Category Archives: World Trip 2013

On the Traces of the Dahomey Kingdom and the Route of Slaves

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First of all I must admit that I am far from being an expert on the following topics, and definitely I do not want to offend anybody with what will come next. I really liked travelling through the Black Continent and especially West-Africa is an area where I want to come back again in future. Yet it is surely true that when discovering these countries – in my opinion – there are not so many historical sites to see as in other regions like South-America, China or India. In fact, Africa’s history comes down mostly to early tribes and former regional powers, then colonialism and independence and afterwards today’s political, economic and social situation. Often the current societies lack a bit of an own characteristic past determining their proper culture and distinguishing them from their neighbors. Of course, there are a few exceptions and luckily Benin is one of them.

Around 1625, one of the chiefs of the numerous principalities in nowadays’ Benin settled in Abomey, conquered the neighboring kingdoms and founded the Dahomey Dynasty. For almost three centuries, Dahomey was one of the most important forces in West-Africa and the European colonial powers (mainly Portugal and France) fearfully had to reckon with this fierce empire. They rather avoided the capital city of Abomey and built-up the slave-trade ports of Ouidah and Porto Novo. Having its peak in the 19th century, approximately ten thousands slaves per year were shipped to Brazil and the Caribbean. The Dahomeyan Kings actively took part in this flourishing market and grew rich by selling countrymen to traders. They exchanged them primarily against canons and guns and used those weapons to pillage the surrounding areas for extending their land and acquiring new slaves again. At the very beginning of the 20th century, the French eventually colonized the Kingdom of Dahomey and forced the ultimate King Béhanzin to sign a treaty, which gave the French full administrative power over the former empire and led to the formation of the Protectorate of Dahomey. Béhanzin was sent away into exile and the colonial period lasted until Benin’s independence in 1960. Continue reading →

Between Lake and Sea

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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. Continue reading →

Lomé La Plus Belle

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Almost one week has passed since I arrived to Togo’s capital Lomé and – simply put – it was superb. Lomé is located at the coast on the Gulf of Guinea and directly next to the Ghana border. The city is rather developed with paved roads and streetlights, and it has a beautiful and surprisingly clean beach. Even if due to a strong undertow it is not advisable to swim in the sea, the beach is a great place to hang on, have a walk or relax. Many locals spend the weekend there, playing soccer or meeting friends, going to some “maquis” and always enjoying their time.

Similar to other African towns, the everyday life happens outside in the streets, mainly at the market area. Lomé’s market is one of the biggest in West Africa and you can find EVERYTHING you think of. The atmosphere is lively, hearty and warm, just like the Togolese. I feel very welcome here, lots of people talk to me in an open and friendly manner, we laugh a lot and almost never they do so because they want to sell you something or beg for money. They are really laid-back and so far it is impossible to feel stressed in Togo (I was soon to adopt this tranquil way of life – including the siesta). This is probably the reason why so many foreigners are happy to live and work here, it does not seem to me that the condition are that hard. Apart from European or French expats, there are a few Indians and quite a lot of Lebanese people who work in the gastronomy business or who own bars and discos. The remarkable exception are the Chinese who are only here to make money. They nearly never mix with other persons and form a strange and slightly inaccessible bubble in their Chinatown, having the most expensive and therefore empty restaurants. Continue reading →

Thank You, Ethiopian Airlines

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The day when I finally left Lusaka, I first learnt one important lesson: It might be true that you should not enter a car with unknown men inside, yet the same holds for women. Before going to the airport, I wanted to go to the nearby mall (10 minutes walking distance) and 3 women kindly offered to drop me there, because they were anyway leaving the guest-house’s bar right away. Knowing the directions, I accepted and actually they did drive me to the mall via the expected route. But during the drive, I realized that they were already a little drunk (it was 10 in the morning ….) and they started making obvious approaches to me, putting their both “arguments” in front. This phenomenon is quite common in Africa – white men often are an attractive goal for black women, and in fact many men take the advantage of these easy girls, especially in the new region I recently arrived to. For myself, in such situations I usually adopt the name Bertrand Delanoë and with that his sexual orientation!

Despite this slightly strange event, I arrived to Lusaka Airport on time and got my flight without any problems. As planned, we landed in Addis Ababa on the evening and I was ready to sleep at the airport because the following flight to my final destination was scheduled on the next morning. But a friendly officer from Ethiopian Airlines had a nice surprise for me: the company would offer me a hotel voucher to spend the night and have dinner and breakfast on their expenses. So I received a transit visa, I was transferred to the city and reached probably one of the most luxurious hotels of my whole trip so far. While all other guests had to sleep in “normal” rooms on the middle floors, without any reason I was given the key to the royal suite on the last floor, with a beautiful view over Addis by night. I guess that they had read our blog entries about Ethiopia and thought that they had something to compensate. Continue reading →

Well, what more should I say?

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After approximately 8 months of travels together, the shared world-trip eventually had to find an end. As planned, Steffen (and Eli) have returned home to Germany to continue their studies. We knew that this day was to arrive soon, but time goes by too fast and when we had to say goodbye, it felt a bit unexpected and at least I was not readily prepared for this separation. Now that I am alone and on my own again, I realize what big hole Steffen has left behind him and that I will have to reorientate myself a bit for the upcoming weeks. Travelling alone is a totally distinct but also a very nice and interesting experience, so I am really looking forward to what is still to come.

It is hard to find the words to say how grateful I am for him having had the idea of this journey and for motivating me to join him. His company, his sincerity and his friendship are the best gifts he could have given me. Thousands of adventures and uncountable hours of conversations or reflections on each possible topic will be inked forever in my mind. During the last year, I think that I considerably shaped my personality, I became a lot more open and self-confident, and I developed a more balanced and tolerant attitude – also thanks to his presence.

A special thank you goes to Eli, who arrived at a perfect time, when we already had quite a few routine and practice. Remarkably quickly, she managed to adapt to our rather relaxed and serene way of dealing with any kind of situation. I will never forget how she angrily shouted at and demonstratively walked away from a taxi driver who tried to cheat on us. But she also enabled us to get new and different point of views by breaking up our – admittedly a bit rusty – reasoning. I hope that she had as much fun as we did and that she enjoyed her “holidays” despite our bad and stupid jokes.

What I wanted and needed to say has been said, so instead of writing many more redundant thoughts or mushy tears-bringing choruses of praise, I prefer to conclude with a famous quotation from an Argentine TV-series. Those knowing the scene will understand how I would like to address them and will be able to bring it in line with the current context:

Yo quiero ser sincero con ustedes,
como que me llamo Tomás J.-B. Medina.
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Son tantas las aventuras vividas,
y tantos los momentos imborrables.
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Y no quiero dejar de decirles,
mirándolos a los ojos,
lo que siento por ustedes.
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Ya sé que no hace falta que lo diga,
lo hago porque tengo ganas.
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Les he dicho que los quiero,
les he dicho que los respeto,
también que los admiro.
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Pero amar no es lo mismo que querer,
y siento en este caso que la palabra querer me queda chica.
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Y yo siento que los amo!
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