Waterfalls and Butterflies

The next day - 2nd January - we packed all our gear up and left our bags in the rooms. Jumping on a tro-tro for another village twenty minutes away (for which we weren't ripped off - yay!), we arrived and instantly saw the huge waterfall from the roadside, as it cascaded down the ridge a kilometre away. We shrugged off the attention of a few hangers-on who said we had to pay in the village, we wandered down the straight track as the waterfall grew in front of us. It was massive - about 150 metres high, maybe more!

Paying at the gate (what a surprise), we walked a bit further and gazed up the vast, sheer rock wall at the water cascading down. We stripped off, not all the way, and perilously wandered across slippery rocks till we were underneath the fall itself. The smooth rocks were so slippery underfoot, and the power of the waterfall was incredible after falling for so many hundred feet. We took a few pictures and had a muck around in the water, before taking one of our standard group photos with Barney's timed camera. This time it didn't go too smoothly as his flip flop broke and he missed one of the pictures - ironic as he was fine climbing over rocks and waterfalls in Burkina, but had trouble over even ground in Togo!

Back in Kpalimè after a bumpy ride in a tiny pick-up, we grabbed our bags and left for Kouma Kounda village, in the shadows of Mount Klouto, Togo's second highest peak. Don't worry, we weren't about to try and scale this one too! The taxi to get there was a bit of a strange one. As we sat in the gare routiere (bus station), we joked about being in the car with fat people, mainly because there was a MASSIVE lady behind us - about five times the size of Kez! As we got in the sept-place (ah, like old days) we were four across the back seat. Then the fat woman got in the front passenger seat along with another, not particularly small, lady. So it was three in the front, four in the back. The driver tried to get a boy of about 13 into the back too, but we protested. Where would he go?!

The car eventually left, but pulled up after the police check and the boy got in the front seat! Next to the driver. No idea how they managed it, or how we actually drove anywhere. The boy hopped out again before the next police check, and we made it in one piece to Auberge Papillion in the village of Kouma Kounda. The place was highly recommended, with good food and good guides to do a butterfly tour with around the mountain. The truth was that it was not very well run, and the guide that talked to us was drunk and toothless.

We did find another guide, who took us on a three hour excursion around the forest/jungle on the mountain. He had a butterfly net, and caught a number of colourful specimens to show us. they were everywhere. Dree seemed to take it all in his stride, firstly trying with the net, but having more success catching them with his bare hands! We were also shown some plants that were used by artists because of their vibrant colour (crushed leaves oxidising and turning blue, and bright orange and white sap). It was all really interesting and we also tried fruits and fresh kola nuts - far better than those tried in Senegal. The next places we visited were a cave and a couple of waterfalls that we dipped into, before realising they were freeing cold!

We heard some drumming and singing in the forest valley and our guide kindly took us down. It was part of the area's New Years celebrations (as the days after New Years are celebrated more than the one evening; a great idea!), and we paid a small fee to head down. There were hundreds of villagers in an opening near a river, along with a DJ and speakers, bullhorns, whistles, drums, and all kinds of food and drink, including a Fan Milk man and a woman dishing out palm wine and other booze. Everyone was having an excellent time, probably because of the aforementioned booze, and we stayed for a while.

However, dusk was closing in and we wanted to get back before dark. We'd been climbing steadily down for a few hours and were pretty tired after a full few days walking. Walking back along the twisting main road took a while, but when we got back we were in for a surprise. We had ordered some spaghetti and chicken for dinner before we left, and as we got back I confirmed with the 'chef'. Then half an hour after we were meant to have eaten, we realised that the kitchen was locked up, lights all off. A kind man in the village cooked up some rice and sauce for us, no thanks to anyone at the auberge.

We called it a night after polishing off some gin we had left over from NYE - it's good for the health/ bonne for la santè!