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A WEST AFRICA CRUISE
by Ted Cookson
Published in January 2007
"Grass dancer" on dock at Banjul, The Gambia, 32-second video clip
Between 19 October and 11
November 2006 I visited twelve ports in ten African countries during a 46-day
cruise from Lisbon to Ft. Lauderdale via Cape Town. In this article I will
touch on some of the highlights of that cruise in Africa.
Our first African port was Casablanca. With a population of four million,
Casablanca is Morocco's largest city and one of the chief commercial cities in
North Africa. Most of Morocco's exports flow through Casablanca, which has one
of the world's largest artificial harbors. Morocco's exports include cereals,
leather, wool and phosphates. Casablanca is also Morocco's largest industrial
center. Casablanca is known for its faded Art Deco and Art Nouveau
architecture. The fantastic Mosque of Hassan II, constructed in 1989 on a
promontory on the city's Atlantic shoreline, is the largest mosque in the
world. Its 168-meter-high minaret is the world's highest. It is said that this
beautiful mosque, which has a retractable roof, took some 30,000 workers six
years to build!
Agadir in southern Morocco boasts a good natural harbor from which lead,
manganese and zinc are shipped. The primary industries in the city are fishing
and fish canning. Visitors will be interested in the colorful handmade Moroccan
pottery and jewelry which can be found in the authentic-looking souk. However,
most of the buildings in Agadir date only to 1960 as in that year the city was
devastated by an earthquake which killed 15,000 inhabitants. With good beaches,
Agadir now welcomes many package tourists from Europe.
Built on the southern tip of Cape Vert, Africa's westernmost point, cosmopolitan
Dakar, the capital of Senegal, has been dubbed the Marseille of West Africa.
Dakar is probably one of West Africa's most expensive cities. For tourists the
most interesting site is Goree Island. Situated some 3 km offshore, Goree is
best known for its connections to the slave trade. Once a fortified slaving
station, Goree is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is said that
slaves were held on the island in the so-called Slave House until they could be
transferred to the ships which would carry them to America. A historical museum
on the island provides information about the practice of slavery.
Completely surrounded by Senegal except on its short Atlantic coastline, The
Gambia consists of only a narrow strip of land on either side of the Gambia
River. Incredibly, the country's width varies only from 24 km to 48 km on
either river bank. The primary industries of The Gambia are peanut and fish
processing. Known as Bathurst until 1973, Banjul was founded by the British on
a peninsula at the mouth of the Gambia River in 1816 as a base for suppression
of the slave trade. Today Banjul is a sleepy little town laid out on a grid
pattern. The city's chief tourist attractions are the national museum and the
marketplace. The Gambia mainly attracts tourists on charters from Europe, and
the lovely beaches are situated only about 6 km away from the capital.
By the late seventeenth century the region of Ghana in which the port of
Takoradi is located was a major slave trading center. After abolition of the
slave trade in 1807, the British built up the Gold Coast economy through the
promotion of various commodity crops such as palm oil, cocoa, rubber and
timber. Over three dozen slave castles once dotted this coast. Today only
twenty or so castles remain, but many of these are still in good condition. In
a day trip from Takoradi one can easily visit Elmina Castle and Cape Coast
Castle, both of which are well-preserved. The castle built in 1482 by the
Portuguese at Elmina is said to be the oldest European building in the tropics.
The large Cape Coast castle built by the Swedes in the seventeenth century was
the British colonial administrative headquarters until the capital was shifted
to Accra in 1876. In these castles tourists can view the dark, airless dungeons
where slaves were once crowded and held for weeks prior to shipment across the
Atlantic.
Lome, situated on the border with Ghana, is the capital, chief port and largest
city in Togo. The main products exported through the port of Lome are cotton,
coffee, cacao and palm nuts; and textiles and processed food are Lome's primary
manufactured goods. Tourists will be most interested in the Grand Market, where
lengths of colorful woven Ghanaian kente cloth can be purchased, and in the
city's fetish market where one can find a staggering variety of bones, teeth and
skins of various animals and birds. A local would use these items in an attempt
to cure an illness or to invoke a spell. Interestingly, some of the traditional
costumed dancers in Togo employ stilts.
Cotonou, with a population of one million, is the major seaport and center of
business in the West African republic of Benin. Benin was known as Dahomey from
the time of its independence from France in 1960 until 1975. Even though
officially Porto Novo is the capital of Benin, most government functions take
place in Cotonou. The major place of interest to visitors in Cotonou is the
lively central market, which includes a fetish section. The unique stilt
village of Ganvie, situated just northwest of Cotonou, is one of Benin's primary
tourist attractions. Built in the middle of Lake Nokoue, picturesque Ganvie is
only accessible by boat. The village was formed in the eighteenth century by
the Tofinu as that tribe sought to flee from tribal wars to the north. Today
many of the inhabitants of Ganvie still earn their living by fishing.
Fifteenth-century Portuguese explorers named Cameroon's great Wouri estuary "Rio
dos Cameroes" for the many prawns that were found there. This is the origin of
the name of the country. Germany controlled modern-day Cameroon from 1884 until
World War I, at which time it was partitioned between Britain and France.
