-          Police Check Points: if you’re in a hurry to get from A to B then you shouldn’t be driving in Nigeria. The section of 100km from the border post was littered with these checkpoints: a small structure on the side of the road made from wooden poles and slats, complete with obligatory ‘bed’ for those quite periods. A makeshift barrier slides out as you approach – it manually slides along the ground from aforementioned structure and is decorated with nails pointing to the sky. You inevitably stop, especially when armed men cock their rifles. The whole process is relatively painful – many questions, lots of small talk and of course the ‘What present have you brought for me from South Africa?’. Our standard response to this was, ‘A smile and a good attitude! Is it OK for us to continue, officer?’. And off we went! 8 seconds was our quickest stop, as we began to time ourselves to keep our interest levels up throughout the process.

-          Poverty vs Wealth: driving through the country we barely came across fresh produce and how the majority of people survive is a mystery. Small villages of shanty type homes littered the sides of the roads. The roads were potholed, overcrowded with trucks and utterly atrocious. 20km from Abuja, the Capital, the roads became first class highways and Abuja sprung into sight, a view not dissimilar to arriving in Johannesburg. The shopping centre near our hotel had a 15 screen cinema, Nandos (our eyes were on stalks when we saw it and we wanted to jump over the counter and hug the attendant), well stocked bookstore, Mango, a  games centre, marble flooring, neon-lit water features, a cocktail bar…and contained the well-heeled Nigerians sporting American/British accents. A far cry from what we had traversed through painstakingly for the previous 2 and a half days.

-          ‘Dashing’ and ‘Snapping’:  words that became part of vocabulary. A ‘dash’ can mean either a bribe or a tip. Most roadblock officials are after a dash from the drivers, but we were relentless and the most we gave was an onion, taken reluctantly by the officer. A ‘dash’ can also be a tip given to someone who has provided you with a service, or a gift from someone, such as if you bought a lot of bananas from a lady on the side of the street she may ‘dash’ you with an extra few or a couple of oranges. ‘Snapping’ is referred to when taking a photo and often we heard ‘Don’t Snap me’ or ‘No snapping’ as our Japanese influenced crew traipsed through Nigeria.

-          ‘You are Welcome!’. This is thrown into greetings as casually as the South African ‘Howzit’ but with real sincerity. Throughout our 8 days in Nigeria we felt so warmly welcomed by one and all – the staff at the Sheraton who would tend to our needs as though we were full paying guests, Thelma who offered us two rooms in her hotel free of charge and took us on a tour of Calabar with her driver and mini-bus, the tourism representative for the Cross River State who gave us goodie bags of marketing paraphernalia, Mama from Mokland Inn who lovingly watched Andrew eat her Amalah (well done to Bones for managing to finish it!). Really, the people were fantastic and it is unfortunate that Nigerians have the stereo-typical image of grime and crime when in fact their country is blessed with such fabulous and down-to-earth hospitality.

And yet, Nigeria is a country we’re coming to love. Getting around can sometimes be a little tough, and it’s certainly a challenging destination for first-timers to Africa, but you shouldn’t believe all the scare stories. Lagos is one of the most exuberant cities in Africa, while port city Calabar makes for an enjoyable stopover for travellers on their way to Cameroon. Across Southern Nigeria, old kingdoms carry on their customs, from creating elaborate brass sculptures to venerating the ancient gods. More modern traditions include one of the world’s pioneering primate conservation organisations. In the north, where the land dries out as it stretches towards the desert, Muslim Nigeria thrives in dusty trade cities where memories of the Saharan trade routes still linger. Don’t miss West Africa’s oldest city Kano, and Yankari National Park, the best in the country.

Nigeria is a country of extremes. Great wealth and great poverty sit cheek by jowl, and tensions between different communities can boil over into civil strife. While a few parts of the country remain problematic, the vast majority is as warm and welcoming to visitors as anywhere in Africa. Challenging yet exuberant, this is Africa in the raw – there’s nowhere quite like it on the continent.

Thanks to Lonely Planet

We entered Benin at different times as Maude’s air-conditioning problems took a little longer than planned. Unfortunately this wasn’t all Maude’s fault, but instead was ‘helped’ by the Lome mechanics who somewhat frustratingly damaged a working part when trying to fix the broken one. Maude’s passengers were therefore very happy to enter Benin – all in air-conditioned comfort but with lighter wallets and a few days behind schedule!

Straight away, it was easy to see that Benin is a wealthier country than Togo. Other first impressions included the vast array of water that reminded us of South East Asia’s rice fields. Andrew, Dee and I visited the village of Ouidah which is known as a voodoo stronghold. Voodoo means spirit, demigod or intermediary and the benevolence of voodoo is sought through offerings. Communities often pay homage to a specific voodoo who becomes their main spiritual protector. In Ouidah, the spirit Dangbe, has a special place and is represented by the snake. Our interest levels took us to visiting the local python temple. On arrival there were chickens and ducks for sale that we could offer as sacrifices in we so wished. We decided to spare the chickens and ducks. From the outside, the temple is nothing to write home about. However the inside definitely got our hearts racing. At least 50 pythons live in this 15 or so square meter temple. As you can imagine, it was therefore difficult to stand anywhere without having snakes in front of us, behind us, either side of us and above us. Our guide assured us that they wouldn’t harm us but this information did little to calm Dee when our guide wrapped one of the pythons around her neck without warning! Needless to say, we didn’t stay long.

Back in the days when the shore of the Gulf of Benin was known as the Slave Coast, some of the largest trading posts and slave markets were around Ouidah. We followed the same route that the slaves were made to march until they reached the ‘Door of no return’ which is where the ships left from. It was harrowing to think that is this where the slaves had their last view of Africa and their previous lives as free people.

