West Africa Three Ways

Arrive at Kotoka  International Airport in Accra, Ghana's capital. Our local representative will meet you and supervise your transfer to your hotel. (Note that check out is at 10am for most 4-5 stars hotel and check in at 2pm, so your rooms may not be ready if you arrive on a morning flight). Welcome Dinner.

After breakfast at your hotel, tour Ghana's century-old capital. Visit to the W.E.B. Dubois Centre for Pan African Culture.Visit the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park & Museum, a monument dedicated to the first president of an independent Ghana. Drive/walking tour of Jamestown, the colonial section of Accra (Jamestown).   View the Ussher and James forts built by the Dutch (1650) and British (1673), and respectively,  and  the Light House which used to guide ships to the Accra Harbor in colonial days. Visit the Independence Square and Arch. Meet the craftsmen at Nungua/Teshie, who make fantasy coffins in the shape of vegetables, fruits, cars,aircraft, etc. usually depicting the profession of the deceased. After lunch, visit the Arts and Crafts market and Woodin, the sensational African fabric shop which is located on one ofGhana’s busiest thoroughfare,  Oxford Street. Return to your hotel early evening

After breakfast,  check out and hit the road with your driver and guide. Drive to Nkwakaw and up the Kwahu mountain range to the village of Aduamoah  in the Eastern Region. We will have the opportunity to interact with a traditional chief, his elders and the people of the village. Take part in an Akan traditional naming ceremony where you will be given your own Akan name. Visit a local Presbyterian high school where we will make donations to their library and to repair the school roof. Depart for Kumasi. Check in at your hotel.

After breakfast, tour the city of Kumasi,  ancient seat of the powerful Ashanti Empire. Visit the Royal Manhyia Palace Museum, home and office of former Ashanti Kings. A regal history that datesback to 1700 is told with relics and artifacts. After lunch, visit three Ashanti craft villageso Ahwiaa; where woodcarvers produce Ashanti stools, fertility dolls & walking sticks.o Ntonso where Adinkra cloth is processed and dyed.o Bonwire where kente cloth is woven. Kente, a very colourful fabric usually worn on festive and veryimportant occasions like marriage ceremonies and child naming.  Return to your hotel in the late afternoon.

Today, you will begin to come face-to-face with the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Depart Kumasi to Assin Manso, the burial site of the remains of two former slaves exhumed from New York’s Wall Street and re-interred on Emancipation Day in 1998, and a third from Barbados as part of the Year of Return 2019 celebrations. Hike down to the “Slave River,” where captives took their last bath for their final journey to the dungeons at the coast, and finally the Memorial Wall. End the day in and check in to your hotel.  The rest of the day at leisure.

After breakfast, head for the tropical rainforest of Kakum National Park for mountain hile and an adventurous and breath-taking walk on the ‘Canopy Walkway’ --  an 1,150-foot long footbridge suspended 100 feet above the jungle canopy. Return to Cape Coast and step into the infamous Cape Coast Castle, the largest such "slave fort" buitmon the West African coast. This castle also houses the West African Historical Museum. The guide will take you through the male & female dungeons, negotiation hall and Governor’s quarters. Return to your hotel in the late afternoon

After breajfast, check out and depart Elmina. Visit the Elmina Castle, the oldest European monument in Ghana built in 1482 by the Portuguese. First established as atrade settlement, the castle later became one of the most important stops on the route of the Atlantic Slave Trade.. Join in a private ceremony to pray and lay a wreath at the "Door of No Return." Take a short walk around the colourful fishing harbor next to the castle to see the traditional dugout canoesthe local people use for their livelihood. After lunch, return to Accra, and check in at your hotel.

After breakfast & check out depart Accra to the Ghana/Togo border. We will go through immigration and border formalities and then drive to Lome, capital of Togo. Arrive and have lunch and then take a city tour of Lome. Visit the National Museum, the Lome Cathedral and drive past the Independence Square, Palais de Congress. Visit the Grand Marché, an open air market where you can find some very colourful African fabrics. Visit the crafts center. Lome is a shopper’s paradise for high quality tribal masks. Check in at your hotel.

Today, depart Togo and drive to Cotonou, capital of Benin.  Stopover at Agbodrafo a small town in Togo, formally known as Porto Seguro, and visit the ‘Slave House’ built in 1835 by a Scottish slave trader, John Henry Wood. This house has been designated as UNESCO World Heritage site. Continue to the Togo/Benin border, go through border, immigration formalities and cross into Benin. Drive to Ouidah for lunch. Visit the Python Temple, where Ouidah’s ancient snake cult is still very much in practice. Snakes are still an importantfeature of many voodoo rituals believed to be able to bring vitality and protection. Visit the 17th century Portuguese fort that depicts Benin’s turbulent past. Experience the slave route to the ‘Port of No Return’. This is a memorial dedicated to those who left the shores of Benin through slavery. Check in to your hotel in Cotonou.

After breakfast, rive to Porto Novo, also known in Goun as Hogbonou and inYoruba Adjatche. This town was named Porto-Novo in 1730 by Eucharistus deCAMPOS a Portuguese merchant because of the resemblanceof the area to the Portuguese town of Porto. Visit the Ethnographic Museum, the 300 year-old Palace of King Toffa and also the Brazilian church turned into a mosque. Return to Cotonou and to Abomey-Calavi port for a boat ride to Ganvie, a village on stilts spread across LakeNokoue, population 25,000. The ancestors of the Tofinu people who now live in the villagecreated this settlement in the 16th century to escape being captured by the Dahomey armies to be sold as slaves to thePortuguese. Tour the lake town mainly the residential area, lover’s lane and floating market. Return to the port and to your hotel.

This morning, travel north to Abomey, the former capital of the old Dahomey Empire. This empire which lasted 300 years, rivals that of the Ashanti, both of which established their power through constant wars and taking prisoners to sell into the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.  Stop over at Allada, the home to the founding father of Haiti, Toussaint L'Ouverture. Arrive in Abomey and visit one of the 12 mud palaces, which is now a Museum, the war room, the common grave of the 42 wives of King Glele and the throne room. Return to Cotonou and take a sightseeing of major landmarks in the city. Visit a crafts market where you can pick up souvenirs. Return to your hotel in the evening.

After breakfast and check-out, depart your hotel for the drive back to Accra. Stop on the way for lunch. Arrive in Accra in the early evening and go straight to the airportto check-in for your flight. Depart Accra via your international flight back home. END TOUR