In the heart of West Africa's vibrant cultural landscape lies a place both enchanting and enigmatic, but somewhat hidden in place site. This is a place where spirituality and the tangible world entwine in a dance of the senses. Welcome to the Akodessewa Fetish Market—a realm of mystique and meaning nestled within the bustling labyrinth of Lomé, Togo. Just a few miles outside of the city’s airport, I embarked on an audacious expedition, a pilgrimage of curiosity, led by the spirits of exploration and guided by my own curious ignorance of voodoo practice from my hometown of New Orleans, This is where voodoo is from, its origins here found off the beaten paths throughout West Africa.

Akodessewa is a sort of vodun pharmacy, where dead animal parts swelter in the African sun. Organic parts are bought to ail diseases or remove curses, everything from snake skin, to monkey heads, to starfish carcases. Jarred rats and mice can be found next to leopard heads, horse hair, and snake eyes.

Everything was placed on wooden tables, rotting flesh filled the air, but customers took this place rather seriously – negotiating prices for a variety of items where they can even visit a vodun practitioner on site for an extra fee. Prominently displayed among the artifacts are the skulls and bones of animals revered as guardians in local voodoo practices. The skull of a ram, symbolizing strength and endurance, is adorned with feathers and trinkets, embodying the spirit of protection. Snakeskins, representing transformation and fertility, coil delicately beside elephant tusks, embodying the power of these majestic creatures. Every beast and creature is here—be it the crocodile or the fish to the monkey and baboon—serving as a bridge to the world of spirits, embodying traits that connect the earthly to the divine.

Akodessewa is no ordinary market—it's an immersion into the spiritual undercurrents that have shaped cultures for millennia. Here, animism and ancestral reverence intermingle with the modern currents of globalization, offering an intriguing glimpse into a world where the divine and the mundane share an intricate waltz. Outside of these walls is normal Togolese life: mechanics fix motorbikes, children run to school, churches hold services.
Here I maintained my silence, allowing our guides and curators tell the story of each item. If your stomach can take it, sit back and digest this rather unsettling footage in the most unique and interesting market I have ever had the pleasure of visiting.

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Want to visit Togo safely? Contact Jean-Paul on Instagram at: @jplhoundagnon_32 or call/message him on WhatsApp at: +22967041288

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I am also a serious journalist. I also wrote about this story for BBC World's Table & Country Roads Magazine. Check it out:

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THIS EPISODE WAS BROUGHT TO YOU BY MY PRODUCER PATREONS:
◉ MICHAEL WRIGHT - Producer
◉ ALAN SIMPSON - Producer
◉ SHAYLYN BROUSSARD - Producer
◉ CHRIS RUTLAND - Producer

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