We slept in a beautiful location in Grand Popo, right next to the beach. We enjoyed relaxing with watermelon smoothies, grateful that we’d all made it to this piece of paradise with Maude’s aircon working. A few of us started our second day in Benin with a picturesque run along the beach, around lagoons and through the nearby village. The people and pigs were all surprised to see us running – understandable given the level of humidity!

We drove a couple of hours to Ganvie which is said to be Africa’s largest lake village. The people initially moved here in an attempt to get away from the Dan-Homey King as he was trading people from weaker communities as slaves. For religious reasons, the Dan-Homey people were forbidden to attack over water and so the people of Ganvie set up their entire existence in wood and thatch houses built on tall stilts above the water. The village is only accessible by boat and the floating market was quite a site to see as women sold various items from their pirogues (canoes).

That night we slept in Abomey – capital of one of the great West African kingdoms in pre-colonial times. Unfortunately not much of the royal palace remains and we had to leave early to ensure we made it to the Nigerian border as early as possible. We were surprised to reach a sign that said ‘Nigeria’ when we hadn’t yet cleared Benin customs or immigration. After seeking help from the locals, we ascertained that we had to drive back 17km to an obscure building on the side of the road to clear customs. We had to clear immigration in an even more obscure building tucked away amongst the chaos close to the Nigerian border. It seems it hard to achieve anything quickly in Africa but we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Benin and wished it could have been longer.

Regardless of the ill-gotten Dahomeyan gains glittering in the Musée Historique d’Abomey, there are plenty of treasures on Benin’s dusty streets and palm-fringed beaches. This is the birthplace of voodoo, the country’s national religion, exported by the slaves and distorted by Hollywood. Voodoo is an important part of everyday life and most towns bear signs of it, such as the fetish markets stocked with the heads and skins of every animal imaginable.

Elephants, lions and crocodiles can be seen in more animated form in the northern wildlife parks, notably Pendjari, one of the best in West Africa. Then there are the stilt villages, home to thousands in the southern lagoons, and the northern tata somba (fortlike mud huts) built by the insular Somba people. Not only is Benin a richly historical and cultural country, this politically stable nation is one of the easiest parts of West Africa to travel in.

Thanks to Lonely Planet

Our border crossing was thankfully uneventful (possibly thanks to Mik who managed to make the border official laugh out loud with her imitation of a lion when describing a South African R50 note which he had been interested in seeing), and we were once more grateful for our South African passports which meant we didn’t need visas. We crossed over near the Togolese town of Kpalime, following a small road towered by enormous trees and palm leaves the sizes of elephant ears, and then headed for Mt. Klouto situated in the coffee-growing highland district of the region, and famous also for it’s forest and butterflies. We spent the night camped on the summit, where we drank ‘Mt. Klouto Kick Mango Rum Smoothies’ and debated the possibilities of starting a ‘Togo-Juice’ business, inspired by the abundant array of fruit we had seen and bought on our way up to the summit. Innocent® be warned, competition awaits!

The following morning, we went on a guided walk of the surrounds, led by Guillime. We were led through patches of beautiful lush forest, sadly interspersed far too frequently by fields of ‘slash and burn’ farming. We saw a few of the 200 species of butterflies, but it was probably too early in the morning for the full spectacle to be observed. Or perhaps the reduction of their habitat is not helping the expansion of numbers! (We did however see beautiful display cases of butterflies – ‘a vendre’ – the colours and variety of which would impress any entymologist worth his salt). Guillime was incredibly knowledgeable regarding the local medicinal uses of plants; and he showed and described to us the local cures for malaria, infection and fever. He also explained that the leaves of the cassava plant are chewed if someone is bitten by a snake, and this apparently helps to slow down the spread of the venom (perhaps by slowing down one’s heart-rate?) while the unfortunate victim seeks medical attention. After purchasing batik art-work from a great local artist, pineapple jam and locally produced coffee, we set off for Lome.

Lome is a bit of a shock after the impressive infrastructure and economic drive found in Accra. Togo’s first democratic elections were held in 2007.  It is incredibly dilapidated and the signs of its corrupt and unstable government are glaringly obvious, bar the tarred main seaside boulevard, no doubt a Chinese ‘contribution’. We checked ourselves in to ‘Chez Alice’ and then set off for our appointment aboard the Mercy ship, currently moored in Lome. (The taxi ride there was pretty scary to say the least!). Neil’s brother had helped us to organise the visit the ‘floating hospital’ through his fiancée who had worked as a volunteer on board. Kelly and Estelle kindly showed us around the ship and answered our hundreds of questions with much patience! We were amazed by the extent of the facilities, from fully equipped operating theatres and school-rooms to a Starbucks cafeteria! The Christian organization that runs the Mercy ship is based in The States, and relies solely on donations to keep it going. If ever there was a worthy cause, this is it! The surgeries range from maxillo-fascial tumour removals and orthopaedic osteotomies to cleft palate repairs and cataract removals. There are also extensive community education and training programmes. After attending a vibrant church service onboard, we disembarked and headed for ‘The Pumpkin Man’s Fast Food Restaurant’, so named on account of his sign-board, which was anything but fast but did serve great local dishes at very affordable prices.

The next day was meant to be ‘head for the border day’, but unfortunately Maude developed a problem with her air-con bearings, and her loud screeching protests meant that we stayed another day in town as the crew tried to source parts. Andrew, Laura and I took the opportunity to check out the “Voodoo/Fetish” market in town. Interesting, if a bit touristy, and rather devastating for the poor animals!!

So, here we sit in Togo, as we await Maude’s repairs.