Date: Sunday 21st March, 2010 | Country: Togo | 3 Comments »
A small note to those that are fortunate to be driving through Ghana to Togo, the Ghanaian border is an absolute mess. You enter a place full of huge building with very little information in the way of sign posts, hawkers gather in numerous spots looking to change money or they try to tell you where to park and who to see for the sake of some money. Very quickly you have to be hardnosed and I ask them ‘do you work here?’ they all say no and I wave them goodbye. A few security guards were able to show me where to go, firstly I have to get my carnet stamped for the vehicle, then we have to go and get our vehicle examined (which basically entails a stern lady wanting to see the Landy to confirm my registration is correct), and then the immigration office which entails our passports being scanned, a number of questions to be answered (all irrelevant as I am leaving the country) and after a crazy hour we are able to leave Ghana! On the Togolese side things seemed more relaxed, firstly many of the departments are sitting outside under an umbrella rather than in an office and the only check apart from our visa was correct was the carnet being stamped on entry which took 5 minutes after finding the right person….phew!
History
During the 16th century the Europeans arrived and slave traders used Togo as a place to move slaves to other countries. After the abolition of slavery the Germans signed a treaty with the then king Mlapa. Togoland as the Germans called it went through a number of economic developments until WW1 when the Togolese welcomed in the British forces. Togo was split between France and Britain when the league of nations broke up, the gold coast belonging to the Brits while French Togoland became independent in 1960. Togo then experienced very quickly the first African military coup when the then president Sylvanus Olympio was overthrown by General Gnassingbe Eyadema. For the next 40 years amidst international criticism for lack of a muli party or anything that seemed remotely democratic, repression, riots and alleged killings of rival politicians allowed him to rule Togo until his death in 2005. His son Faure Gnassingbe seized power in a military coup (Family trait) and then triumphed in what was seen as a rigged election in 2005. 500 rioters were killed in the capital Lome and some 40,000 refugees fled the country (approx 5 million inhabitants).
2010 Elections
We had heard while in Ghana that the Togo elections were taking place the weekend we left and when we arrived in Lome which is 5km from the border with Ghana we noticed that the capital was quiet, very quiet. We were told that many people had left the country until the results were announced and this seemed clear when we arrived. We then heard that Faure Gnassingbe had won for a second term and thankfully on the roads and in all the towns and villages we visited we saw nothing but a peaceful society getting on with their lives. What was really interesting was the fact that wherever you looked, Faure’s face was everywhere, any space you can think of, posters of him, T-shirts, stickers, even graffiti on the roads (in chalk) talked of voting for him. The other thing I didn’t see were any adverts for the opposition, as if the opposition does not exist which was also interesting to see. We met Birgit a UN worker who was overseeing the elections and she mentioned that everything seemed to be honest and fair in the way the votes were registered.
Left – The one avert in the whole of Togo for the opposition Right – The elected president Faure
Embassy Info
We found out that Lome has an Angola & Gabon embassy even though they are not mentioned in Lonely planet. Reka enquired with both embassies to see if it was possible to obtain these visas now rather than wait till a country closer to them, however the main person that deals with the Angola visa’s was in Nigeria and the Gabon visa would take a few days so we decided to obtain them in Nigeria as we found out Abuja is the place for visa’s to these places.
Here are the addresses for those that are in Lome or planning to be:
Angola – Near the Hotel le Galion, near rue des camomilles, when there ask for the American school and the embassy is close by.
Gabon – Off Bld Eyadema near the Toyota Dealership
Kpime Falls
Just outside Kpalime in the forested hills we drove to Kpime falls which is absolutely stunning to go and see, standing underneath the falls on the slippery stone is worth the effort to get there, trust me.
Above – Beautiful Kpime Falls
Fortified Village
In the far north of Togo we heard that there were a number of villages in the hills that were built for protecting the nearby territories from invading tribes from Benin and Burkina Faso. The drive from Lome takes around 5-6 hours but the roads are in general fine to drive with the odd stretch of roads with potholes here and there. The area we visited is called Tamberma valley, in this area there are a number of villages built around the 17th century to deter Dahomeyan slave hunters from Benin.
