rivlinm

I have a flight into ACC and 7 days later I need to take a flight from ACC or LOS to KGL. I wish to visit Togo and possibly Benin in that week.

I know I could easily just do a few day trips or an overnight in Benin if I want and return to ACC after the week to fly out.

I also am considering going from ACC through Togo, Benin and Nigeria to fly out of Lagos.

Is that just too crazy?

Visas:
Ghana (have multi entry visa already)
Togo (sounds like VOA/Transit is an option at border)
Benin (VOA/Transit is no longer a thing; must apply for $140 in advance)
Nigeria (Must apply for $30 in advance)

Flight are $30 cheaper out of LOS so that negates the Nigerian Visa, but otherwise cost is not a factor.

My two biggest concerns are finding safe taxis at each border and not having my belongings stolen as this will be the start of a 40 day trip across Africa/ME/Asia.

Proposed Schedule

Day 1: Land at ACC in evening
Day 2: Day trip to Cape Coast
Day 3: Visit Accra
Day 4: Depart Accra for Lome in morning (~4 hours)
Day 5: Depart Lome for Benin in evening (~4 hours)
Day 6: Depart Benin in afternoon (~6 hours)
Day 7: Visit Lagos
Day 8: Morning departure from LOS>KGL

Feedback on any aspect would be appreciated. (Visas, transportation times, borders, safety, time in each city)

Kobi87

It sounds like you have done your research! Living in Accra, I can't comment too much outside of the ACC/Ghana side of things so here goes....

It's worth noting that to do Cape Coast in a day, you're looking at a 6AM departure at the latest in order to beat the traffic, given that you're arriving the night before, this may be a bit of a stretch.

This is very much of a personal opinion (shared by a few others) but I would argue that there is more to see/do in Accra so it may be worth departing for Lome on day 5 instead of 4 and just spending one day there.

As far as taxis/transport are concerned, you will be fine in Ghana and Lome is more or less on the border so there should be no problem once you cross in Togo, you can even take a local motorbike taxi depending on luggage.

Last point would be that I would advise against travelling by road in any of these countries at night. It's less a question of security amd more one of the quality of the roads and drivers.

I wish you the best of luck and let me know if there's anything else I can help with!

jphripjah

Sorry for late reply. I did this trip in 2009. I flew into Accra, spent a few days there. On the last day, I went to the bus station and asked about buses to Aflao, they told me to come back at 6 a.m. or so to get the bus. Aflao is about four hours away on the border with Lome, Togo.

Got the bus, walked across the border and got a mototaxi into Lome proper.

2 nights in Lome, then got a private taxi from the share taxi park to Cotonou, I think it was about 3 hours, and taxi would have cost about $50 or so.


2 nights in Cotonou, then got a share taxi across the Nigeria border at Seme. I had gotten my Nigeria visa in advance, but crossing this border involved negotiating an impressive gantlet of bribe-seeking Nigerian immigration officials. I appeased them by handing out some Obama stickers.

The drive from the border to Lagos looked like a scene from "Mad Max" -- a lot of cars that didn't look roadworthy, everything reeked of petrol, many official and unofficial checkpoints, etc. The taxi was supposed to drop us at "Mile 2" outside Lagos, but it looked pretty intimidating and I paid the share taxi driver extra to drive me straight to Lagos airport. I think the whole thing from Cotonou city center to Lagos airport took 5-6 hours.

FWIW, I actually enjoyed Lome more than Accra and I think it's worth two nights.

SkyTeam777

According to ExpertFlyer/Timatic, Benin still does allow VOA/Transit is permitted for those with onward travel in less than 24 hours. Is EF/Timatic wrong?