Ghana, Burkina, Togo and Benin Tour (16 Days)

BALANZAN TOURS

Tour Itinerary:

Day 1: Welcome to Akwaaba. Arrive in Accra, Ghana. Transfer from airport to your hotel. Welcome drink and orientation. Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Accra. Lodging: La-Palm. Includes: (D).

Day 2: Accra city Tour. After breakfast depart hotel for a sightseeing city Tour of Accra. You will drive through the administrative and economic districts of Accra, the capital of Ghana. This 128-year-old city has a blend of colonial and modern architecture that summarize her history. You will visit the W. E. B. Dubois Center for Pan African Culture, Independence/Black Star Square and Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park.

After lunch in a local Ghanaian restaurant, you will end your Tour at the Arts Center where you will have an opportunity to use your bargaining skills to shop from an open-air market for artifacts from Ghana and West Africa. Dinner and overnight at hotel in Accra. Lodging: La-Palm. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 3: Accra - Kumasi - Mole. After a very early breakfast check out of hotel and depart for a drive through Techiman to Mole National Park. Stop over in Kumasi for lunch. After lunch, continue the journey northwards through Damongo to Mole National Park. Lodging: Mole Hotel. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 4: Tamale Craft Shopping. Embark on an early morning trek to the National Park to view some of West Africa’s big game: elephants, antelopes, water bucks, warthog’s baboons, monkeys and more. After breakfast, check out and depart Mole to drive east to Tamale the capital of the Dagomba State. Visit the Center for National Culture to see how the Northern Culture evolved. Here smocks (fugu) are designed, dyed and sewed by hand.

You may shop at the Handicraft Market. After your lunch, visit Kukuo a suburb of Tamale to experience the mastery and style used in the manufacture of pottery and other household items with clay and local dye or (paint). Overnight at hotel in Tamale. Lodging: Gariba Lodge. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 5: Tamale – Bolgatanga - Ouagadougou. Breakfast at the lodge. Check out and depart for a drive further northeast through Bolgatanga to the animated capital city of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Overnight at hotel in Ouagadougou. Lodging: Soiritel Hotel. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 6: Ouagadougou city Tour. Depart for a sightseeing Tour of Ouagadougou the traditional capital of the Mossi Empire. Visit the Grand Marche, also known as “Rood Woko” is the modern and perhaps most attractive marketplace in West Africa. This is the best place to shop for baskets with leather wrapped handles, fabrics and print from Cote D'Ivoire plus a good selection of indigo tie-dyed cloth from Guinea. Again visit the Center Artisanto shop for bronze castings, carvings masks, jewelry-desert crosses and terracotta beads as well as Tuareg leather boxes.

End the day by visiting the Musee National. The museum is primarily of an ethnographic collection such as clay pots, basket making and weaving exhibits, Burkina Faso’s regional costumes including the Mossi chief’s regalia, ancestral statutes of the Bobo, Mossi, Lobi and Gourounsi people. Overnight at your hotel in Ouagadougou. Lodging: Soiritel Hotel. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 7: "W" Parc National D’Arli in Burkina Faso. Take leisure trek in the D’Arli game park that houses the hippos, lions, elephants, monkeys, buffaloes, leopards and more. After lunch take an optional trek through the National Park to view West Africa’s big game, for the faint heart you can opt to spend the remainder of the day at leisure. Lodging: Parc D' Arli. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 8: Niamey city Tour. Depart for a drive to Niamey, Niger. Check into your hotel and have lunch. After lunch, explore the treasures of Niamey, the capital city of Niger. Visit the Grand Marche, the Musee National and the "Centre Culturel Franco-Nigerien". This center has an active schedule that includes exhibits by local artists and craftsmen, dance and theater performances, and regular film screenings. After lunch use remainder of the day for relaxation. Overnight at hotel in Niamey. Lodging: Gaweye Hotel. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 9: Pendjari National Park. After breakfast, enjoy a drive through the historic Pendjari National Park, one of West Africa’s surviving tropical savannas. Take a walk through this forest to discover the wide variety and significant Big Game where you have a good chance of spotting elephants, buffaloes, hippos, crocodiles, lions, warthogs, monkeys, antelopes and other exotic wildlife. After lunch spend the remainder of the day at leisure. Overnight hotel in Natitingou. Lodging: Tata Somba Hotel. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 10: Natitingou - Somba. Depart Pendjari National Park for a drive to Natitingou to visit the homeland of the Tata Somba ethnic group. This authentic and charming part of the country suits the independent traveler because it has almost no tourist infrastructure. After lunch Tour the tribal villages. Overnight at hotel in Nattingou. Lodging: Tata Somba Hotel. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 11: Natitingou – Parakou. Check out and depart Natitingou for a drive to Parakou. Check into your hotel and have lunch. After lunch, spend the rest of the day either interacting with the local people or relaxing at your hotel. Overnight at hotel in Parakou. Lodging: Centrale Hotel. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 12: Parakou - Abomey. Breakfast at hotel. Depart Parakou for a drive to Abomey, the historical capital of the great kingdom of Dahomey. Visit the 15th century Royal Palace and its museum featuring relics that tell the story of this great kingdom that survived for several centuries. Overnight at hotel in Abomey. Lodging: Motel Abomey. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 13: Abomey – Ganvie – Cotonou. After breakfast, make 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 pile high with wares, transacting commerce with one another and with tourists. You will enjoy shopping the floating market and a cruise on the waterways of this exotic 300-year-old village. After lunch, take a city Tour of Cotonou. Drive through the multicolored center of the administrative and commercial capital of Benin to view its many statues and monuments. Overnight at a hotel in Cotonou. Lodging: Marina Benin. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 14: Cotonou – Ouidah – Lome, Togo. Breakfast at hotel. Depart for a visit to Ouidah, the cradle of African Traditional Religion, en-route to Cotonou. Tour the temple dedicated to the sacred Python, which is believed to give vitality and protection; you will also pay a visit to the sacred forest which 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. Later, visit the Port of No Return; a monument built by the Benin Government to commemorate the Africans that were taken from the Dahomey Empire during the Slave Trade. Continue the journey northwards to Lome, Togo. Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Lome. Lodging: Ibis. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 15: Lome - Accra. Breakfast at hotel. Tour the city of Lome. Visit Grand Marche, Marche des Feticheurs, Musee National, Place de L’Independence. After lunch, depart for a drive along the coast to Accra. Overnight at hotel in Accra. Lodging: La-Palm. Includes: (B), (D).

Day 16: Day at leisure. Departure. Spend the most part of this day at leisure and last minute shopping. Check out and transfer to airport for check-in for final departure back home. Includes: (B).

Notes:
Airfare is not included in the Tour price.

Price Includes:
- Airport transfers
- Transportation through out the Tour in an air-conditioned bus
- Accommodation daily
- Breakfast daily
- Entrance fees to sites named in the program
- Ferry cruise on the Volta River
- Canoe ride in Ganvie
- Driver’s daily allowance
- Local Tour guide’s services
- Company service charge.

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