.

After lunch, we visit the blacksmiths’ workshops and watch a demonstration by horsemen.

Dinner and overnight stay in Djougou.

From northern Benin, we now head south.

On reaching the town of Savalou in central Benin, we make a short stop to visit the Dankoly vodun shrine, made up of thousands of stakes (wood cut to sharp points, bearing witness to the thousands of people who come to show their gratitude to the deity).

People come from all over to make promises to the deity, seeking a solution to various problems in their daily lives.

They also come to give thanks, sacrificing animals and poultry or offering money and bolts of cloth.

After a short visit to the site, we continue to Dassa, where we can enjoy the dance of the Egungun (spirits) who represent the dead.

Dinner and overnight stay in Dassa.

We discover the history of the Kingdom of Dahomey through the story of slavery, conquests, the Amazons, and the temples of the deities and powerful kings who ruled this kingdom from 1600 to 1900.

In the afternoon we go to Covè to see the “GUÈLÈDÈ” mask dance

We return to Abomey after the dance.

After breakfast, before leaving Abomey for the south to visit Ganvié, we stop at a village to watch the Zangbéto mask dance.

After the mask show, we head south.

We stop at Ganvié, known as the Venice of Africa, a village built over Lake Nokoué. Here every activity is done by canoe.

We spend some time there before returning to the jetty and continuing to Ouidah.

Dinner and overnight stay in Ouidah

Today is the last day of the trip.

We cross the border once more to return to Lomé, from where you take your flight home.

But before leaving Ouidah this morning, we visit the Python Temple and the Sacred Forest, then follow the Slave Route to the Door of No Return. The local guide tells us the history of this town and its link to the slave trade.

We take the road back from Ouidah to cross the border into Lomé.

We head to the hotel and wait for the transfer from the hotel to the airport.