WEST AFRICA: 11 DAYS-10NIGHTS GHANA-TOGO-BENIN VOODOO FESTIVAL TOUR

JANUARY 02 TO JANUARY 12 2021

WELCOME TO WEST AFRICA!

DAY 1: JANUARY 02, 2021: ARRIVAL

Arrive in Accra. Meet, assist and transfer to Labadi Beach Hotel or similar.
Overnight

DAY 2: JANUARY 03, 2021: ACCRA-CAPE COAST-ELMINA

Breakfast and depart for a half day city tour of Accra visiting the National Museum of History and Ethnography with exhibits that reflect the heritage of Ghana through- out history to the present. This Museum houses a varied collection of Ghana artifacts. Visit the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and Park, final resting place for Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana. The Mausoleum has been visited by many world dignitaries. Continue unique casket making shops. Various designs of caskets are produced based on the African belief of life after death. Therefore caskets are designed to reflect the earthly profession of the deceased with the belief that they can continue to practice this profession in the other world. Hence a bus driver will be buried in a bus, a teacher in a book, a doctor in a syringe etc. Drive past the Independence Arch and Black Star Square- Accra’s ceremonial grounds to visit the Arts and Crafts market. View from a distance Christianborg Castle, former office and residence of the President of Ghana. Continue to Cape Coast. Visit the Cape Coast Castle which was originally started by the Swedes in 1652. It served as the headquarters and seat of the British colonial government until 1877. Go on a comprehensive tour of the Castle, the Slave Dungeons and the West African Heritage Museum. The guide will lead you to slave quarters and Negotiation Hall where our ancestors were bargained and sold. Proceed to Elmina. Overnight.

DAY 3: JANUARY 04, 2021: ELMINA-KAKUM-KUMASI

Breakfast
Visit the Elmina Castle, the first and oldest European structure built of any substance on African soil. This was built by the Portuguese in1482 and later used as an auction market for a comprehensive guided tour. See the slave dungeons and condemned cells where slaves who attempted to escape were incarcerated. View its utterly distinct architecture and depart to Kakum National Park. Go on a morning walk of the “Kuntan Trail” with its countless trees with medicinal properties. For the young at heart experience the “Canopy Walkway” suspended 100 feet from the forest ground for a panoramic view of the flora and fauna of the remaining vestiges of the rainforest. Proceed to Kumasi, the capital of the Ashanti Region arriving in the late afternoon.
Overnight in Kumasi

DAY 4: JANUARY 05, 2021: ASHANTI KINGDOM AND CRAFT VILLAGES TO
TAMALE

After breakfast, visit the Manhyia Palace, the official residence for the Otumfo, the Ashanti King. Continue to visit a few Ashanti craft villages to see the skill and imagination of local craftsmen using simple tools and traditional technology to produce breath taking artefacts and designs from which you may pick souvenirs for friends and family back Home. Visit Ahwiaa, the woodcarvers’ village specializing in woodcarving such as the Ashanti stools, fertility dolls and walking sticks. Proceed to visit Ntonso, Adinkra cloth processing village where you will have an opportunity to create your own designs and Bonwire for the famous Kente cloth. Embark on a long journey to Tamale. Overnight in Tamale

DAY 5: JANUARY 06, 2021: TAMALE-YENDI-TATALE-KARA

Breakfast at hotel and east to Tatale border post via Yendi. Stop enroute at the heart moving Gnani village near Yendi where people believed to be witches and wizards in their communities are exiled. Right across the border in Togo is the land of the Bassar famous for their ancestral mastery of iron mining and processing. Meet a village chief and his elders and witness captivating T’bol fire dance. Proceed to Kara. Overnight in Kara

DAY 6: JANUARY 07, 2021: KARA-KOUTAMMAKOU-SOMBA-NATITINGOU

Breakfast at hotel and drive to Koutammakou, the land of the Batammariba also known as Tamberma [Real builders], a Unesco World heritage site. Enroute, stop at Losso villages with their round houses, the “soukala”.At Koutammakou, interact with the local population and visit the habitat, the “takienta”; adobe castles spread in the fields. Cross into Benin at Boukoumbe. Drive through similar Somba tribal land in the Atakora mountains wooded savanna to Natitingou in northern Benin. Overnight in Natitingou

DAY 7: JANUARY 08, 2021: NATITINGOU-ABOMEY

Breakfast at hotel and drive to the Yom village of Taneka Koko. People in this remote village still keep to their traditions preserved despite the challenges from the outside world. Meet the spiritual head of this community and visit some sacred places before continuing to Doyissa. Stop at the shrine of famous Dankoli voodoo shrine and continue to Abomey. Abomey is centre to important Dahomey kingdom that evolved from 1645 to 1900 with the arrival with the French colonists. This kingdom was among the most influential ones in Western Africa famous for its lady warriors, the Amazons. Visit historic museum, palaces of king Gezo, the 9th monarch and king Glele the 10th monarch featuring the stool room, the weapon room, the administrative blocks of both kings; the common sepulcher of King Glele’s wives, shrines and palace artisans. Overnight in Abomey.

DAY 8: JANUARY 09, 2021: ABOMEY-OUIDAH

Breakfast at hotel and drive to Ouidah, branded the voodoo capital city of Benin via Allada. On arrival, visit Kpasse sacred forest. The visit of this shaded wood dotted with sculptures of some voodoo gods is a real introduction to the Voodoo religion claiming thousands of worshippers throughout Benin. Even the tree into which king Kpasse, the second monarch of Ouidah got deified is still visible here. The tour continues with the visit of the museum of History, a former Portuguese slave fort portraying implications of the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in the Americas and back here in Benin. Experience the Slave Route from Chacha Square, the former slave market to the awesome Door of No Return on the beach that saw millions of Africans embark on a journey to the unknown. Overnight in Ouidah

DAY 9: JANUARY 10, 2021: OUIDAH-GANVIE-COTONOU

Breakfast at hotel and join in events of the voodoo festival. This religion claims over 60 million worshippers across the Globe. Proceed to Abomey Calaivi. Aboard a motorboat, cruise the Nokoue Lake for Ganvie, Africa’s stilt village. Go the narrow alleyways between the stilt huts passing the Lovers’ Lane and the floating market. Stop at a local shop to enjoy sceneries of the market. Return to Abomey-Calavi and continue to Cotonou. Visit craft market. Check-in at your hotel. Overnight in Cotonou.

DAY 10: JANUARY 11, 2021: COTONOU-LOME

Breakfast at hotel and drive to Togo, crossing the border at Hilla Condji border post. Proceed to Lome. Embark on city tour visiting fetish market, the Museum of African Art, National Museum, Independence Square and Artisans’ Village. Check-in at Hotel 2 Fevrier or similar. In the late afternoon, drive to a village in the outskirts. Witness a voodoo ceremony involving chanting, dancing and trance. Overnight in Lome.

DAY 11: JANUARY 12, 2021: LOME-ACCRA-DEPART

Breakfast at hotel and early departure to Segbe border.
Assist through Customs and Immigration and continue to Accra for your flight back home.

11 DAYS-10 NIGHTS

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