On arrival to the nearest town Kande I saw that to enter the village we had to bring a tour guide with us, so far in the francophone countries I haven’t had any good experiences with guides but as on previous occasions, the guide is mandatory. After a brief chat with the co-ordinator Joel we were told to go and meet a guide in the village who knows basic English who would take us around. The entry costs 1500 CFA (£2) each and the guide 5000 CFA (£7) so nothing too expensive for most tourists. The village is another 15km drive on a dirt road and I was expecting the area to be like Alt Benhaddou in Morocco which is basically there to bring in tourists and milk them for all they have. However when we got to the village itself, we were greeted by a lot of naked kids and a few adults that were curious to see what was going on. Our guide Jonas introduced himself, his english was not great and very quickly we realised he wasn’t a guide at all but was asked to cover for the lack of english speaking guides in the area. As it was getting dark we didn’t have much time to settle and we were taken to the local market which was a 5 min walk through some ploughed farmland into an area that sat between a number of large trees. Approaching the market we could clearly hear that people were chatting loudly but it didn’t prepare me for the chaos that 50 or 60 people were making when we arrived. The market was basically a place for the locals to drink local beer made from local ingredients, the air was full of a drunken pungent whiff and every person we passed stank of this drink. The market had started at lunchtime so by the time we arrived 6 hours later everyone, and I mean everyone (including the dogs!). For 200 CFA (30p) we were given a huge bowl of the local brew dunked into a giant bucket and a few sips was all I needed to know this was not my cup of tea, especially after the typhoid thing I have now reigned in my adventurous streak for tasting local things. I told Reka that this market was a game and the objective was to avoid being hit by some old drunken fella, trust me, it wasn’t easy. After 30 min of listening to this drunken slur it was time to leave! That night we stayed with Jonas and his 4 kids, 8 goats and 3 chickens, Reka in her tent and I slept on the roof of his house, it was hot and humid so the roof was a great option (if you can get past the smell of goats legs that were hanging to dry nearby).
Above: Photos from Tamberma valley
The next morning we set off early and entered a place that had traditional houses but unfortunately many locals arrived to try and sell us their jewellery, pipes and traditional hats. They followed us everywhere we went and it was not a pleasant experience. We were taken up a steep hill to see the lay of the land and it was worth the sweaty toil to get there, the views were spectacular and it was worth the effort to come here (also the jewellery sellers didn’t fancy the climb). Sadly we head from our guide Jonas that he wasn’t going to get paid till a few months time, I told him that he shouldn’t accept the work without being paid faster than he was, it was a difficult situation but there was nothing I could have done about that for him. He also didn’t do himself any favours by being a bad guide, it was left to Reka and I to constantly ask questions about what things were and being given answers that didn’t seem to have much substance. We had given his kids some food the night before and I gave him some clothes before I left, but as an experience goes it’s not something that I can highly recommend anyone to do unless you get a guide who you feel comfortable with. The last few photos above are of a lady who makes clay pots and the phallic looking sculptures are something that represents the people living there and their kids and those that have died.
Pool Rules
Whinge begins now….
Ok for those that know me, I like a game of pool, I am ok at the game having spent a lot of my youth in snooker halls and pubs. Whenever I get an opportunity to play, I will. In Ghana I played for a few hours non stop on a winner stays on rule and had a great time with the locals there. Here in the Palm Beach Hotel Bar the rules are slightly different as I found out. I began to setup the balls when the guy that worked there (Jun) asked me if he could join, I said ‘sure’. We then played several games and I won all but 1, another guy asked to play me and I said ‘sure’. Again I won the 4 or 5 games we played. The tables were operated by a square coin and I thought nothing of it every time he put this in to setup a new game. When I was about to leave, the guy that first asked me to play asked me for 12000 CFA (£18), I said ‘what?’. Basically he said in his broken English that every game I played cost 1000 CFA, I told him that he didn’t explain that to me and even if that was the case, you asked to play with me so you should pay half, he didn’t agree. For me, a ‘winner stays on’ means that the loser pays for the next game or another opponent enters, ‘it’s international’ I told him, he said ‘not in Togo’. He tried to get the ‘White man’ (the manager of this hotel) as he called him but the manager was not interested and said I should pay. Eventually I paid half and left with a bitter taste, always interesting to experience cultural differences but when you don’t agree with them it’s harder to accept.
Whinge over
Community/Police Centre
For those that are visiting Lome and are interested in some cheap accommodation, we were shown the community / police training centre which is a 15 min drive from the centre of Lome. The rooms there are basic, have a fan but for 2500 CFA (£4) each per night, so if you need cheap and cheerful, here are the details:
Centre Communautaire de Tokoin, B.P Lome, Tel 221 03 61 221 39 52
Directions: From the centre of Lome head North for 5km on Ave de Liberation and its off the main road on your right, ask and people will hopefully help.
