Togo is a narrow strip of land on Africa's west coast. It has two major ethnic groups, the Ewe in the South and the Kabye in the North. They moved into the area which is now Togo from the Niger River valley between the 12th and 14th centuries. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese explorers and traders visited the coast. For the next 200 years, the coastal region was a major raiding center for Europeans in search of slaves, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast". In an 1884 treaty signed at Togoville, Germany declared Togoland one of its protectorate. Following world war 1, Togoland got partitioned into British and French zones, creating the colonies of British Togoland and French Togoland. Around the time of independence in 1960, British Togoland voted to join Ghana, while French Togoland became an autonomous country that is nowadays Togo.
Post independence, Togo has struggled to build a stable economy. Their first presidient Olympio was assassinated in an army coup. One of the army leaders, Gnassingbé Eyadéma, seized power and ruled the country with an iron fist for 38 years. After his death in 2005, the military appointed his son Faure as president, who several terms in, continues to face a significant challenge: balancing entrenched interests with the need to implement democratic reforms and revive Togo's deteriorating economy.
Lome / Togoville
Lomé, the capital city, is known for many things: Place de Independence, the Grand Marché, but the main attraction is the Akodesséwa fetishes market, where one can find magic remedies and local voodoo charms used by local sorcerers. Athe old colonial harbor in Lome harbor with gaily-painted boats. Nearby Lomme is Togoville, the village where was signed the document that made Togo become a German colony in 1884. You can experience the cross of Lake Togo by canoe, better understand the history of Togo and the way voodoo religion impacts life in a community.
Koutammakou
The Atakora Region is one of the must-see wonders of Togo. Koutammakou, also known as the Valley of the Tamberma or the Land of the Batammariba, after the name of the people who inhabit the area, is a must-see for anyone travelling in Togo. The repertoire of villages in the region is truly interesting and the typical dwellings, modelled in clay like a sculpture, are the main attraction, which has earned the region UNESCO protection. They date back to the 17th century, when these peoples settled in the region to escape the southern slavery ordered by the rulers of Dahomey and the Islamic pressure coming from the north.
The main excursions depart in the direction of Nadoba, the largest village, where every Wednesday there is a weekly market, one of the most authentic in Togo, during which you can still meet elderly feticheurs who predict the future with a stick, drawing in the sand.
The nature and scenery are also spectacular, with fire-coloured dirt tracks, hillsides dotted with monumental baobab trees and scattered with traditional dwellings. The Tamberma houses, called tata or tatchenta, are a small masterpiece of traditional defensive engineering. Local craftsmen shape them by laying overlapping layers of clay to create a sort of miniature fortified castle with a fairy-tale appearance. On the second floor, the terrace is laid on wooden hollows, on which rise circular turrets with a pointed straw hat (rooms and granaries). A complex theory of 'pitfalls' was designed to keep the house under control from possible enemy attacks.
As in the Somba tata's in neighbouring Benin, family life in the Tamberma tata's takes place on the roof and the ground floor serves as a stable or for the elderly unable to climb the stairs. The walls are decorated with hunting trophies and, as is typical of this entirely animist people, the young man ready to marry will let an arrow shot from his bow decide where to build his new tata.
Each tata has her own ‘guardians’, a veritable army of protective fetishes, lined up in front of the door to whom the family still offers propitiatory sacrifices. Crossing the border between Togo and Benin, one realises that the geopolitical borders imposed by the great European powers have not succeeded in dividing these peoples, who share the same customs, languages and traditions. Today, the border is crossed in a constant coming and going from one country to another, as if it did not exist, and the Batammariba people of Benin and the Tamberma people of Togo continue to meet and do business at the small market in Nadoba.
Kpalime
120 km from Lomé lies one of Togo's most picturesque regions. The town of Kpalimé opens up to green hills, cocoa and coffee plantations, unspoilt mountain landscapes, breathtaking views and small traditional villages where time seems to stand still. The surroundings of Mount Kloto and Mount Agou, Togo's highest peak at 986 metres above sea level, provide a habitat for an infinite number of butterflies, some of them very rare. They are the kingdom of marvellous waterfalls that form natural paradisiacal basins, and the natural treasure chest of an infinite number of endemic plants with multiple properties. The hike to the top of Mount Agou is the most demanding, but the landscape from the top is wonderful, with rocky courtyards, coffee and cocoa plantations, dense forests and breathtaking views. Another interesting circuit is the one on Mount Kloto, which passes through small traditional villages, such as Kouma Konda, famous for its houses with painted doors and windows, beautiful coffee, cocoa and banana plantations, large farms and pig farms, in close contact with the life of the local people.
Kpalimé is enlivened by a beautiful and busy market that deserves a visit for the incredible quality and quantity of products, generated by such a generous land, but also for the typical handcrafted fabrics, dyed with the batik technique, in which natural pigments extracted from endemic plants are used.
Sokode
A must-see in the north is Sokodé and its surroundings. A rather densely populated town, Sokodé itself does not have many attractions, apart from the bustling market and an interesting cooperative offering traditional cotton textiles, handmade soaps and natural body creams. The real point of interest in the area is the nearby traditional village of Tem warriors, called Kparatao, where the original tombs and relics of the founder and his successors are still preserved. The Tem were traditionally brave warriors, to the extent that they had developed the power to be immune to fire burns. This ability is still passed on from generation to generation. A unique and very suggestive experience is to attend the famous night-time fire ceremony, in which a group of initiates cover their bodies with embers and pass burning embers even on their tongues, without suffering any burns. This is how they defeated their enemies for centuries and preserved their identity.
Kara
Located 415 km from Lomé, the city of Kara is one of the most populated after Lomé. Traditions and customs are still prevalent in what often looks like a sleepy town during the hot days.
