Lake Togo is a long, shallow lagoon separated from the Atlantic by the narrow strip of sand that carries the coast road. It is not a lake in the strict sense — its water is brackish and rises and falls with the rains — but to look at from a pirogue, drifting under a fierce sun, it might as well be inland.
The lake is the working highway between Togoville and the south. Fishermen lay long bag-nets in the shallows; women paddle small canoes between the villages. The water is bilharzia-infested in places and swimming is unwise. A sunset pirogue ride from Togoville back across to Agbodrafo is one of the simple pleasures of this part of the coast.