Conclusion
Above: Various Togo photos
My experience in Togo was fine for such a little country, spending just under a week was way too much time on reflection. The country is very poor, there isn’t much street food available for a start compared to other West African countries, there is one major mobile network provider Togocel, but to get a SIM card people walk into an office and it’s like applying for a loan from a bank (trust me!) but I met many people that after a while, warmed up and were very friendly, there are plenty of small cafeteria’s or coffee joints where you can grab a tasty coffee and an omelette, it’s not a country with many roads so you end up visiting the same places over and over when you go up north and south. Both entry and exit from both borders are straight forward and took little under 30 min to get into the country and exit.
See the stone (Found in Africa!)
Date: Friday 5th March, 2010 | Country: Ghana | 12 Comments »
Visa
We experienced a crazy situation in the Ghana embassy in Abidjan, Ivory Coast where we were told that we would have to obtain our visa for Ghana from our country of residence, i.e The UK. The Ghana embassy had changed their requirements from the 1st Jan this year and Reka and I both protested with many people in the embassy that we had been travelling during this change in requirement and so should be treated as an exception. Unfortunately the people we encountered in the embassy were not willing to be reasonable but I found a few individuals (the ones that we had to rely on) to be extremely rude and immature and not able to think outside their little boxes. Eventually we met a guy who told us that the only we would get our visa’s would be by proving that we are residents, he said that the embassy was tied to the rules that they had been set by the powers that be and apart from getting our own embassies involved there would be no other way round this! So, we had a way out and we decided to use the manager of the small hotel we were staying in to help us, with a small fee of £5 each and 5 hours later, both Reka and I were now residents of the Ivory Coast.
Residence certificate
What was hilarious was the fact that the very next day we approached the same people that knew we were not residents but producing this certificate they did not say a single word against this and a few hours later we then had our visa’s for Ghana. I have waited sometime before mentioning this but will take this further with the Ghana embassy as unfortunate travellers may come against the same problem but may not want to go down the route we did to proceed. I have seen many documentaries in the UK about people obtaining false documents and this was my first hand experience to see how easy it really is if you know the right people!
Frank
We heard about Frank via my Dad’s friend and work colleague Leticia. We first met Frank on the first day we arrived in Accra, he had gone out of his way to meet up with us in central Accra. Our first night together was hilarious, I was chatting to Frank and he explained that he had studied in Budapest many years ago. He told me how he learnt Hungarian in his first year before his studies started (subjects were in Hungarian) and so he learnt how to speak fluently. Reka was out of the room at this time, and I asked Frank to speak Hungarian to her when she walked in. Her reaction was a classic ‘what the hell….’ kind of expression, and then they started having a good old gossip in Hungarian about all sorts of things. Frank has held many positions whether it be a senior aid to the president or representing many Ghanaian company boards, he still manages to cram a hectic working schedule today and acts as a Management consultant amongst other things. He has a poor taste in football supporting both Barcelona and Chelsea but we can forgive him for that! As a an active member in his church, Frank is also undertaking building a new church in the centre of Ghana and the project should be completed at some point this year, photos of this impressive building can be seen below.
Top right: Franks Church currently under construction Below Right: Frank & Emma’s house
Franks wife Emma has also been amazing to us and we thank her for all that she has done and for trying to help us in our quest for our car insurance which is about to expire. Nana, look me up when you get to London, maybe I can get you away from work, the church and of course your beloved facebook!
Above: Frank, Emma & Nana
Both Reka and I have been treated as if we were part of Frank & Emma’s family and it is overwhelming by how much generosity they have shown us in the 3+ weeks we have been here on and off. I personally have to thank Frank for taking me to the 24hr private hospital where I was diagnosed and treated for Typhoid. Frank himself is a wise cool calm and collected individual and I have learnt a lot from spending time with him whether it be driving through Accra with him or sipping vodka and downing a few beers in his home while watching football. I will miss you.
Funeral Heaven
Everywhere you look in Ghana there is a funeral, there are hundreds and thousands and I have learnt since being here that a funeral here is so much more of a service than I have ever heard of in any other country I have been too in my life. We were told the most funerals last for 3-4 days and they are normally all day all night affairs, so the planning behind a funeral could take months and months to ensure the whole set of friends and family are there for this. It’s a big business, there are funeral consultants that provide services befitting a grand wedding in other countries, personally celebrating the dead for me is a strange concept and putting life savings (for some) into making sure a funeral is up to peoples expectations is also a strange concept to me, its cultural I understand but not something I agree with.
Artistic coffins
For the Ga tribe in coastal Ghana, funerals are a time of mourning, but also of celebration. The Ga people believe that when their loved ones die, they move on into another life — and the Ga make sure they do so in style. They honour their dead with brightly coloured coffins that celebrate the way they lived. The coffins are designed to represent an aspect of the dead person’s life, such as a car if they were a driver, a fish if their livelihood was the sea — or a sewing machine for a seamstress. They might also symbolize a vice — such as a bottle of beer or a cigarette.
