GHANA, TOGO AND BENIN, SPECIAL DEPARTURE with VOODOO FESTIVAL

Arrival in Cotonou (Benin) and transfer to the hotel. 

Cotonou is a lively city immersed in constant traffic driven by thousands of zemidjans—motorbike taxis in purple and yellow uniforms—creating an intense, rhythmic flow shaped by the traffic lights.

The tour begins with Africa’s longest graffiti wall, dedicated to Dahomey history, followed by the impressive 30-meter Amazon Monument honoring the Dahomey Amazons on the Esplanade des Amazones.

You then continue to Lake Nokwe and travel by motorized boat to Ganvié, the largest stilt village in Africa, where about 25,000 Tofinou people live in teak-stilt houses and maintain a traditional lifestyle centered on fishing and daily activities carried out in colorful dugout canoes.

After the visit, drive to Ouidah for dinner and overnight.

Every second Friday of January, Benin celebrates its national day dedicated to traditional religion.

We begin by driving to a lesser-known site where the Voodoo festival is held in a more authentic way, without the crowds, traffic, and tourist lines of the main event. Here, we can experience sacred mask dances, Voodoo followers in vibrant costumes with red feathers, animist priests accompanied by their initiates, and lively drumming and dancing with full participation from villagers across the region.

Later, we continue to Ouidah for the country’s most famous festival, where dozens of Voodoo ceremonies attract thousands of adepts, traditional chiefs, and fetish priests, along with a variety of masks and high-ranking Voodoo leaders in traditional dress.

Since 2024, this official celebration has been organized by a committee, with the program typically announced closer to the festival date.

This morning we complete the visit of Ouidah that was one of the main slave trading post. The old town enjoys a rare Afro-Brazilian architecture and a syncretic atmosphere where the Voudou Python Temple faces the Catholic Cathedral.

Drive to Abomey.

In Abomey there is the Royal Palace (currently closed for refurbishment). We will meet with the community of “forgerons” who have served Dahomey kings for centuries in the production of weapons and other tools.

On Sunday we attend a service of the Celestial Church, where dozens of worshippers dressed in white gather for a syncretic ceremony blending Christian symbolism with animist traditions, creating a vibrant celebration filled with prayers and moments of possession.

We then drive to a settlement shared by Yoruba and Fon communities to witness the spectacular Gelede mask dances, a Yoruba tradition dedicated to Mother Earth and celebrating fertility for both people and land. Each brightly painted mask represents a symbolic character known only to initiates, and the performances—mixing mime, myth, humor, and moral lessons—delight the crowds like a blend of street theatre and magical ritual.

In the afternoon, in the Dassa region, we observe the Egun masks, representing the spirits of the deceased and believed by locals to truly embody them. The masked initiates, dressed in multicolored costumes, emerge from the forest and move through the village, leaping toward anyone who dares approach too closely, as being touched by an Egun is feared as contact with the other world. On arrival, the masks charge the crowd in a dramatic, bullfight-like performance meant to inspire both awe and respect.

Day driving to the North, brief stop at Dankoli Shrine in Savalou, then on to meet a tribal King.

His Majesty Atchiba II will receive us in a large round building, the room of the Council of the Elders. The King, sitting on the throne, will be surrounded by his notables in traditional costumes. His Majesty rules the Anii peoples settling between the central part of Benin and Togo.

After the traditional greeting we will have the privilege to ask information of the king actual rules, the origin of the Anii and their history, directly to the King and the Elders. 

Track and road in a hilly landscape will bring us to Togo border at Soudou and to Kara, the “capital” of north Togo, where we will spend two nights. 

A track will bring us to explore the remote valleys of Tamberma peoples.

For centuries, the Tamberma people sought refuge in the remote Atakora mountains, an area difficult to access and ideal for protection against slave traders from the Islamized northern savannahs. Anthropologists link their origins to the Dogon of Mali, sharing the same deep commitment to animist traditions, reflected in the large phallic-shaped shrines guarding their homes.

Their fortified dwellings—resembling small medieval castles—are among the finest examples of ancient African architecture and even inspired Le Corbusier, who described them as “sculptural architecture.” These adobe houses are built entirely by hand, layer by layer, using rounded mud forms shaped with a mix of strength, care, and artistry.

With permission from the residents, we enter these remarkable homes to understand their way of life.

In this border region between Togo and Benin, the people who build such structures are known as Tamberma, Betammaribe, or Somba—names that vary from valley to valley, though the architecture and traditions remain the same. To avoid repeating similar environments, we focus our visit on the Tamberma of Togo, whose sacred baobabs, animist shrines, and untouched landscape have earned UNESCO World Heritage status since 1998.

We then return to our comfortable base in the Kara region.

We begin with an optional but included experience: breakfast in the bush with two young female elephants, rescued as calves after poachers killed their mother. Raised by humans, they have formed a friendly bond with the community and freely roam near the settlement, choosing to stay and often joining visitors for breakfast.

We continue to Sokodé, home to the Kotokoli and Tem ethnic groups. After dinner, we visit a Tem village to witness the extraordinary fire dance, where participants move to hypnotic drumbeats, leap into embers, handle burning coals, and even put them in their mouths without showing pain.

Whether explained by courage, trance, or protection from powerful fetishes, the performance remains truly astonishing.

This hotel, has a nice athmosphere. The restaurant and bar, are outside the mail hotel building, adding a nice outdoor feeling. No twins available.

