Things to Do in Akodessewa Fetish Market

Walk the talisman arcade with a market guide

A young initiate will lead you past pyramids of porcupine quills and stop to let you smell the difference between real and fake civet musk. You'll feel the chalky dust of ground ostrich egg on your fingers and hear the soft clink of cowrie shells as they're scooped into brown paper. Guides usually speak French and some English; they'll explain why that desiccated bat is tied by its feet and which herbs go into a love charm.

Attend a trance ceremony at dusk

Drums start up around six, when the heat loosens its grip and the scent of palm wine drifts between stalls. You'll see dancers in raffia skirts stomp up dust that catches the low sun like bronze glitter. The air vibrates with call-and-response chants. Spectators are pulled in, hands clapped onto shoulders, until the whole circle is pulsing together.

Sample wagashi cheese and akpan corn beer

Just outside the fetish stalls, women grill millet patties and melt wagashi into chewy squares that taste like smoky mozzarella. Wash it down with akpan poured from a calabash - sour, slightly fizzy, and served in chipped enamel cups that clack together like bells.

Learn to grind traditional powders

An elderly vendor will hand you a palm-sized mortar and demonstrate the wrist motion needed to crush kola nut into rust-colored dust. The rhythm is hypnotic - thud, twist, thud - and the rising cloud smells bitter and sweet at once. By the end your forearm aches, but you'll have a pouch of fresh powder and a new respect for pharmacists in the spirit world.

Browse carved fetish stalls after sunset

Battery lamps flicker over tables of mahogany figures: crooked dolls studded with nails, miniature doors no bigger than matchboxes, and masks whose eyeholes seem to track you. Cicadas scream overhead and every so often a generator coughs, plunging a row into darkness - then the lamp pops back, revealing a vendor's grin and the glint of brass tacks.

Beach Road, Lomé: small guesthouses where sea breeze carries the thump of weekend sound systems

Quartier Kodjoviakopé: leafy lanes, easier sleep, still ten minutes by zem to the market

Aflao border strip: functional hotels popular with Ghanaian traders, expect honking at dawn

Résidence du Bénin quarter: mid-range compounds with pools, handy for evening ceremonies

Tokoin-N'kafu: budget rooms above family compounds, shared bucket showers, lively maquis bars

Kégué hillside: breezy boutique stays, pricier but worth it for cooler nights