Above: Amazing Coffins
As amazing as these individual work of art are the idea that they are seen for the ceremony and then buried beneath the ground never to be seen again is something I struggle with, the carpenter at the shop above told us that each coffin takes 3-4 weeks for 1-2 people to make and on average costs 3000 cedi or £1500 which for many Ghanaians is an incredible amount of money.
Mechanical work…again
I finally found a good mechanic called the Land Rover Diagnostic centre near Korle Lagoon Bridge. It was here that we finally got to the route cause of why Maggie was unnervingly swerving during speeds of 40 mph +. The front axle was bent (see below, 1st photo) and to replace it cost us 220 ghana cedi’s (£100) so over the course of a full day, this was replaced as well as a few other worn out parts, the joints were all greased and Maggie was ready for action again..hooray! Labour by the way for a whole 7-8 hours cost us 80 cedi’s or £40.
Maggie grabbing attention again!
Ghana conclusion
Spending over a month in Ghana was something that I wasn’t expecting, having Typhoid early on here was a massive setback but luckily I recovered fairly quickly from that, we were lucky to meet Frank and his family who looked after us so much and we have a lot to thank them for. We got a chance to see the schooling system in a few regions thanks to the Junior Achievement guys. And we experienced the rich and poor that manages to work side by side in the massive city of Accra. It’s time to move on but I know there are many places that I would have loved to see in Ghana, such as Kumasi and see the Ashanti kingdom and pay a visit to Mole National park but these are things for the future if I come back again. Both Reka and I have taken millions of photos while we have been here so here are a selection of some of them, enjoy! Look forward to hearing from you.
Above: Miscellaneous photos from Ghana
Reka – HUN: Nem is tudom, hol kezdjem, mar olyan regota itt vagyunk Ganaban. Hataratlepes utan az elso par napot egy Green Turtle nevu kempingben toltottuk (fenykepek az elso ganai bejegyzes alatt), ahol osszefutottunk Dale-lel es Kirkkel, akikkel meg Mauritaniaban talalkoztuk. Nagy meglepetes volt, hogy ok is pont ott szalltak meg es ugyanazon a napon is erkeztek, mint mi. Jo volt megint bandazni es tabortuzon sult homart enni (asszem homar volt, de ha nem, mindegy, csak irigykedjetek!). Noel hosszas unszolas utan ugy dontott, hogy kolcson adja a hutot egy parnak, akik Dale-ekkel utaznak, mi meg cserebe megkaptuk a hutoladajukat; amint ugyancsak nem fogunk hasznalni, de Christinek legalabb orultek a hutonek…
Kovetkezo allomas: Accra, a fovaros. Elso utunk az autoszerelohoz vezetett, mert Maggie annyira nem tartotta az iranyt nagyobb sebessegnel, hogy a jobb elso kereket ki kellett dobnunk, mert szerencsere ugyan a kempingben, de a gumi teljesen leeresztett a kopastol. A szervizben (ami persze egy hatalmas porfeszek kellos kozepen allomasozo tobbszaz roncs kocsival korulvett szerelok hadabol allt, osszetalalkoztunk egy csavoval, aki szinten delkelet Londonban lakik (a nevet azert nem emiltem, mert szegyenletes modon nem sikerult tole tisztesseges elkoszonnunk). Szoval o felajanlotta, hogy a nagybatyja kertjeben felverhetjuk a satrainkat. Igy is tettunk egy par ejszakan at, amig a szerelohoz vissza kellett jarnunk tovabbi munkalatok vegett, de aztan elegge ugy festett a helyzet, hogy a vendegszeretetert cserebe folyamatosan meg kellett volna hivnunk az egesz pereputtyot enni meg inni, igy aztan ugy alakult, hogy egyik este csak nem mentunk vissza.
