West Africa tour
| country: | Benin, Togo, Burkina Faso |
| trip type: | A small group adventure |
| departures: | 2010: 23 Oct, 18 Dec 2011: 22 Jan, 26 Feb |
| price: | From £2475 - £3175 (19 days) including flights from the UK, from £1937 - £2577 excluding flights. |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
introduction to West Africa tour
Savannah, Desert & Nomads
From Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, we make for the Sahel, the southern reaches of the great Sahara. We explore the territories of the Mossi, the ancient and proud masters of this region and may be lucky enough to enjoy an audience with Maiga Belko, King of Arabinda. We spend time among the Fulani and Tuareg tribes visiting a Tuaraeg encampment and learning more about life in this harsh environment. Gorom Gorom is our next stop with its weekly market providing lively trade between the nomad herders and sedentary farmers at a point where savannah meets the harshness of the Sahara desert to the north.
Forests & Fire Dances
From the 9 mud mosques of Bani we enter northern Benin and spend a full days trekking among Somba communities, famous for their unique fortifies dwellings. Entering northern Togo we discover the Tamberma tribe before continuing south through the varied territories of many local peoples including the Bassar whose striking conical roofed clay houses dominate the landscape and the Tem, famous for their fire dance rituals. In the lush landscapes of central Togo we travel to Kloto and spend time walking in its virgin rainforest before once again returning to Benin.
Python Temples & Royal Palaces
At Abomey we reach the Royal Palace and UNESCO world heritage site of the pre-colonial Dahomey kings and at the nearby village of Cove we may be lucky enough to witness the remarkable spectacle of a Gelede mask ceremony. On Benin's Atlantic coastline we reach Lake Nokwe and take a boat to the stilt village of Ganvie, spending a night in this traditional fishing community. Returning to shore we discover the old slave trade post of Ouidah, considered the spiritual capital of voodoo, where we visit the python temple and Portuguese fort. Finally we explore the Mono River by boat before returning to Togo to discover traditional voodoo villages and the eclectic fetish market in the capital, Lome.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Fly to Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). |
| Day 2-3: | Into the Sahel Heading into the Manega region, home of the Mossi and Fulani tribes. |
| Day 4: | Tuareg Camps After hoping to meet a local local king we enter the Markoy region and spend time with the nomadic Tuareg. |
| Day 5-6: | Gorom Gorom Turning south we reach the vibrant weekly market at Gorom Gorom. |
| Day 7-8: | Mud Mosques At Bani we discover its 9 famous adobe mosques before reaching Benin's remote northern border. |
| Day 9-10: | Somba Villages We discover the unique architecture of the Somba during a days trekking at Atakora before heading to Togo to see the fortified dwellings of the Tamberma. |
| Day 11-12: | Tem Fire Dance Travelling via Bassari villages we hope to witness a traditional Tem dance before continuing to Kpalime. |
| Day 12: | Drive Bani via Mossi. |
| Day 13-14: | Gelede Masks We spend a day trekking through Kloto's virgin rainforest then return to Benin to experience a Gelede mask ceremony. |
| Day 15: | Royal Palaces & Lake Nokwe We discover the palaces of the pre-colonial Dahomey kings before heading to Lake Nokwe for a unique overnight stay at a stilt fishing village. |
| Day 16: | Python Temple Returning to shore by pirogue we visit the voodoo python temple and discover slave history at Ouidah. |
| Day 17: | Mono River & voodoo villages A boat trip takes us along the Mono River before returning to Togo to discover traditional Voodoo villages. |
| Day 18-19: | Lome We make a final visit to Togo's capital and the voodoo fetish market before our overnight to UK. |
traveller reviews for West Africa tour
I loved meeting the people and seeing remote villages that had never had a visitor. The markets were fun and the little goats and sheep were so cute, though not when they're strapped to the roof of the car, bleating in anticipation of being eaten for supper. (more)
small group adventure holiday
Typically you will be sharing your experiences with between 4-20 like minded travellers (depending on the trip, operator and how many others are booked on the trip) and you'll have a group leader with you. Whether you are travelling alone or with friends its good value, and a great way to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of privacy. This trip will appeal to travellers of all ages who enjoy meeting new people as well as seeing new places. award winner
This tourism business won an Award in our 2008 Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards - organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Daily Telegraph, World Travel Market, Geographical Magazine, of the Royal Geographical Society and BBC World News.Since 2004, the Awards has recognised individuals, companies and organisations in travel making a big commitment to the culture and economies of local communities and helping to conserve biodiversity.
how this holiday makes a difference
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We limit our group size to 12 passengers on this tour to 3 of Africa's least-known nations to limit our impact and allow us to visit and interract more intimately with remote communities. In addition to our UK leader, we work with a Togolese guide and Togolese drivers and throughout the tour we hire individual local guides for all the areas and sights we visit including a local entomologist in Kloto forest in Togo and Beninse wildlife guides in Pendjari National Park.
Additionally we rotate our community and village visits working closely with individual families and village leaders to ensure our visits do not impact negatively on the local communities and the income we bring is distributed fairly among each family. Our relationships with community leaders allow our groups to witness and gain an insight into various tribal ceremonies and events during each tour and we may adapt night-stops to take advantage of specific events happening in the region. Most of the accommodation we use is locally owned including the unique Chez M in Benin, owned and managed by the indomitable Madame 'M', built on stilts in the same style as the local houses in the traditional fishing community of Ganvie in Lake Nokoue. Visiting various daily and weekly local markets during the tour there is plenty of opportunity to buy produce and goods direct from the local people as well as pottery, cloth, woodwork and other artisans from the various communities we visit. As well as the above, we support a variety of charities and projects worldwide which support vulnerable communities and habitats including Friends of Conservation, Hope Worldwide and Send A Cow. We are also actively engaged with UK travel industry bodies which promote best practice in responsible tourism, such as Tourism Concern, The Travel Foundation and AITO. Our commitment to responsible tourism is not limited to our overseas operation and we have measures to ensure our UK office operates according to our responsible tourism policy. Carbon offsets for all flights booked with us are included in the tour cost. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |
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