Benin was long used for trading slaves by the Portuguese who established many of the Southern cities including the capital Porto-Novo (named to distinguish it from the old Porto in Portugal). Later, the country was colonized by France until 1960 when it became independent as the state of Dahomey. The country faced many military coups…
Togo – Small, but sweet
Togo is a small country nestled in between Ghana and Benin. It used to be a German colony until the Germans lost control of it after the first world war. Togo was then split between Britain and France. The British part was later incorporated in what is today’s Ghana and the French part later became…
Ghana – A second home
Ghana was the first country in Africa to gain independence from their colonial power. They gained independence in 1957 and Kwame Nkrumah became the first president. In later years, Ghana has been known as one of the most stable and democratic countries in Africa and enjoys reasonable economic success, making it one of the easier…
Côte d’Ivoire – A little bit of everything
Côte d’Ivoire (or Ivory Coast which it is also called) was one of West Africa’s economic success stories. After independence from France in 1960 the country was ruled firmly by Félix Houphouët-Boigny until his death in 1993. During his reign the country initially prospered by its large cocoa and coffee production, but fell into economic…
Liberia – Rain, rain and rain
Liberia has an interesting and somewhat different history than most other countries in Africa. Liberia was founded in 1847 by freed American slaves who resettled in Africa, making Liberia the first and oldest modern republic in Africa. The country also kept its independence during the colonisation of Africa and is therefore the only African country…
Sierra Leone – Motorcycle diaries
Sierra Leone is perhaps mostly remembered for its particularly bloody civil war between 1991-2002 and many might also remember the ebola epidemic in 2014. At the border before entering Sierra Leone we could see traces from the ebola epidemic. There were a lot a posters informing about the symptoms of ebola but also a medical checkpoint…
Guinea – Time is money
West Africa is intense. Chaotic. It fills you with a kind of hate-love where often the hate takes over the love (however, after leaving we know that it is the love that will remain). We had experienced these feelings in West Africa before arriving in Guinea and we suspected that Guinea would be the same,…
Guinea-Bissau – A fresh breeze
What do you know about Guinea-Bissau? Most people have probably never even heard about this small, friendly West African country nestled by the coast between Senegal and Guinea. We did not know much about it either, but came to love it due to its shy and always friendly inhabitants. Welcome to Guinea-Bissau! Guinea-Bissau is a…
The Gambia – Small country with a big heart
The Gambia is often called “The smiling coast” or “Africa for beginners” and according to us those are very accurate descriptions. Being in The Gambia we often felt like being on vacation and were able to do a lot of exciting things without too much of the usual “African hassle”. We got to spend much…
Senegal – Hello West Africa
Reaching Senegal was a milestone for us, it meant that we had left North Africa and entered sub-saharan Africa. This means that the landscape changes from desert to savannah and the arab culture gives way to the black african cultures. It is, however, wrong to generalize everything as sub-saharan Africa when the area constitutes more…
Bike-Backe-Packe Diem 