Ezen a delutanon a Barclay’s irodajaba mentunk, ahol talalkoztunk az itteni fejessel, aki a Junior Achievement program szponzoralasaert felelos. Ugyanitt talalkoztunk Frank bacsival is, akit azert nevezek igy, mert nem csak egy tunderi ember, de felig-meddig magyar is. Igen, csodak-csodajara, amikor felajanlotta, hogy toltsuk az estet, meg amennyi idot csak akarunk az o hazaban, es vegre leultunk beszelgetni, egyszer csak megszolal (magyarul), hogy Isten hozott Ganaban. Nem hittem a fulemnek, csak amikor elmagyarazta, hogy a 70-es evekben osztondijaskent a Muegyetemen tanult, es osszesen 10 evig elt Budapesten. Egyebkent megint csak Noel apukajanak koszonhetjuk a kontaktot, mert Frank unokatestvere Noel apukajanak a munkatarsa. Szoval Frankeknel laktunk azota is, (immaron 3. vagy 4. hete, nem is tudom mar kovetni) es hihetetlen vendeglatasban van reszunk. Frank es egesz csaladja ugy gondoskodik rolunk, mintha mi is csaladtagok lennenk. Ilyenkor mindig gondban vagyunk Noellel, mert egy ilyen szivesseget nem igazan lehet semmivel viszonozni. De Frank elarulta, hogy miota eljott Magyarorszagrol, nem igazan elvezte a teazast, mert hianyzott neki a Citrompotlo ize (vicces, nem tudom, mikor hasznaltam ezt a szot utoljara, nem hogy mikor ittam citrompotlos teat…), ugyhogy megkertem Anyat, hogy kuldjon egy par dobozzal (a csomag meg mindig nem ert ide, 3 hete varjuk… bizom benne, hogy nem bontottak ki a hataron es utottek ki magukat a tablettakkal). Szoval egy szo, mint szaz: Nagyon koszonunk mindent Frank bacsi, es ha vegre elhatarozod magad, es visszalatogatsz Magyarorszagra, tudod, hogy kit keress!
Idonk nagy reszet, amikor nem Frankeknel tespedtunk, Mickey-vel (Junior Achievement programszervezo) toltottuk, akivel ellatogattunk kb. 20 altalanos es kozepiskolaba az orszag keleti es nyugati reszen. A program celja, hogy mar fiatal kortol utat mutasson a gyerekeknek a vallalkozosag iranyaba (marmin hogy hogyan legyenek egyeni vallalkozok). A kozepiskolakban rendes cegeket alakitanak a tanulok, reszvenyeket bocsajtanak ki es persze legjobb tudasuknak megfeleloen megprobalnak nyereseggel kijonni a vegen. Tobbsegeben iskolai hasznalati cikkeket forgalmaznak, mint peldaul jegyzet fuzet vagy toll, az iskola lcimerevel ellatva. Latogataaink soran rengeteg kerdest tettunk fel a tanuloknak, es a valaszaik alapjan probaltunk utat mutatni, hogy hogyan tudnanak sikeresebbek lenni.
A dolog egyetlen szepseghibaja (mint minden non-prifit szervezetnel), a penz hiany. JA ugyan kap tamogatast innen-onnan, de a 3 fos szemelyzet kozel sem eleg, hogy ellassa a kozel 100 iskola tobbezer tanulojanak igenyeit. Ugyanakkor Mickey munkaja csodalando, hiszen allandoan uton van, es szinte megallithatatlanul arra torekszik, hogy minel tobb iskolas reszese lehessen a programnak. Nem tudom, hogy otthon letezik-e ez a kezdemenyezes, de egy biztos, hogy annak idejen en orultem volna, ha lett volna ilyen. (Utana neztem, es igen van JA Magyarorszagon www.ejam.hu, es a volt altananos iskolam – Remetekertvarosi Altalanos Iskola is tagja.)
Ido kozben meggyogyittattuk Maggiet, mert miutan az autopalya kellos kozepen athajtottam egy 30 cm mely es 2 sav szeles vajun, szegenykem megint ossze-vissza ficankolt. Most kicsereltek az elso tengelyt meg meg ket kutyut, amik allitolag a valtot tartjak helyben, de mostanara elhasznalodtak. Ha valaha ujra nekivagok egy hasonlo utnak, tuti, hogy elotte tobbet megtanulok az altalanos gepjarmu karbantartasrol, mert jelen pillanatban azt mond a szerelo, amit akar, mert gozom sincs rola, hogy igaza van-e…
Nem csak Maggie, de Noel is meggyogyult. Legalabbis a tifuszon tul van; most eppen B vitamin hiannyal labadozik; szo szerint, mert a legfobb tunet, hogy tuzel a laba (hallotal mar ilyenrol? fura, nem), de kapott vitamin potlo gyogyszert, es mar erzi is a homerseklet csokkenest (igen, a labfejen).
Tobb mint egy honap utan, mar nagyon ideje van, hogy ujra utra keljunk, es miutan beszereztuk mindharom vizumot (Togo, Benin, Nigeria), holnap (marc. 5) elbucsuzunk Ganatol. Remelem ti mindannyian jol vagytok, es mint mindig, elvezitek a beszamolokat. Ha igen, akkor legyszives irjatok hozzaszolast (mert az eddigi osszes comment Lucky Star-om kivetelevel mind az angolnyelvu csapattol jott). Puszi mindenkinek!
