Eleven West African Towns from Saint-Louis to Parakou, West to East

Start on the Atlantic edge near the mouth of the Senegal River. Saint-Louis was capital of French colonial Senegal from 1673 to 1902, of French West Africa from 1895 to 1902 and of Mauritania from 1920 to 1957, and it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000.

Louga lies on the road and rail line between Saint-Louis and Dakar and works as a cattle market. It sits at the northern limit of Senegal's peanut-growing area, in the Ndiambour region, where pastoral Fulani and farming Wolof live side by side.

Moving east into western Ivory Coast, Daloa is an important trading center for cocoa. The 2014 census recorded 245,360 people, the third-largest population in the country, and the city is the seat of the Haut-Sassandra Region.

Korhogo in the north of Ivory Coast is said to have been founded by Nangui, a 14th-century Senufo patriarch, and remains the capital of the Senufo people. Its farms produce cotton, kapok, rice, millet and yams, and the city has a woodcarvers' quarter.

Sunyani is the capital of Ghana's Bono Region, about 169 kilometers northwest of Kumasi. Its economy is built on cocoa production, and the 2010 census recorded 75,366 people, making it the sixth-largest city in the country.

Cape Coast was capital of the Gold Coast from 1821 until the seat moved to Accra in 1877, and its history runs back through Cape Coast Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, to the Fetu Kingdom. Today it is an educational hub with two universities.

Bolgatanga, known as Bolga, is the capital of Ghana's Upper East Region and lies in the Red Volta Valley, 161 kilometers north of Tamale. It borders Burkina Faso to the north, and the Frafra are among its native peoples.

Koforidua is the commercial center of Ghana's Eastern Region. It hosts Intravenous Infusions Limited, one of the oldest pharmaceutical companies in West Africa, and a four-lane highway links the city to Oyoko and onward to Kumasi.

Tema is Ghana's largest seaport, built as 25 numbered communities about 25 kilometres east of Accra. It lies directly on the Greenwich Meridian, which makes it the point where this trail crosses from west to east of the prime meridian.

Kara is the capital of northern Togo's Kara Region, about 413 kilometers north of Lome. It grew from a village once called Lama-Kara from the 1970s onward, helped by former head of state Gnassingbe Eyadema, who was born nearby and valued its place at a crossroads of two trade routes.

End in northern Benin at Parakou, the country's third-largest city, founded by traders in the 16th century. It became the administrative center of the Borgu portion of French Dahomey under the 1898 Anglo-French Convention and is now a cotton trading hub linked by railway to Cotonou.