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A cup of tea from the thermos and a couple
of bananas at 5.30 a.m. and then off to the airport in our
air-conditioned van that had arrived - with driver and airport
coordinator - half an hour early. I must say that, apart from trying to
take us to the lousy Bon Séjour hotel, the airport coordinator looked
after us exceedingly well, and at a reasonable price that we had to
negotiate, naturellement.
At the airport we gave the two security guards their pourboire – one of
them had even slept beside the plane. Everything worked with such
clockwork precision that we were ready for take-off at 06:45. On arrival
the day before, we had filed a flight plan with the tower controller for
7.30 a.m. so there was no one to clear us for take-off. We sat in the
plane and waited for him to come for what seemed like an age but was in
fact only 20 minutes. The temperature had cooled down during the night
to a not too uncomfortable 30 degrees.
Nevertheless, it was a relief to climb to 11,000 feet and get some cool
air as we flew south along the Niger. The ground beneath us gradually
became greener as we moved south and as we approached Lomé almost four
hours later, the air was hot and humid like in a steam bath. What a
relief to have left the dusty desert behind us and see tropical trees
such as papaya and mango!
We were ready for our first respectable meal in days, but first Flemming
wanted to check Honey-Mooney’s oil filter. He had found a trace of metal
in it during the 100 hours maintenance before leaving Geneva and wanted
to make sure that no more metal was to be seen 25 hours after the last
service.
Several months ago, fellow Earthrounder Dorise Hettlich had put us in
touch with Claude Sitterlin who runs a cargo company in Lomé called
Africa West. It was Claude who coordinated the flight clearance for us
with the Togo civil aviation authorities and made sure that Avgas was
available.
Flemming needed shade to make his inspection and, although it was a busy
time of day with cargo arriving and departing, Claude’s mechanic
Evariste helped us move the plane into the Africa West hangar and took
off the cowling for him. After sorting out our luggage, there was
nothing for me to do except sit in their air-conditioned office and
wait.
Flemming was relieved to find no more metal in the oil filter. We moved
the plane outside again and called the fuel company. We also needed to
buy more oil from the local ‘Aéroclub du Golfe’ that had to be
decanted from a barrel into our l-litre containers. One of the aero club
employees carried Flemming and the containers off on the back of his
motorbike to fetch the oil. No taxis are allowed in through the gate to
General Aviation, so one of the Africa West employees drove me outside
the gate with the luggage. Feeling rather vulnerable with all the bags,
including Flemming’s precious laptop, I waited anxiously in the shade of
a tree by the roadside for him to appear. Fortunately, he showed up just
a couple of minutes later with the aero club employee who hailed a taxi
for us.
By the time we reached the Coco Beach hotel it was much too late to have
lunch. We were due to dine just a couple of hours later with a Danish
couple who live in Lomé. However, since we were no longer in Ramadan
country, there was no problem ordering some cool beers to keep us going.
Dinner at the Mains à la Pate restaurant run by a couple from the
south of France was exquisite and all the more pleasurable after such
deprivation in Mali. It was our Danish aviator friends,
Morten and Birgitte, who
put us in touch with Susan and Hans. They have been living in Africa for
many years, first in Lagos and now Lomé. Hans manages a yoghurt and ice
cream factory, while Susan takes tourists on adventurous 4-wheel drive
trips through the desert. Altogether a great evening. Our only regret is
we were enjoying ourselves so much that we forgot to take any pictures.
Morten and Birgitte, who flew round Africa two years ago with their
three children, also put us in contact with another Danish aviator
living in Lomé, Knud Peter Andreassen. The Coco Beach hotel is 9
kilometres east of Lomé on a slow road full of noisy, fume-belching
traffic. Knud Peter kindly drove out to see us in the morning to offer
his help for our departure the following day. In view of the difficulty
in getting the luggage to the plane in a taxi, we gladly accepted his
offer.
We toyed briefly with the idea of visiting the fetish market in Lomé,
but really didn’t feel like budging. It was great just to relax on the
beach. We can recommend the Coco Beach hotel. It’s quiet, the rooms are
spacious and the restaurant serves quite good food. And the litter on
the beach is not their fault. The staff clean it up each day, but each
day loads of litter arrive with each tide. |
A relaxing day at Coco Beach Hotel
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