Kpalime, Togo

Took a cab to the tro - tro station to catch our last Ghanaian ride. We had to wait an hour and a half for it to fill. It was probably the worst minivan we have been in and I felt quite unsafe. There were no door handles, the sliding door kept falling off, and only the driver could open the doors from the outside, it had a leaking manifold /exhaust and the roof rack was welded to the rusting roof sills that were lined with pieces of rubber to keep the rain out. There were holes in the floors and the seats bolted to the floor looked in danger of falling right through to the road. Every time we went over a big pot hole or speed bump bits of rust would fall on my shoulder. The roof rack was so over-loaded that the roof sagged. When we crossed a hole or bump the walls and roof swayed back and forth and I was hoping the roof would not collapse and crush us all. There did not appear to be an inch of metal surface inside the van that had not been hammered into shape. We crossed the Ghana border post and the guard was surprised we only had an entrance stamp and not a full page formal visa like everyone else he sees pass through his post. When we told him NZ did not have a Ghanain Embassy, he wanted to know why not. Fortunately he accepted my explanation that we were too small and too far from Ghana.

The tradition in Ghana is to have three passengers across the seats in a minivan, so we had 14 passengers and two babies up to the border post. On the Togo side we picked up more passengers and were 17 passengers seated four across as well as two babies. This means you have to either sit one person forward on the seat while the next sits back or you sit at an angle so one shoulder is touching the seat and the other doesn't squash the neighbour. When a passenger has to sit forward on the seat they usually put their arms up on the back of the seat in front of them pushing that person forward. There is no such thing as personal space!

We passed through some coffee and cocoa growing areas but hardly saw any of the trees as the grass was high and there were many palm nut trees and huge mango trees. We slowly swayed our way along the red dirt road through the hills and tropical trees to Kpalime.

At the minivan station we had to hire motorbikes or zemi-johns as they are locally called as there was no other form of public transport to take us to our accommodation. The main road into the town centre was under construction. The contractors were boxing up huge concrete drains on the sides of the road and it was difficult to see where we were going because of the dust. John had found a guest house on the Lonely Planet Forum and had sent an email but had not got a reply so we headed for the place anyway as it sounded interesting. As soon as we arrived we could see it was like no where else we had stayed. There were several semi-nude women fountains at the entrance as well as other sculptures in the garden. We had a lovely room with air con and a TV with a French news channel but broadcast in English. It turned out the owner has his computer in Lome but there is no computer in the guesthouse for management to reply to emails, but we were the only guests any way. The place was a 30 minutes walk from the town centre and we would eat in town and then catch a zemi-john back. There was not much to see or do in town but we visited the 'petit marche' to buy bread, pineapples, tomatoes and avocados. Togo's official language is French so we have got our phrase book out and carry it where ever we go. NZ is about five times bigger than Togo. The Europeans came in the 16th century and used Togo as a conduit for slave traders. Once slavery was abolished, the Europeans traded palm and coconut oils, cocoa, coffee, and cotton. In 1884, Germany signed a treaty with Togoville and the local chief and they called it Togoland. The locals weren't happy with how the Germans treated them and they welcomed the British forces during WW1. The League of Nations split Togoland after the war giving 2/3 to France and the rest to Britain. In 1956, the British part went to Ghana and French Togoland became a republic. In 1963, Togo became the first African country to have a military coup. 2007 saw the first reasonably free and fair elections, according to international observers. It is taking the country a while to get tourists and businesses operating here again. The country is young with more than 40% of the population under 14. Life expectancy at birth is 58. 65% of the population are involved in agriculture, making up 40% of the GDP. Polygamy is rife and women work the hardest, fetching water, looking after the children, fetching firewood, working the fields, as well as cooking and cleaning.

There was not much to do in Kpalmine as there were no internet places and few sit down restaurants. We did find a place to eat in the evening that had burgers, spaghetti, couscous, steak, and fried chicken dishes. It had a roof that kept out the rain during a short downpour but the sides were open to the dust, and hawkers and next door was a small bar. At night there were no lights and it sat right next to a main road that was under construction.

One evening the owner turned up from Lome and offered to cook us a meal which was very pleasant as we could eat in the garden surrounded by the sculptures. He wanted us to stay on but we had seen all we wanted to see of the area. We did meet many young lads who were tour guides wanting to take us to waterfalls and see butterflies but we had already done this in Ghana. The owner cooked us a breakfast and we introduced him to the Hostelworld and Hostelbookers accommodation sites as a way of letting more people know about his interesting and comfortable guest house.