It’s around 600km to the Atlantic coast from Togo’s border with Burkina Faso. Instead of simply taking the asphalt road directly south to Lome (which by all accounts is boring), we thought we’d ride around northern Togo a bit, cross into Benin, then make our way south to the coast before crossing back into Togo again. This is pretty much what we did, with the exception of a particular off-road section in the north of Togo. 5km’s after turning off tarmac we rode into this…

The whole area was under water! We were forced to turn back and take the main rode to Kande. From there an all weather road leads east towards Benin, through the picturesque Tamberna Valley. A place more reminiscent of the countryside in western European, rather than the thickly forested jungles of West Africa. Even the houses resembled little forts, complete with turrets and high defensive walls.

At Nadoba we crossed the border into Benin. There’s no formal border post and the biggest challenge was actually finding the respective police check points. Formalities were a breeze and took a mere ten minutes to complete. We didn’t even need to show our paperwork for the bike, we were simply waved on. That’s a good thing because our Carnet de Passage (CDP) has expired and we haven’t used it since Chad. In both Mali and Burkina Faso we purchased a temporary import permit for the bike, while Togo and Benin don’t require anything.

We spent our first night in Benin at a catholic mission. Sometimes they’re a great alternative to bush camping or dingy cheap hotels. Especially when we’re offered a free room and breakfast! On the second day we motored through central Benin (the scenery a bit uninspiring) and by the end of it we were in the coastal town of Ouidah. This is the so called home of voodoo. It’s from here that slaves were shipped off to the Americas, taking and spreading their voodoo beliefs across the Atlantic. We stayed at a cheap hotel right at the start of a 4km walk the slaves took to the beach before boarding (or rather being crammed into) sailing ships bound for Brazil, the Caribbean and the US. It’s all rather depressing and another reminder of what humans are capable of doing to each other in the pursuit of $$.

We also spent some time riding through the fishing villages surrounding Ouidah…

…and played football with the local kids…

(Check out the abs!!)

Back in Niamey (Niger) we managed to get a five country visa known as “Visa Touristique Entante”. For the price of a single country visa, it allows for a one time entry into Niger, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast. We’d of coarse already entered Togo previously on this visa but hoped that the immigration officials on the Benin/Togo border wouldn’t notice the previous Togo entry stamps. They didn’t and we saved ourselves a few bucks, not to mention the fast diminishing space in our passports.

In Lome (capital of Togo) we stayed at Chez Alice. It’s an overlander hangout that has cheap rooms ($7) with attached ‘African’ style bathrooms (ie. bucket and plastic cup). Running water is a luxury in many towns, not to mention hot water! Togo is now considered a safe and relatively stable country. Investment is slowly flowing in and some sign of development is visible. However, the overriding impression we got of Lome was one of neglect and decay. Potholed streets and abandoned buildings dominate the landscape. You get the sense it will take some time to change…

It’s surprising then that Togo is probably the only West African country in which you can pick up new tyres for the bike. Actually there’s only one shop (Toni Togo - a KTM dealer) and there’s not a big selection for a 17-inch rear, so we were very lucky to have gotten a new Michelin Sirac. Just as well because after 16,500km’s, our current Metzeler Karoo T was on its last legs…

Another purchase we made in Togo was a motorbike! Yep, Iza is now a proud owner of a Chinese made 125cc ‘Access’ motorcycle After 75,000km’s, riding on the back of the ‘Africa’ has become boring and she’s decided to ride her own bike. We bought the bike based on advise from the two Belgian’s we’d met in Burkina Faso. Apparently it handles well and is relatively reliable. We’ll see…

The good thing about buying a bike in Togo is that the paperwork can be completed in one day (even for foreigners). Unfortunately this wasn’t the case for us because the registration office had run out of number plates and we were told we’d have to wait up to 2 weeks for ours. This of course wasn’t an option for us, so Kamil personally went down to the registration office to see what could be done. A $4 ‘gift’ and 3 hours later the plates were ready

As in Benin, Togo’s religion of choice is voodoo and before leaving Lome we visited a popular ‘fetish market’ which sells vital ingredients for medicinal ‘voodoo’ cures. Depending on the chief’s/doctor’s diagnosis, the patient will be prescribed a potion (or power) made from obscure things such as bats, rats, chameleons, heads of a snakes, dogs, cats, leopards, hyenas and horses. We even saw a hippopotamus’ skull and an elephants foot. And for all those animal lovers out there, we were told that all the animals died of natural causes…

Togo’s border with Ghana lies just outside Lome’s city limits. It’s then just 200km’s to Ghana’s capital Accra, so we hoped to get there the same day and in time to apply for a Liberian visa. It wasn’t to be. The customs ‘formalities’ on the Ghana side took almost 6 hours!! First the officers noticed that Kamil’s international driver’s permit had expired. This took some explaining and a visit to the Chief Customs Officer for special exemption. Then in order to get a temporary import permit for the bike, we first had to write a formal application letter to the same Chief Customs Officer that we spoke to initially, followed by a bond from an insurance company for the customs duty should we fail to leave the country. We were sent from one window to another for stamps and from one officer to another for signatures…. Ahh, the remnants of British beauracracy!

30km’s out of Accra we hit our first highway since South Africa. Then as we entered Accra itself we almost thought we’d ridden into Europe. Designer stores, shopping centres, high rise apartments, wide avenues and traffic lights. All very planned out and orderly. Motorcyclists even wear helmets here!

While in Accra we had our first ‘breakdown’ on the Access motorcycle. Well sort of… Kamil bent the key while unlocking the steering lock and it was impossible to use for starting the bike. Just as we thought we’ll need to go back to the hotel for the spare, we remembered a nifty feature (which we initially thought of as stupid). The Access motorcycle comes with a remote control. There are some keys to activate/de-activate an alarm, as well as one for starting the bike! Yep, we were able to start the bike using the remote control. Who knows in time we might replace the Africa Twin with an Access as well.

Fisherman unloading their catch in Cape Coast, a town on the Ghana coast.