Very Bad Trip to Burkina Faso, Benin Togo and Ghana

We originally had a 28 day private trip booked beginning in Mali and ending in Accra for November 2012. With the current security situation in Mali, we changed the trip to be a circle from Accra to Accra for 21 days. We had a very detailed itinerary and a list of hotels that were confirmed within 60 days of departure. Unfortunately very little of the itinerary was done. The tour quide had never done this trip before and was continually lost. Out of our 21 day tour we actually toured a total of 8 days. Some of the supposedly scheduled tours the guide simply ignored and others like our visit to the Kente weavers in Atakame took 15 minutes as the "weavers" tour consisted of visiting one man weaving in a shed. Our visit to the Zangbeta tribe was also a 20 minute walk through a virtually deserted village. Other tours were longer but not nearly as long as stated on the itinerary. We were scheduled for 3 days to tour Porto Novo, Ganvie and Ouidah. Each of these tours was a half day tour leaving us 1.5 days reading books in hotels for just this part of trip. Accounting for the actual tours and road travel, we spent 43 percent of our total trip reading in hotels. The hotels were basic but did have AC and most had hot water. Also they were open with the exception of the Roc Hotel in Atakame which has been closed for renovation a long time. This was also a problem as there was no other place to stay in Atakame, so that resulted in a 6 hour drive around hunt to find another hotel. This was a very expensive trip for this part of the world and I would very much WARN anyone against using Fulani to tour these countries. We are not beginner travelers as this is our 10th African trip (first one in 1975) but this trip was the worst rip off of any trip we have ever taken. I have pages of emails to back up my claims if anyone needs further information.

Pamela Spears - 09/12/2012 | report this review