We visited some villages in the Taberma valley. The houses are made of mud and these so called tatas looked like little castles to me. Though there is real poverty everywhere, the people are friendly and some are still celebrating the Ney Year. Spending a few days in this area made me realise how lucky I am to be born in Western Europe. In the Taberma valley there are no cities or hospitals around and education is very low. But the people showed me that you don't need to be educated or wealthy to be friendly and good. Human values are what matters!

Hopefully the tribes in Togo can keep their friendliness and traditions in the future. I wish for them they will be helped with education and healthcare. I am grateful to have been among them for a few days and grateful for the lessons in life they taught me. Merci a Togo! It was time to move on to Benin.

In the Taberma valley were, like in most parts of the country, no hotels. We camped in tents most of the times. In Boukantie we could put our sleeping bags in a local school for the night.

We continued to the north of Togo, passing by Kabye-tribe villages, to arrive in Kara. We saw an announcement of a New Years Eve party therefore we went to this music festival. Thousands of Togolese people were dancing and singing and because we were the only Europeans we got the privilege of being seated right in front of the stage with the big crowd partying behind us.
At midnight the president of Togo showed up and gave a speech for the crowd. I continued partying until early morning in one of the local bars.

The Togolese people were so friendly and fun to have around. I regret that my level of French limited me to have basic conversations with them.
To my surprise I got recognised by locals because they had seen me at the festival which was broadcasted on national television. With so few tourists in the country my bold white head had been easy to recognize for them :-)

In Kloto we walked the jungle area and the guide showed us all kind of butterflies. We stayed the night in Kloto where we had diner and threw a little party. The Togolese people were very friendly and they smiled a lot. I loved to have a little chat (in French) with them.

On our way from Lomé to Kloto we went to Kpalime to witness a voodoo-dance. The dance was accompanied by music and some locals were getting possessed by voodoo-ghosts. For me it was a bizarre ritual but the people were happily singing and dancing and I enjoyed watching them in having fun.

We headed up north to Sodoké. We passed several villages and stopped in one of the Kotokil tribe villages.

I booked a package tour to Togo and Benin in Western Africa. These countries are not visited by many tourists so I was really excited to explore these 'unknown' treasures of the world. We flew from Amsterdam to Maroc and on to Lomé, Togo. In this capital city we went to a fetish-market, where all kind of ritualistic accoutrements were sold for the local voodoo-ceremonies. I was fascinated (and a bit disgusted) to see the dehydrated animal parts like crocodile snouts, chameleons and dog heads.