Written by Laura
We entered Benin at different times as Maude’s air-conditioning problems took a little longer than planned. Unfortunately this wasn’t all Maude’s fault, but instead was ‘helped’ by the Lome mechanics who somewhat frustratingly damaged a working part when trying to fix the broken one. Maude’s passengers were therefore very happy to enter Benin – all in air-conditioned comfort but with lighter wallets and a few days behind schedule!
Straight away, it was easy to see that Benin is a wealthier country than Togo. Other first impressions included the vast array of water that reminded us of South East Asia’s rice fields. Andrew, Dee and I visited the village of Ouidah which is known as a voodoo stronghold. Voodoo means spirit, demigod or intermediary and the benevolence of voodoo is sought through offerings. Communities often pay homage to a specific voodoo who becomes their main spiritual protector. In Ouidah, the spirit Dangbe, has a special place and is represented by the snake. Our interest levels took us to visiting the local python temple. On arrival there were chickens and ducks for sale that we could offer as sacrifices in we so wished. We decided to spare the chickens and ducks. From the outside, the temple is nothing to write home about. However the inside definitely got our hearts racing. At least 50 pythons live in this 15 or so square meter temple. As you can imagine, it was therefore difficult to stand anywhere without having snakes in front of us, behind us, either side of us and above us. Our guide assured us that they wouldn’t harm us but this information did little to calm Dee when our guide wrapped one of the pythons around her neck without warning! Needless to say, we didn’t stay long.
Back in the days when the shore of the Gulf of Benin was known as the Slave Coast, some of the largest trading posts and slave markets were around Ouidah. We followed the same route that the slaves were made to march until they reached the ‘Door of no return’ which is where the ships left from. It was harrowing to think that is this where the slaves had their last view of Africa and their previous lives as free people.
We slept in a beautiful location in Grand Popo, right next to the beach. We enjoyed relaxing with watermelon smoothies, grateful that we’d all made it to this piece of paradise with Maude’s aircon working. A few of us started our second day in Benin with a picturesque run along the beach, around lagoons and through the nearby village. The people and pigs were all surprised to see us running – understandable given the level of humidity!
We drove a couple of hours to Ganvie which is said to be Africa’s largest lake village. The people initially moved here in an attempt to get away from the Dan-Homey King as he was trading people from weaker communities as slaves. For religious reasons, the Dan-Homey people were forbidden to attack over water and so the people of Ganvie set up their entire existence in wood and thatch houses built on tall stilts above the water. The village is only accessible by boat and the floating market was quite a site to see as women sold various items from their pirogues (canoes).
That night we slept in Abomey – capital of one of the great West African kingdoms in pre-colonial times. Unfortunately not much of the royal palace remains and we had to leave early to ensure we made it to the Nigerian border as early as possible. We were surprised to reach a sign that said ‘Nigeria’ when we hadn’t yet cleared Benin customs or immigration. After seeking help from the locals, we ascertained that we had to drive back 17km to an obscure building on the side of the road to clear customs. We had to clear immigration in an even more obscure building tucked away amongst the chaos close to the Nigerian border. It seems it hard to achieve anything quickly in Africa but we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Benin and wished it could have been longer.
