Me, Mike (front) and Gary (at the helm (driver's seat))
On our drive out through Cotonou, the largest city in Benin, the traffic was bad due to some road construction. While waiting in the traffic, we saw many of the same sights that we see in Lagos - street hawkers, overloaded cars, people carrying items for sale on their head and food neatly displayed for sale. There were also lots of okadas but in Benin, they are driven by women too!
At the Benin - Togo border, the process was much smoother (1 hour), with just one complication. The police on the Benin border who registered the vehicles (wrote down the license plate number) asked us for money because it was our first time crossing the border but he refused to provide any sort of receipt. I asked how he knew it was our first time crossing the border and he said he just knew. I told him we paid my money when we entered Benin and I refused to pay but was not comfortable crossing the border until he registered the car, which he finally did with no compensation.
Picture below: Big Milly's is situated right on the beach and this is the view along the coast with many large fishing boats.
On the drive to Green Turtle Lodge (GTL), we stopped in Abandze to see Fort Amsterdam (occupied 1665-1868), one of the many forts on Ghana's coast, which overlooks a very active fishing village. This fort was restored but it was not white washed like many of the forts are. The forts were originally built by Europeans to protect their goods for export (they changed hands often, typically between the Dutch and British) but they were later (17th Century) used in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. We were shown the rooms, or dungeons, the slaves were held in until they were taken out of the "Door of No Return" to board a ship destined for Europe, North or South America.
Picture below: Standing on the coastal side of Fort Amsterdam with the "Door of No Return" behind me.
Picture below: Fishing Village just below the fort
Upon arrival at Green Turtle Lodge (GTL) we found that their beach chalets were full so we had to camp, which we were prepared to do (S&J camped at Big Milly's too). GTL has a great working relationship with the people in the nearby village of Akwidaa. 
Saturday started with a swim (not all), breakfast and then a canoe trip through the mangroves of the Ezile River where we saw a couple of African Pied Hornbill perched on the top of the mangroves. The canoe trip was driven by kids from the local village but arranged through GRT. The canoes seemed very unstable at times and Kazeem in particular was very uncomfortable when then canoe he was on came close to taking on water (yelling "What is the meaning of this?", which we all got a chuckle out of). 
One of the boys from Akwidaa that took us on the canoe trip.
Jonathan, Sharon, Kazeem and Niyi in the canoe.
After a little R&R on the beach, we went to see Fort Metal Cross (built in 1692), which overlooks the fishing harbor of Dixcove. Jonathan decided to hike to the fort but found that a route along the beach did not exist and he had to make his way through the overgrown bushes. The first thing we see upon entering Fort Metal Cross was a skinny Putty-nosed Guenon monkey on a leash. Jonathan told the man it was illegal to keep monkeys and he had to let it go. The man said "OK" but odds are he did not. ; ( We had to pay a small fee upon leaving as the local kids had washed the car even though we asked them not too! We drove back to GTL where we ate dinner and had a few drinks while waiting for the bonfire and music to start.
Village of Dixcove and its fishing harbor just below For Metal Cross.
A young girl with a small child on her back. They were walking around the fort.
On Sunday after breakfast we packed up camp and headed to Accra, where our flight departed from at 7PM. We had hoped to make it to Princestown to see Fort Gross-Fredrichsburg but were told the drive would take more time than we had. One the way back we stopped to buy some lunch food (bread, avocados) and palm oil (for the drivers, who said it was cheaper than in Lagos) and then stopped in Apam to see Fort Patience (1697-1868). This renovated castle has simple rooms that you can stay in if you can sleep knowing the extent of torture that the slaves underwent within the walls of the fort. After the tour we stopped and had lunch at a shut down hotel on the beach (Jonathan and Doug hopped the fence and found someone working on the property who let us in for a small fee) We walked the beach in search of shells but found very few. We arrived at the airport in just enough time to check in and board the plane for a smooth flight back to Lagos. 
Picture from Fort Patience which overlooks the fishing village of Apam.
All in all, it was a great trip. We traveled ~700km (rough estimate) through 4 countries, learned a bit about the history of Ghana and had a bit of down time on the beach. Luckily the language barrier (French) in Benin and Togo did not cause any problems and having exchanged Naira for CFAs in Lagos required us to do one less thing at two border crossings (one more opportunity to get taken advantage of).
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