Togo

Visited: November 2013

Duration of visit: 5 days

Capital city: Lomé

Population: 7.0 million (2013)

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

• The capital city of Lomé – decent palm-lined beaches, exotic markets, friendly people and knowledgeable moto-taxi drivers.
• Visiting the world’s largest voodoo market, Marche des Feticheurs, and talking with shaman about the different meanings of all strange subjects on sale.
• Tamberma valley with a unique collection of fortified villages, traditional shrines and animal skulls on the ceiling, protecting the inhabitants from evil spirits.

My trip to Togo was part of a 3-week journey including Benin and Niger during the European winter of 2013. Especially Togo and Benin have a lot in common – French language, narrow and long form of the country that is facing the Gulf of Guinea on the south, transport on bush taxies and moto-taxis around big cities.

Togo formed part of the Slave Coast between the 16^th and 18^th century and has been going through ups and downs since its independence. The first president was assassinated during a military cup, while his successor, Gnassingbe Eyadema, ruled the country for 28 years, at first transforming it to a lovely destination in West Africa and annihilating it with harsh dictatorship in the last years of his mandate.

Lomé, with its palm-lined coast and sandy beaches, could be an idyllic city attracting thousands of tourists that would enjoy relaxing holidays, spending big amounts of money for the benefits of local community. It actually was named a pearl of West Africa until political troubles caused collapse of economy and banking sector in the 1990`s. Many people fled to neighboring countries and turmoil continued for a long period.

Today, the capital of Togo is just another African city that hasn’t used most of its development potential.

Most residents improvise to survive another day, a significant influx of new immigrants from rural regions migrate to the city in pursuit of a brighter future. The presence of tourists remains notably scarce.

The primary buildings are located around the central Independence Monument: Congressional Palace, National Museum, some hotels and parks.

The best experience is just navigating around on the backseat of a moto-taxi, observing street action, colorful markets and people wandering around, mostly without any particular plan or task.

Grand Marché and Marché des Fétiches are the principal markets in Lomé. As any big market in Western Africa, Grand Marché is dominated by women, dressed in colorful traditional cloths, selling all kind of goods: food, fabrics, clothes, electronics, souvenirs.

Children, hawkers, merchants and buyers try to drown out the sounds of loud music that creates a nice atmosphere to the rather dirty and crowded environment. In general, people were friendly, not pushing to buy and allowing me to take photos.

The Akodessawa Fetish Market or Marche des Feticheurs is the world’s largest voodoo market.

It features monkey heads, rotting dead birds, snake spine necklace, talismans, dolls, crocodiles, skins and other products of dead animals.

During my visit, the place was quite deserted, which provided me the opportunity to encounter a local voodoo priest. Walking and smelling different skulls, bones and death animal corpses is not like feeding with pleasant aromas around spices market, but it was a revealing experience to find out about importance of voodoo in a daily life of local people.

An ethnic group of The Tamberma occupy the Koutammakou area, located in the North-Eastern part of Togo, not far from the Benin border. The valley with the same name was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2004 because of the way this population lives in harmony with its territory and the typical fortified houses they build.

Tamberma Valley is a unique collection of fortified villages that was founded in 17^th century.

A typical compound (tata) consists of various towers that are connected by a thick, mud wall. There is usually only one doorway from the outside which make them look as strong castles that kept off invaders; first neighboring tribes as well as slave traders and later European conquerors.

Fetishes, which keep bad spirits away, adorn the outside of houses. They protect each inhabitant of the house and prevent bad spirits from being in the surroundings and from accessing the interior of the house.

During my visit, two men were building a base for an oval tower that would be used as a warehouse for basic tools or millet and corn – main sources of basic diet. Builders don’t use any tools. Clay and straws are mixed with water and fortified with wood.

People protect their homes with fetishes and altars on which they make sacrifices to the spirits; fetish animal skulls are used for decoration on walls and ceilings. Beside agriculture, hunting with bows and arrows is the main activity to survive.

Two traditions of Tamberma people called my attention:

• A young man, ready to marry, shoots an arrow to determine the place where he is going to build his home. Where the arrow lands, he will build his own house (tata).
• Women hats are covered with antelope’s horns that are actually quite uncomfortable to wear on the heads. Horns are also present as decoration in the houses above the front door.

Remarkable cultural heritage, diverse landscapes and wonderful wildlife, UNESCO World Heritage site in Koutammakou, the Land of the Batammariba, practice of voodoism and beautiful setting on sandy beaches of Gulf of Guinea could attract thousands of tourists to this small West African country. But the potential is hidden and will keep waiting for many years to be explored.

In the meantime, I had a great time in Togo. I enjoyed a traditional dish made from boiled yams – fufu, sandy beaches of Lomé, travelling around on a moto taxi or uncomfortable bush taxi. Cultural experience of Tamberma people and learning about voodoo were the highlights of my short trip to Togo.