Douala, occupying the left bank of the Wouri River 15 miles upstream from the
Atlantic, is Cameroon's largest city and industrial center. It has been said
that, although it contains the sights and smells of a major West African port,
the hodge-podge city of Douala lacks the soul of Lagos or the class of Abidjan.
Nevertheless, tourists should expect to find excellent opportunities to shop for
masks and wooden carvings in Douala.
Libreville, which is French for "Free Town," was founded in 1849 by 43 freed
slaves on the site of a French mission. Today the population of Gabon is some
1.4 million, one-third of whom live in the capital city, which is also the main
port. Gabon is wealthy due to its mineral resources of uranium, oil, natural
gas and manganese. In addition, the country exports palm oil, rubber, cocoa and
hardwoods. Much of the country is still tropical rain forest. Expensive
Libreville has more of a French feel to it than do other former French colonial
cities in Africa. The main sights of Libreville include the national museum
with its African art, musical instruments and masks, and an African craft
center. Most of the articles for sale at the craft center are either imported
from other African countries or else made locally by artisans from those
countries. It is also worth driving by the gleaming presidential palace,
constructed in the 1970s at a cost reputedly in excess of $800 million.
Although Namibia obtained its independence in 1990, Walvis Bay, Namibia's
largest seaport, remained part of South Africa until 1994 when it was returned
to Namibia finally. The port was named by Dutch whalers ("walvis" means "whale"
in Dutch) who hunted these sea creatures in the bay during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. Today there is a busy fishing fleet based in Walvis Bay.
In addition, salt is manufactured there from evaporated seawater. The region is
popular with tourists who visit in order to view not only seals and whales but
also the large flamingo population in the adjacent lagoon. The quaint German
colonial town of Swakopmund, located to the north of Walvis Bay on the coast, is
a tourist highlight.
Some excellent examples of German colonial architecture can still be seen in
remote and picturesque Luderitz on Namibia's southern coast. The cool Benguela
Current welling up from the Antarctic allows seals and penguins to thrive in
these waters. A fleet of crayfish boats also operates from Luderitz during the
Southern Hemisphere summer. Although Namibia boasts vast mineral wealth
including uranium, copper, tin, lead and silver, the country is best known for
its diamond industry. In fact, the diamonds produced by Namibia represent about
one-third of total world production. An interesting tour can be made from
Luderitz inland to a nearby diamond ghost town. Kolmanskop, deserted for the
last half century, operates as an open-air museum today.
Beautiful Cape Town, situated under stunning flat-topped Table Mountain, our
twelfth and final port of call in Africa, is South Africa's third largest city
after Johannesburg and Durban. The sail into Cape Town's natural harbor was one
of the special delights of our cruise. Not only was Table Mountain gorgeous,
but I also spotted a whale, a penguin and a seal that morning on the way in.
Part of Cape Town's former docks were redeveloped in the 1990s to create a
tourist-friendly waterfront. Now tourists find museums, craft markets,
restaurants and even an IMAX theatre right at hand when they arrive by ship. In
downtown Cape Town one of my favorite haunts is Greenmarket Square which boasts
a large African handicrafts bazaar. There one can purchase handmade jewelry,
cloth and wooden artifacts, carvings and souvenirs from all over the continent.
It is with good reason that Cape Town is considered the tourist capital of South
Africa.
PRACTICALITIES:
While there are no cruise ships which ply the entire coast of West Africa on a
regular basis, such cruises are offered from time to time. Consult your travel
agent for current information on cruise schedules. Morocco is best visited
either in April and May or in September and October. The best time to tour
Senegal and The Gambia is from November through February. March through May
would be the second choice. It is still dry then but a bit hotter. In general,
prime time for visiting the coastal regions of Ghana, Togo and Benin is during
one of the two dry seasons. Those stretch from mid-November through March and
from July through September. The coast of Cameroon is best visited from
November through February while the Gabon coast is best experienced from June
through September. The best time to tour Namibia is from April through October
whereas the best season for visiting Cape Town, South Africa is between October
and March when the days are both drier and longer.
Having provided all of this climate information, my advice would be that one
should not rule out a visit to West Africa on account of seasonality alone. It
may well be that it is not possible to travel during a time when the weather is
at its best in every country on one's itinerary. In any case, rainfall during
seasons of high temperature and high humidity can sometimes be a relief.
ABOUT TED COOKSON: Egypt's most widely-traveled travel agent, Ted has been
to every country in the world! He has also visited 307 of the 315 destinations
on the list of the Travelers' Century Club (visit
www.eptours.com and refer to World Travel Club). A travel agent in Cairo
since 1986, Ted manages EGYPT PANORAMA TOURS, a full-service travel agency, at 4
Road 79 (between Roads 9 and 10, near the "El Maadi" metro station) in Maadi.
Contact Egypt Panorama Tours (open 7 days a week 9 AM-5 PM) at: Tels. 2359-0200,
2358-5880, 2359-1301. Fax 2359-1199. E-mail:
ept@link.net. Web site:
www.eptours.com.