10 Day Ghana, Togo and Benin Tour

Arrive in Accra, Ghana. You will be met at the airport by Landtours representatives who will assist you with your transfer from the airport to your hotel. Enjoy a welcome drink at the hotel and participate in an orientation session. Remainder of the day at leisure. Overnight at a hotel in Accra.

After breakfast, depart for a sightseeing tour of Accra, the Capital of Ghana. Experience the city’s highlights during this Accra orientation. The capital of Ghana since 1877, Accra is also the capital of the Greater Accra Region. In addition, it’s the country’s most populous city. Travel through the administrative and economic districts of Accra.

Also, see the Artiste Alliance Gallery, the W.E.B. Du Bois Center for Pan African Culture, the University of Ghana, the Independence/Black Star Square, and Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. Learn about important events in Ghana’s history and the country’s first president who helped lead Ghana to independence. End the day’s tour at the Arts Center, where participants can sharpen their bargaining skills to shop for goods from Ghana and West Africa in an open-air market.

Overnight at a hotel in Accra. Meals Included: Breakfast.

After breakfast, depart to Cape Coast and drive through the historic Denkyira Kingdom to Kakum National Park, one of West Africa’s surviving tropical rain forests. Choose between a 2 km nature walk through the rain forest to discover the wide variety of exotic flora and fauna species and the medicinal values they offer or take a walk on the canopy walkway hanging 40 meters above the forest ground.

After lunch on your own, embark on a tour of the infamous Forts, Castles, and Slave Dungeons of Ghana. History will unfold the story of the slave trade which the impact is still felt beyond the shores of Africa today. Visit the Cape Coast Castle built by the Swedes in 1653 and was later taken over by the British. Here, you would learn about the relationship between the western slave traders and the African tribes that made the trans-Atlantic slave trade possible.

It is an opportunity to be up and close with history – to stand in the dark and stuffy dungeons, imagining the experience and conditions that millions of Africans endured. This castle also houses the West African Historical Museum.

Overnight at a hotel in Cape Coast / Elmina. Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner.

After breakfast, visit Elmina Castle, also known as St. George’s Castle, which was built by the Portuguese in 1482. Here, learn about the relationship between the western slave traders and the African tribes that participated in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Here participants will witness the dark and stuffy dungeons local people were forced to endure before being sent on a long and perilous passage across the Atlantic. To see the truth of these conditions in person is a powerful reminder of the inhumanity of the slave trade.

After lunch, explore Elmina, a fishing village that’s both picturesque and gritty, charming and thought-provoking. What better way to appreciate it than to immerse oneself in its main industry – fishing! Meet with local fishermen to learn the intricacies of their trade and the challenges they face in their day-to-day work. Next, meet the fishmongers in the village who will demonstrate the various stages of smoking the fish in earthenware ovens. This is a
unique way to experience one of Ghana’s oldest and important trades.

Overnight at a hotel in Elmina / Cape Coast. Meals Included: Breakfast.

After breakfast, check out of your hotel and drive through the forest zone to Kumasi, the seat of the Ashanti Empire to explore the legends of the famous Ashantis, whose legacies are still evident today. En route, stop at Assin Manso. Visit the site of “Donkor Nsuo”, the former Slave River and market, the final transit point for a large number of enslaved Africans. This is the final resting place for two ancestors whose mortal remains were returned from the USA and Jamaica and re-interred there.

Continue your drive to Kumasi where you will visit Manhyia Palace Museum to obtain firsthand information on the legacies of the Ashanti kingdom. A regal history that dates back to 1700 is told with relics and artifacts. Enjoy a drive through the city with monuments dedicated to the memory of the great Ashanti people. End the day’s tour at the National Cultural Center which features the Prempeh II Jubilee Museum and various studios of the brass makers, potters and batik makers.

Overnight at a hotel in Kumasi. Meals Included: Breakfast.

After breakfast, depart your hotel and devote this day to visiting the three famous Ashanti craft villages. After breakfast, depart for Ahwiaa, the wood carvers’ village, Ntonso, the home of Adinkra cloth, and Bonwire, the Kente weaving village. You will have an opportunity to see how African crafts are made and to buy directly from the artisans who make them.

Overnight at a hotel in Kumasi. Meals Included: Breakfast and Dinner.

After breakfast, check out of your hotel and depart for Accra. En route to Accra, stop on the way at Besease shrine, a world heritage site. The Besease Shrine is a traditional fetish shrine near the town of Ejisu. Each of these shrines is a home for a particular spirit, called obosom that mediates between mortals and the supreme god Nyame.

Observe the unique architecture and experience the mode of ancestral worship to the ancient gods. Upon arrival, check into your hotel and relax.

Overnight at a hotel in Accra. Meals Included: Breakfast.

After early morning breakfast, check out of your hotel and depart to Lome. Upon arrival, you will embark on a city tour of Lome. Visit the Grand Marche (Grand Market), Marche des Feticheurs (Fetish Market), Musee National (National Museum), as well as the Place de I’ Independence (Place of Independence, where the Independence Monument is situated).

Overnight at a hotel in Lome. Meals Included: Breakfast.

After breakfast, depart to Ouidah, the cradle of African Traditional Religion. Tour the temple dedicated to the sacred Python, believed to give vitality and protection. You will also visit the sacred forest; it houses many shrines dedicated to various deities. Visit the historical Museum of Ouidah located in an Old Portuguese Fort built in 1721. This Museum portrays Benin's role in the Atlantic Slave Trade.

After lunch on your own, visit the Port of No Return: a monument built by the Benin Government to commemorate the Africans taken from the Dahomey Empire during the Slave Trade.

Overnight at 4-star Golden Tulip Le Diplomate in Cotonou. Meals Included: Breakfast.

After breakfast, embark on a sensational visit to Ganvie (the village on water), commonly referred to as the Venice of West Africa. Witness first-hand the people of Ganvie carrying out their daily routine as vendors in dugout canoes piled high with wares, transacting commerce with one another and with tourists. You will enjoy shopping on the floating market and taking a relaxing canoe ride on the waterways of this exotic 300-year-old village. Enjoy lunch on
your own, and proceed to explore the administrative and commercial capital of Benin to view its many statues and monuments.