Togoville

Togoville gave its name first to a German protectorate and then to a country, but the village's own identity runs deeper than the 1884 treaty signed here: it is one of the coast's vodun heartlands, its shrines and sacred groves tended in full continuity, with priestly compounds explaining what may be explained and guarding the rest. The classic arrival is by pirogue across Lake Togo's shallow breadth, landing below the twin-towered cathedral built by the Germans - now a Marian pilgrimage site, making the village a rare double capital of faiths - and the old chief's compound museum keeps the treaty story and the royal regalia.

What to look for

• The pirogue crossing - Lake Togo's slow approach to the shrine village.
• The vodun shrines - compounds and sacred trees, guided respectfully.
• The cathedral - the German twin towers, now a pilgrimage church.
• The treaty memory - the chief's compound and its museum telling of 1884.

When to go

November to February is dry and bright for the crossing; vodun ceremony seasons and the Marian pilgrimage dates each bring the village its fuller life - ask locally what the calendar holds.

Good to know

Visits run on village guides and negotiated fees - agree the tour's scope at the landing; shrine photography is by explicit permission and sometimes simply no. The lake is bilharzia-prone - ride it, don't swim it. The village is small; the depth is in the telling, not the walking distance.

Nearby

Agbodrafo's lake shore, Aneho's old capital and Lome an hour west.