Cavalry was the military organisation by which in the past the Kotocoli, Islamised tribe coming from the north, imposed their power. They still perform the tradition of horse riding and the “Fantasia” that the North African Arabs taught them, centuries ago. Spectacular event where the Kotocoli knights show a refined mastery of the art of riding. In a surreal medieval atmosphere, warriors in traditional costumes will mount horses with colourful harnesses, to make them dance to the rhythm of the drums and launch them into wild gallops…

We will head southwards, with a stop on the way in Atakpame, a typical African small town built on hills where all the products coming from the nearby forests can be found. Through their skilled work on small weaving looms, men of the region make large brightly coloured Kente fabrics. 

We arrive in the area of Kpalimé, a town with a rich colonial past, which is now an important cocoa and coffee trading market. Walk on the hills surrounding Kpalimé, through villages and farms. Under the guidance of a local we will learn the main plants used in traditional African herbalism.

Ghana border crossing and continuation through the Volta Region. Border Togo side: Kpadape.

We reach the Krobo tribe, known for its glass beads. Krobo people produce and wear glass beads for ceremonies and aesthetic purposes. We will visit an artisan community of beads producers and even experience the process of making our own bead. The craftsmen have been producing beads following the same long-lasting traditional technique for centuries. They use scrap glass that is grounded into a fine powder. The glass powder is then meticulously made into patterns and placed into hand-made clay moulds covered in kaolin. The beads are melted and then decorated, washed and eventually strung. 

A spectacular road between tropical luxuriant forest in a landscape of mountains and hills will bring us to the colourful Ghanaian town of Koforidua. 

Kumasi, the historical and spiritual heart of the Ashanti Kingdom—once one of Africa’s most powerful states—still reflects its former grandeur in the enduring authority of the Asantehene and the strong pride of the Ashanti people. With nearly four million residents, it is a vast city known for its remarkable central market, one of the largest in Africa, where visitors can find traditional Ashanti crafts such as leatherwork, pottery, beads, and the famous Kente cloth, alongside an abundance of tropical produce.

After lunch at Jofel, a beloved Ghanaian restaurant chain offering both local and Western dishes, we spend the afternoon attending, if possible, a traditional Ashanti funeral.

Despite the name, this is a vibrant celebration in which the deceased is welcomed back as an ancestor who will watch over the family. Mourners dressed in striking red or black togas gather to honor the departed, while chiefs arrive under large umbrellas accompanied by their entourage.

Drums set the rhythm for dancers whose intricate movements carry deep symbolic meanings linked to both war and sensuality.

In the morning continuation of the tour of Kumasi: a visit to the Ashanti Cultural Centre: a rich collection of Ashanti artefacts housed in a wonderful reproduction of an Ashanti house and visit to the Royal Palace Museum hosting a unique collection of gold jewels worn by the Ashanti court with interesting gold regalia.

One cannot visit Kumasi and the Golden Ashanti kingdom without meeting one of its many traditional kings! We are privileged to be allowed into the courtyard of a great Ashanti chief. Wrapped in traditional cloth and adorned with antique solid gold jewels, he will take a seat under a large colored umbrella and discuss his role as a traditional chief in modern Ghana.

In the afternoon visit to some Ashanti villages with traditional clothing as the Adrinkra hand-printed with traditional symbols and carvings. 

A few kilometres north of the coast, in the middle of a rainforest, we will discover the Kakum National Park. This park gives a unique opportunity to observe the forest from above as Kakum has a canopy walk hung high up in the trees. The Kakum canopy walkway is one of the longest and highest rope bridges in the world. Walking between 120 to 150 feet above the ground, you will enjoy an incredible view of the rain forest. At this height, instead of revealing their trunks, the trees offer a breath-taking view of their canopy. 

Drive to the coast. 

The coast of Ghana (formerly known as Gold Coast) has more than 50 ancient forts and castles, reminiscent of the gold, ivory and slave trade. The first name of Ghana was the Gold Coast and is still the largest producer of gold in Africa.

We visit Elmina Castle (São Jorge da Mina), the oldest and largest European structure in Africa, built by the Portuguese in 1482 and later expanded as it shifted from trading gold and ivory to enslaved people; today it stands as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Facing the fortress is a bustling traditional fishing harbor filled with hundreds of brightly painted canoes, where fishermen skillfully navigate powerful waves and currents in their daily struggle for a livelihood.

We board a boat to explore the harbor from within and glide along the ocean for a unique perspective.

We then continue to Cape Coast Castle, originally built by the Swedish in 1653 and repeatedly taken over—by Danes, Dutch, Fante, Swedes, and eventually the British—before becoming what it is today: a museum dedicated to the history of the transatlantic slave trade.

In a nearby town we visit the Posuban, the colorful shrines of the Asafo companies, decorated with full-size statues and still used by Fante warrior groups to pour libations; these Asafo, once active during the era of the slave trade, continue today as guardians of their communities.

We then drive to Accra, a capital that has maintained its unique character despite rapid modern development, blending new avenues and buildings with lush administrative quarters and elegant 19th-century villas that recall Ghana’s status as one of Africa’s most prosperous colonies. In James Town, the historic Ga neighborhood facing the ocean, daily life unfolds like a village within the city, where traditional rhythms contrast sharply with the nearby business district. We also visit the recently renewed National Museum and a workshop creating “fantasy coffins”—extraordinary handcrafted coffins shaped like anything imaginable, from fruits and animals to cars and airplanes, now recognized worldwide as contemporary African art.

In the evening, we transfer to the airport for the flight out.