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Richard Trillo commented about Kpalime Auberge, On Monday April 2nd, 2007 06:31:00 AM
Interesting idea, Andy, about publishing photos of hotel owners or managers. I think the problem would be exactly that, that sometimes the man or woman in the photo wouldn't be there, and the place could be just as good, or might be in a state of disarray. The only thing I've found writing The Rough Guide to West Africa over the years is that the decent places survive. Very low BP numbers (boite postale, ie Postbox numbers in postal addresses) can be an indication that the place has been there for a long time, and is therefore a survivor, and probably good. But the kind of place you get for six bucks doesn't necessarily have a postbox address.
I'm enjoying the profusion of blogposts from HoboTraveler since you've been in West Africa. Do you think the region has given you a creative surge?
Bon continuation, as they say!
Richard
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Richard Trillo commented about Hotel Recommendations Stress, On Wednesday April 4th, 2007 10:13:00 AM
Andy, a compendium of up-to-date accurate hotel reviews is a fantastic project if you can manage it. It's an interesting idea about publishing photos of hotel owners or managers, but it can lead to problems, even recommending somebody can result in the opposite effect. And sometimes the man or woman in the photo wouldn't be there, and the place could be just as good, or it might be in a state of disarray. Our researcher on the Rough Guide to West Africa was in Kpalimé just a few weeks ago, and she didn't include the Mandela in her update, but it sounds like we should.
You're right about how many tourists visiting Africa are in their own vehicles. And that's why we have to consider their needs (safe parking and the ability to go out of town) when researching the guidebooks. But we shouldn't ever be ignoring the CFA3000 a night travellers too – after all that's how Rough Guides started and my guess from the emails we get is that at least half our readers are using public transport - maybe it's less in Togo for some reason. A lot my own African research was originally done by bicycle, which I reckon is probably the best of all worlds: you get to travel for free when you have the time; you can put your transport on top of a bus or taxi brousse when you need to go faster; you stay reasonably fit; you can go wherever you like, even places a car can't reach; and best of all local people think it's incredibly funny to say a tourist on a pushbike, sweating and red, which really breaks the ice if it ever needs breaking, and makes you very welcome wherever you go. When we were cycling, we camped a lot, using a home-made tent (rip-stop nylon groundsheet and mosquito net upper).
Looking forward to more news as you head through Africa. Bon voyage.
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Richard Trillo commented about Dollar my way to Cacao, On Tuesday April 10th, 2007 07:21:00 AM
Hi Andy, sounds a bit complicated. Couldn't you just rent a bicycle or moto and go a couple of miles out of town to the nearest cacao plantation?
Anyway, I guess you'll be doing it right now, so look forward to hearing how the trip went!
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Richard Trillo commented about Togo Africa Frogs, On Tuesday April 10th, 2007 07:24:00 AM
Hi Andy, these are actually toads, though I don't know what kind. You can tell because of the warty skin and much shorter back legs. They have a prominent gland behind the eye, too. Nice pictures. Funny that the ditchwater is so clear.
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Richard Trillo commented about Failed to See Cacao, On Wednesday April 11th, 2007 04:19:00 AM
Hi Andy
I don't think it matters that you went looking for cacao pods on cacao trees and ended up documenting the whole process of palm oil production. That's just a great bit of serendipity and readers of hobotraveler benefit either way. Also, as I understand it, cocoa production is quite a lengthy process, and only the first stage, fermenting and drying the beans, is done locally and cocoa and chocolate production are mostly done in Europe before being reexported back to Africa - another example of neo-colonialism.
There's an excellent book about food plants that would be right up your street – the Oxford Book of Food Plants. Somewhat old fashioned, it was published by OUP in 1969, but it has excellent illustrations and just enough info to satisfy my curiosity - tells you where everything originated for example (how did Italy cope with no tomatoes?. . . which came from South America). The ISBN is 0199100063. It's not in print any more but Amazon re-sellers are selling it for about $10. I guess you probably wouldn't want to carry it around with you though!
Incidentally, my recollection from the cacao areas was big pods on the trees in Jan/Feb. Maybe they've already harvested them?
Bon voyage
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