The Marché des Féticheurs in Akodéssewa, on the eastern edge of Lomé, is one of the largest voodoo supply markets in West Africa. Stalls are piled with animal skulls, dried chameleons, porcupine skins, monkey hands, snake heads, leopard teeth and bundles of dried herbs — the raw materials of vodun ceremonial work for an enormous catchment area stretching across Togo, Benin, Ghana and beyond.
Visitors pay an entrance fee at the gate that includes a guide. The guide will walk you through the stalls, explain the purpose of the various items in the ritual pharmacopoeia, and — if you ask — arrange a short consultation with one of the resident priests, in which a small fetish is prepared for your specific request. The whole experience is unsettling and entirely matter-of-fact. The market is open every day; mornings are busier and the smell is strongest in the afternoon heat. Allow an hour.