Togo - West Africa - page 1008

Train
There are railways in Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo, Nigeria and Cameroon.
Most services run only within the country of operation, but there are international services, notably between Dakar and
Bamako, and, depending on the security situation in Côte d'Ivoire, between Ouagadougou and Abidjan.
Some trains are relatively comfortable, with 1st-class coaches that may have air-conditioning. Some also have sleep-
ing compartments with two or four bunks. Other services are 2nd or 3rd class only and conditions can be uncomfortable,
with no lights, no toilets and no glass in the windows (equals no fun on long night journeys). Some trains have a restaur-
ant on board, but you can usually buy things to eat and drink at stations along the way.
WEST AFRICA'S TOP TRAIN RIDES
Taking a long-distance West African train is the ultimate road movie with all the region's colours, smells and im-
probabilities of life writ large. More than a form of transport, West African trains are like moving cities, a stage
for street performers, marketplaces and prayer halls. And, like most forms of transport in West Africa, you'll have
plenty of time to contemplate the experience, whether waiting on a platform for your train to appear a mere 12
hours late or stopped on remote rails in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason. But for all their faults (and
there are many) the trains work and are an essential part of the West African experience. Our three favourites:
» Zouérat to Nouâdhibou, Mauritania - one of the great train experiences of the world on the longest train in the
world.
» Dakar to Bamako - another of Africa's great epics, at once endlessly fascinating and interminable (up to 40
hours).
» Yaoundé to N'Gaoundéré, Cameroon - like crossing a continent, from the arid north to the steamy south, with
glorious rainforests en route.