1

Michelin has a map of north and west Africa which shows this more reliably than others I've seen. You don't need the whole thing, but you should cut out and carry that section, photocopy it, or snap a photo and carry it on a netbook or similar.

In Togo and Benin, you're inevitably going to end up on dirt from time to time no matter what your plans, so I'd allow for that in choosing bike and equipment. If you favor exploring you'll end up on sandy, muddy, rocky or otherwise rough tracks, too.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

2

Lol, sure the one running N/S and the one running E/W... am I missing any?

Just kidding, kind of. Only the very main highway roads (there is one to Kpalime for example) are paved, as are the main roads in Lome proper and around the bigger towns. But outside of that most roads are not. The road from Aneho to Togoville, for example, is not paved - but it would make for a very nice bike ride. I'd go out on a limb to say some of the unpaved roads are better than some of the paved ones out there - the one to Togoville takes the cake for flat, often grated, completely deserted, but with breathtaking scenery and villages along the way. The coastal Highway is getting a makeover, but there is a massive section that is unpaved right now and it's kind of a free-for-all-demolition-derby style road near the ports. The main highway running north has car-eating potholes throughout most of it and is only one lane each direction - I can't say I would want to ride a bike on it, only because people are constantly swerving to avoid potholes (or each other, or trucks parked in the middle of the road.. etc.). Same deal with the road to Kpalime although I think they are trying to fix it, lots of potholes and NO SHOULDER. That might be the sketchiest one.

But theoretically if you were to get to Lome with a bike, you could get around the city itself pretty easily. It would also be a nice bike ride along the coastal highway to Aneho/Benin (minus the area round the port which is chaos). And a really nice ride would be from Aneho N.W. to Togoville - if you took that one you could come camp on our land (we are eventually building a full scale campground but now it's just a toilet and staff quarters and a fire pit)!

Hope that helps - I haven't been to Benin yet but I'll be there in January! Have fun!