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в Гималайский клуб в Москве:
628 21 12 / 621 67 85
 HYPERLINK "mailto:andrey@himalaya.ru" andrey@himalaya.ru
 HYPERLINK "mailto:sergo@himalaya.ru" sergo@himalaya.ru



DAY 1 ARRIVE IN LOME
Arrival in Lome and transfer to Hotel.
O/N HOTEL LA LICORNE

 DAY 2 LOME – SOKODE
Our trip starts with a visit to the fetish market of Lome where one finds the ingredients for sacrifices and also for the realization of the religion voodoo. The direction after that is to the north. We will stop at Atakpame , a town surrounded by hills and we will visit the market where one finds the fruits of the rain forest. We will also have the chance to meet the Kente weavers whose work is normally used by the notables at least in the past.
 In the evening we will attend to a fire dance of the TEM population accompanied by the tens drumming and dancing

DAY 3 SOKODE – KARA
Leave Sokode after breakfast in the mountainous direction of the Malfakassa – fazao  to the land of the Iron pioneers of Bassar. The villages of Bassar are well known for the civilization of iron and forging in West Africa and we will see how they still perform this art. The Kabye of this region are the masters of this art and as well as the oldest tribe.
O/N HOTEL KARA 

DAY 4 KARA – NATITINGOU
In the border region between TOGO and BENIN are the lands of the of the Tamberma and the Somba who build fortified mini three storey like castles of mud and wood within an arrows flight from one another. This practice was done to allow neighbors to defend  each other in the event of slave raiders attacking on horse backs, these  populations are  fiercely  animistic and these and other traditions are reflected in the fetishes found everywhere virtually. This area is rarely visited by westerners, but it is of ethnographical interest.
O/N HOTEL TATA SOMBA

DAY 5  NATI – ABOMEY
Today is mostly a travel day that takes us from Benin’s Sahelian north to the tropical south. Along the way we will visit the villages of the Taneka people who  lives in the hills after a short drive from Natitingou.  We will spend the morning visiting their villages. The Taneka are subsistence farmers, but rather than building fortified like Somba, they choose to locate their villages on rocky hillsides that they are easily protected from raiders. Power is divided in this region between the political leaders and the spiritual leaders thus no one is above the other. We will pass some ancient voodoo shrines that known through out West Africa.
O/N HOTEL DAKO 1ST

 DAY 6  ABOMEY  -- GRAND POPO
With over three hundred years of domination like the Ashanti of Ghana, the Danhomey empire rivaled the Ashanti stretching for what is now Togo to the West and into parts of Nigeria to the east. It was an EMPIRE based on a combination of warfare and trade with the surrounding tribes and their dominance eventually led them to trade with the Europeans on the coast, opting to trade captives of war rather than killing them, a significant slave trade eventually developed with the Europeans on the coast. A short drive to Abomey this morning , we will visit a vast banco complex that was once the Kings palace which is now a museum. Despite the ravages of war and the brutal climate, much remains of the compound and it is interesting to walk about and see the ANIMIST TEMPLE built of HUMAN BLOOD, SEA WATER, COWRY SHELLS ,GOLD DUST AND MUD that the king used to converse  with his ancestors, and the throne with four human skulls.
In the afternoon, after a short drive we will take followed with a boat ride across the lake Nokwe to the village of Ganvie  on stilts known as the *Venice of Africa* . Ganvie is inhabited by some 15000people all of whom live in bamboo huts built on stilt. People moved here to avoid slave raiders in the past.
O/N AUBERGE DE GRAND POPO


DAY 7  GRANDPOPO
We will start the day with a navigation on the river Mono to the estuary. We will visit the Islands on the water which produces salt from the river and the village Island where the festival of Twins are held every year. Twins in our society are considered very sacred due to the  belief that they transform themselves to various animals at night.
We conclude our day with the ZANGBETO mask dance in one of the villages. The Zangbetos are large colorful spirit masks coverd with straws representing forces that inhabited the earth long before manand who literally sweep out evil from the village at night. During the dance, masks are thrust upwards through splendid acrobatic  maneuvers.
O/N AUBERGE DE GRAND POPO
  

DAY 8 GRANDPOPO – LOME
The morning offers a rare opportunity to visit a  famous voodoo priest known for curing the mentally ill. His alters are very impressive and it is on these that he performs ceremonies to ensure our safe voyage and to respond to any specific wishes that anyone may have. The late afternoon will be free for last shopping after the visit to the fetish market where everything  for the realization of voodoo is available from monkey skulls to Shango images and local medicines.
Transfer to the airport.