How do you know she is a witch?

Day 17 - Sokode (Togo) to Tamale (Ghana)

A long driving day as we cross the border to Ghana. This small northern border had just a couple of buildings yet it still took 90 minutes for us to be processed and allowed to continue.

We stopped for lunch after crossing the border in the town of Zabzugu. We made our way to a local bar to eat our pre-made lunches, the owners seemed very pleased to see this group of foreigners buying drinks, taking photos of us and shaking our hands on the way out.  

Our next stop was at village of the Dagomba ethnic group where the chief welcomes people (almost all women) who have been exiled from their own village after being accused of being witches. The children swamped us as soon as we stepped out of the van and didn't leave us alone until we were back in the van. 

We were taken to meet the chief and were allowed to ask him questions about the witches. Reasons for being accused of witchcraft include the death of someone in the family or suspicion of creating a disease. Many have misunderstood mental health issues and most are elderly women no longer of any use in the village and if their husband has died banishing them enables their land and possessions to pass to the husband's family. 

When a person has been accused they are banished from their own village and they have to go to the chief of the village to be assessed (providing they aren't lynched first). The chief cuts the throat of a chicken, whether it dies on its back or front determines whether she is a witch or not. The "witches" live in their own compound and when we visited were all sombrely sitting in a small area where was some shade, away from the rest of the village. The chief's gesture appears to be a good one but further research indicates that in some cases the women are treated almost as slaves. It was a very sobering visit.

We stopped in Tamale, the third largest city in Ghana, for the night, and were housed in an annex to the main hotel. Our meal that night was very similar to most of the others we'd been having. Throughout the trip it's been omelettes and coffee for breakfast, lunch and dinner are usually a choice between chicken, beef or fish, accompanied by either, rice, french fries, grilled plantain or mixed vegetables. Occasionally there is the offer of pizza or spaghetti, and dessert is sliced fruit.

The unforgettable fire

Day 16 - Kara to Sokode

We're about 250kms from the Bukino Faso border and there is a large military presence, with multiple checkpoints on our drive to visit the Tamberma people.

Every time we think that we've seen enough villages we find that the next village has something unique to show us. The huts in this village are built for defence, and look like miniature castles with two floors. The lower floor is used for sleeping and is dark, with hanging objects that can warn of the approach of strangers, and have arrow slots. The upper level contains a cooking area and a granary, as well as another room area for sleeping. The villages were established hundreds of years ago by people fleeing from the Mossi empire.

Before we left we were treated to some singing and dancing by the women of the village. We were encouraged to join in, a few of our group did, but we declined.

We drove back to Kara for lunch then headed to our hotel in Sokode. After settling in we regrouped around 6pm to drive to a voodoo fire show at a village nearby. 

We arrived in the dark and our bus was immediately surrounded by children trying to get their hands on anything we were carrying, M had to be vigilant about kids trying to take his metal water bottle.

The show started off with some men running burning sticks over their hands, arms, feet, legs and heads. It then progressed to the fire being placed in their mouth and rubbed along their tongues.

The finale was a man picking up small logs from the fire and biting off chunks of flaming charcoal pieces, placing them in his mouth and between his teeth whilst blowing on them to fan the flames. A couple of times he offered the stick to people in the audience, of course everyone refused. It felt like he was staring into our eyes only, only to discover later that everyone thought the same thing .... spooky!

We were suddenly told that it was over and were rushed back to the vans very hastily, on our way back to the van we were mobbed my kids, M almost losing his water bottle. It left us feeling a bit uncomfortable as the atmosphere was as if something bad was about to go down, but maybe that was just part of the show?

Potters unite!

Day 14 -  Djougou (Benin) to Kara (Togo)

We had a border crossing today so it was an early start. On the way to the border we passed cars overloaded with goods purchased in Niger, we were told that they were driving to Burkina Faso and Mali but because the borders are closed they have to detour through Benin and Togo.

We had been warned that the border crossing would take 2 hours and it did, though at least on each side we were able to sit in a room while we waited. On the Togo side an official placed our passports in piles and then moved them to other piles, continually opening them up flicking through, we got the impression that it might have been his first day on the job. 

We visited two Kabye villages, the first one was a blacksmiths village, where they used primitive tools and techniques. The skills are passed on from father to son, they have no choice in their vocation. In the past the women would climb the mountains to find the rocks containing iron and bring them back to the village, now they use the metal from the broken down Chinese motorbikes.

