Election, Fortified villages & Pool rules – Togo 6th March
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!)