Soul of West Africa

TRAVEL LOG: Togo, Benin, and Ghana

After years of procrastination, it was time to take the plunge and venture into West Africa. My first and hopefully not last foray, took me to 3 small neighboring countries, Togo, Benin, and Ghana. Of the three, Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) is probably the most familiar as the home of the slave “castles” of Elmina and Cape Coast. This was one of the principle points for slaves across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, Brazil, and North America. The Cape Coast castle is a UNESCO World Heritage site and was the largest slave castle in the world. It is a sobering experience to walk through the dungeons where slaves were held before being shipped across the Atlantic to servitude in the Americas.

Cape Coast Castle | Ghana's central coast

In recent years, Ghana has also gained popularity for ancestry tours. All three countries are steeped in festivals that occur throughout the year. Agrarian seasons still mark the calendar year and Akosombo’s October Millet Festival celebrating the harvest is an important one.

Despite colonial influences over the centuries, these countries have managed to maintain many of their tribal traditions and religion. Perhaps the most widely misunderstood is voodoo which is still very much in practice in Benin and Togo.

Voodoo Dolls | Voodoo is part of a West African traditional religion

A Royal Funeral Wake | The procession of the community

While in Ghana, I and a small multinational group of fellow travelers witnessed not only the pageantry of The Millet Festival, a funeral/wake…