The second village was a pottery village where K was awed by the makeshift hand wheels and the high quality of their work which they pit fire. Our guide translated between K and the group and they showed their joy at our common interest (and K's purchase of some ceramics) by responding in song and dance.

We made it to our hotel in Kara in good time and it was a pleasant surprise, given our experiences in the north of Benin, We enjoyed the afternoon and evening at our hotel, with the best room we've had so far, getting to know our fellow travellers over drinks by the pool.

I'll have what they're having

Day 10 - Lomé (Togo) to Gran Popo (Benin)

After breakfast we met up with our guide and tour group of 11 fellow travellers, and after a briefing and some visa checks we split into two groups to jump into 2 mini vans. 

Our first stop in Lomé was a fetish market, a few stalls set up with animal parts for use in voodoo rituals, like heads of monkeys, crocodiles, snakes, dogs and horses. We were taken to a small hut where a local guide  explained some recipes of animal parts to cure different maladies. Apart from the stall holders there weren't any locals so it seemed to us this was just for tourists, though maybe we weren't there at the right time.

From there we were taken through the local market which included a souvenir section, we did try to explain that border security wouldn't be very happy with us trying to import animal parts and wooden objects but they still persisted in trying to sell to us.

After lunch we drove on to a remote village where we witnessed a voodoo ceremony. It was explained to us that it was totally different to the Western understanding of dolls, pins and black magic. There were a group of drummers providing the music and seats around a square where we joined the villagers to watch different people dance in the centre. Some of them would go in to a type of trance and throw themselves around, at times the dancers seemed really intense, with eyes rolled back in their heads, it seemed real but we did question how much of it was an act put on just for us.

We drove on and crossed the border to Benin, our guide took care of the border formalities so it wasn't anywhere near as chaotic as the crossing into Togo yesterday, we just sat in the bus and waited.

We spent the night at a basic beach resort near a town called Grand Popo, it was hot and the air conditioning made only a slight difference to the heat and humidity but it was enough for us to have a reasonable rest before our 6:30am start the day.

Bordering on chaos

Day 9 - Accra (Ghana) to Lomé (Togo)

We'd booked the driver we'd used for our Accra tour to take us 195 km to the Ghana-Lomé border, about a 4 hour drive. We set off at 9:30am and the roads around Accra were quite busy, but traffic thinned out as we entered the countryside. 

We stopped off after around 90 minutes to visit the Nkyinkyim Museum, which K had read was worth a visit. It was really an open air art site and education centre, and had many different areas with various art works, including sculptured heads in different parts of the grounds representing those who'd died or been taken from their homes as a result of slavery. 

On arrival at the border we farewelled our driver as he wasn't able to take us across the border into Lomé. We found the Ghanian side calm and well organised, the customs officers were friendly and respectful and though things took time, the exit from Ghana went OK. M had an issue with his visa, it had incorrectly been marked as a single entry visa but after showing proof we'd paid for multiple entry we were allowed to continue.

Across the road we then commenced the entrance procedures for Togo. It was very busy and very chaotic. The doors and tiny rooms were jam packed with locals, fortunately the locals there were very friendly and helpful in guiding us through the steps. Firstly we entered a very small room where a woman took our yellow fever vaccination and hand wrote our details into a ledger. 

We were then guided through narrow openings and up and down steps to another room where we were given forms to fill out, asking for all of the information we'd already supplied to obtain our visas. There were a lot of local men trying to "help" us, it was quite overwhelming as it was very difficult to know whether they were officials or just trying to get us to tip them. After handing in the forms and patiently waiting for the officials to stamp our passports we eventually made it outside where we were had to run the gauntlet of taxi drivers and people wanting to help with our luggage. 

We secured a taxi after haggling down from about $35 to $10 (for a 5 km trip, still too much but by then we just wanted to get going). As we drove past customs they wanted us to open the boot and open our cases, M's case revealing the packets of chips he'd bought as supplies the day before. After offering some chips to the customs guy (which was ignored) we were sent on our way. It was interesting that we were stopped as we thought we were the least dodgy looking people at the border!

Our hotel in Lomé wasn't far and opposite a very wide and dirty looking beach. We checked in to our tiny room and walked across the road to the edge of the Atlantic, along the way we were pestered by a kid on a horse asking us if we wanted a ride. 

Back at the hotel for dinner and we could see other people like us, some in tour groups that had already been organised to catch up and were going through introductions, while others ate as couples or much smaller groups. A lady came over and introduced herself as being from Brisbane and asked if we were in the Native Eye group, so we at least met one other person before our tour officially started the next day.