Lomé

Lomé is the capital and largest city of Togo. Located on the Gulf of Guinea, Lomé is the country's administrative and industrial center and its chief port. The city exports coffee, cocoa, copra, and palm kernels. It also has an oil refinery.

As in most equatorial climates, the city has two rainy seasons, the first starts in April and ends in July, then a second rainy season starts in early September and ends in late November.

The heat is constant, the average maximum temperature in the shade is on average 30 °C in the afternoon, and the average minimum temperature is 23 °C in the morning. Earlier this year, a dry wind from the Sahara brought down the temeprature to as low as 19 °C in the morning.

The climate of Lomé is also greatly influenced by the ocean. The heat is stable, without excessive peaks, and the wind coming from the sea, makes it quite pleasant.

The city has a distinctively low rainfall for this latitude, in fact, Lomé enjoys a micro climate that allows her to reach a low rainfall for the region. By comparison, Paris receives an average of 650 mm per year.

Motos are plentiful throughout the capital, and a good distance on a moto will cost you 300CFA. Taxis can be rented from around 500CFA and up, with 2000CFA getting you basically anywhere in town. There are route taxis, costing normally 200-400CFA, but if you are visiting they are difficult to figure out and only ever really used by local folks.

There are rental car agencies downtown, but if you are just coming for a few days motos are your best option. The beach road runs directly beside the ocean from Ghana to Benin. The Boulevard Circulaire (le 13 Janvier) acts as a main artery through downtown Lome, a hemisphere that encloses the Marche and Government buildings. It starts at the beach in Kodjoviakope and wraps around to the beach in Bea.

The main border crossing is Aflao, from Ghana. Visas cost 10,000CFA and are good for 2 weeks. The international airport has direct flights from Casablanca and Paris Tuesdays and Thursdays. Other air traffic exists, but it is sporadic.