Heading north …… and out to Togo... and Benin

When they reached the Tema roundabout, they thought they followed Hans’ directions to find out that they were on a road parallel to the coast instead of heading north – there are but few and rather hidden sign boards on the Ghanaian roads. They stopped to ask a policeman who said they should go back to the round about but to ask at another police barrier. Before he let them go, he asked for ‘chop’ money, just like that, straightforward because, he said he was protecting them against gangsters.

And we went back, asked another nice traffic police who even drew a map for them and asked for nothing, just wishing them a good journey. The road north toward the Volta river and the lake is quite good, tarred with few potholes but quite a bit of traffic.

Bridge over Volta river

On this part of the Ghanaian roads at least the speed limits were better indicated even if the directions are not. So, it was 50km/h in town and 80 elsewhere. There were a few road and customs’ blocks but they were more interested in trucks and goods vehicles. At the busy town where THE BRIDGE is they stopped to ask for better directions, take pictures of this rather scenic bridge and make a good sandwich for lunch.

Bush taxi

On we went and the road got a bit more broken. However, in this region you can see a difference in the way people live – it was not one on top of the other like at the coast, they have space between the houses and huts, these small towns are quite clean and it does not have the feel of a perpetual market day like in the rest of the coastal towns we have travelled. 

We were heading to the Mountain Paradise lodge where the rest of the group was camping. Coen was following Hans’ directions but was getting a bit concerned that they might have missed the turn off. She was driving and stopped a couple of times to check the ‘kente’ work that she could see from the road. At one place, they were weaving but the one youngster said they could not take pictures. Walking among them, she realized that these weavers were not much older than children, teenagers actually.

Scenery over mountains

There were huge billboards on the Ghanaian roads about human trafficking and child labour. She thought that it was not common practice because there was a law and some kind of authority watching. Somehow, one has to know where the ‘kente’ cloths come from before buying…..

Mountain Paradise

Hans phoned as they were turning off into the road leading to Mountain Paradise. He warned them about the wet roads and Coen engaged the hubcaps. She made the ascent with little enough difficulty while Coen was constantly dishing advice.

Mountain Paradise

This is also a beautiful and serene place. There is no saying what this place was before the owner, Tony, took it over – he is rather hazy about it all. But it has a churchy feeling to it. Coen was too tired to pitch a tent and they took a room that came with shower and toilet. It was basic, with netting in the windows and a fan but the shower is cold.

Elismé said she was making dinner that evening. The dongle was working and Coen was checking mail and getting other information. Dinner was early, they sat up to do some more internetting in the room too. That night it rained hard and was she happy she was in a room instead of the tent.

Petrol station from last century

In the morning, Coen had a little breakfast, they paid their dues and Tony took them to the border post. He was acting as the facilitator and charged Cd20/car. Then there was the immigration guy to pay to take them through the procedures. It was a small enough border and it would have been no hassles for them to have done it on their own. However, it was not easy to find.

The plan was to reach Notse that day and then proceed to Benin the next day. The dirt road between the countries is not good, it got better in Kpalime but then the road crossing over to Notse is bad.

Ant hill in the fields

Roadside cemetery

Village of Togo

And they trundled on slowly. On the way there were cassava, yam, peanut and other plantations. Lots of mud huts with straw roofs are also seen on that road. However, in the cemeteries there are some rather fantastic tombs. Here also, religion is ‘big’, there are churches, mission schools and missions in all these little towns and villages and bigger ones in bigger towns.

Wood for market

Women going to market

When they reached Notse, they asked the way to the gendarmerie to enquire for a place to camp. They went to Haho hotel but no decent camping was possible and then they were directed, by the local gendarme, to Le Berceau. This is a biggish hotel just outside town, on the south road. 

Down into Togo

They have a big garden, swimming pool and all. They agreed, if they take one room, the rest of the group could camp for free. They did not have any conferences or weddings going on and there were practically no clients at the hotel at the time.

Coen saw the storm brewing in the distance and preferred to take a room in case it came our way. The others went to settle in the garden not far from what is the nightclub of the hotel. It is a surprisingly well-kept place for such a town as Notse and the prices of the rooms vary. It was not excessive to take a room in their old wing; Coen wanted a warm water shower.

The next morning, the others were waiting for the forex bureau to open before we could move. When he finished breakfast, Coen had enough time to clean the spark plugs and then we drove off in search of bread for the road and other ingredients worth consuming. The road to the border from Notse is a dirt road, not well kept. So the progress was slow.

The border post was practically empty but the officials took ages to fill the forms themselves and check and counter check. The customs was easier, the guy had to sign the carnets and affix his stamp. On the Benin side the procedures were slow too and at the customs they had to pay more because it was a Saturday. They did get a receipt that showed the details of the payment though.