Having received all necessary visa stamps in my passport during last week in Lomé, I eventually moved on and headed towards the Benin border, but decided to have a short stopover on the way. Not far away from Lomé, yet being a completely different world, remote Agbodrafo is located on the small strip between the ocean and Lake Togo. There is not so much to see – a main road with a few shops, a fishermen village, some fields for agriculture – and it is the perfect place to take a rest. I spent two nights at Irma Boto’s legendary Swiss “Hotel Safari” and enjoyed the quietness and beautiful weather, relaxing and lying under the sun.

Agbodrafo is also a good spot for a day-trip to Togoville on the northern shore of Lake Togo. It is a quite popular tourists’ destination, but has not lost any of its charm and authenticity and is surprisingly non-touristy. Its sleepy appearance contradicts the historical importance of the site: in 1884, the German explorer Gustav Nachtigal signed a treaty with the local chiefs that gave the Germans full rights over Togoland until World War One, when Togo was taken by the French. Of course, their first act was to rename Togostadt to Togoville.

To reach the village, it is best to cross the lake by boat, so I took a Lampedusa-memory ship, which was full of merchandise, animals and locals. Nearly no one spoke French there, but the pirogue-steering person managed to tell me that I would have to pay 2000 CFA one-way (approximately 3 Euros). Given that the monthly wage of the employees at the hotels in town is more or less 35 000 CFA, I was a bit sceptical and explained the guy that I would pay exactly the same as the others. A few simple peasants confirmed the price but most passengers kept silent when I asked them for the normal fare. When we arrived at the other side, I saw that – as expected – everyone else was only giving small coins of about 200 CFA to the ferryman, so I refused to pay the expensive amount he had told me before. He got angry and I asked him why I should have to give him more money than the locals. Not giving me a clear answer, I pointed at my skin and wanted to know if it was because I am white. He started feeling embarrassed and admitted my color to be the reason. Now it was easy for me to say he was racist and the whole crowd present became very ashamed, just what I wanted to achieve. In the end, I paid 300 CFA including the return transport back to the southern shore.

At the edge of the village, I met the local guides from the “Centre Artisanal”, who offer a guided visit at a fair price, which is fixed by a 20 years old travel book. The guide was friendly and I learnt a lot of interesting facts regarding Togoville. I came at market day and it was funny to see a real “marché de troc” (barter market), where merchants exchange corn against tomatoes or petrol against goats without using any money. Since the area is still a voodoo stronghold, there are many fetishes spread all around the city. They protect families and you can consult them if you want to have rain for your harvest. You can feel that the belief in their powers is really firm here but that it is also a clever business. For instance, on market day the owner of the trade fetish opens its shrine and people make offerings to have a hopefully productive day, rich in profits. Magically, the god always seems to take the presents and donations. Okay, well, at least they have disappeared until the evening.

Another nice and important place is the cathedral. Built by the Germans around 1910, it had never totally been accepted by the population, a huge majority wanted to stay faithful animists. But then the appearance of the holy virgin was reported and Togoville became the number one pilgrim site of the country. Even Pope John Paul II came to investigate whether this appearance was indeed the true Mother of God or rather a simple cheap copy. And then he was very happy to announce the good news: the report was no fake, Mary had really honored the area around the lake with her visit. Besides, Pope John Paul took the opportunity of being here to advise the infidels that they should please also adopt Catholicism to their faith (of course additionally – you would never want to be too strict in your convictions whenever you try to gain new followers). So nowadays, people apparently believe in One God and go to church on Sundays, but they keep on adoring and praying to other fetishes and shrines, and will consult a magic wizard for many different motivations and issues.

…. after this soft and light introduction to the culture of animism, I am so glad and look forward to go to Benin, motherland of voodoo where they surely won’t do things by halves like those Togolese pussies here!