8th January 2024 – The border was very straightforward and the officials very polite (which makes a pleasant change!). It took 45 minutes only for formalities on both sides. The Customs officials said that they don’t normally do Carnets but he proceeded to stamp and sign it for us anyway.
It is immediately noticeable that the Beninese wear traditional West African clothes that we had expected to see more of and haven’t until now. They also have the habit of spitting in the street that I so detest!
It turns out that my friend Sue Beecroft’s (husband’s) family had connections with Benin. An ancestor was Consul of Benin and Biafra in the 19th Century. Quite an explorer too.
The festival was amazing, not sinister at all. The people were very welcoming and didn’t mind photos being taken. There were speeches, including from the Vodun Queen. In her speech (in French) she talked about how the world perceives Vodun (Voodoo) and that it wasn’t at all how it was portrayed. There were clearly sacrifices going on and quite a number of rather curious shrines. Lots of Beninise wanted to welcome us and say hello. About 15% of the population follow Vodun.
I plan to add further videos here when connection permits.
Hopelessly bitten by mosquitoes here in the evening (pesky blighters, I hate them!).
10th January 2024 – visited the stlit village at Ganvie. Much larger than the one we saw in Ghana with maybe 40,000 inhabitants. Each house has three boats, one for fishing, one to go to market and one for the kids to go to school. They use punting poles in the shallow lagoon, often from the central core of palm fronds. They have a church, a mosque, police station, maternity and a general hospital. There is also a floating market! We said that we didn’t want a guide but he came anyway. I tried to engage him in conversation but he wasn’t very forthcoming. If he had made an effort we would have given him something for his time.
The guy steering the boat was barely out of diapers! (But clearly an important rapper!):
We visited the Vodun Festival at Ouidah but we were maybe a bit early. There was a music stage where they did a cover of Pink Floyd bizarrely. It is much bigger than yesterday’s and we couldn’t see much of what was going on and there was little shade so we left.
Some locals latched onto us and wanted to take photos with the Yovos (local name for Whites). They were very friendly however.
Police speed camera on the dual carriageway and he wanted me to pay the fine by mobile money! So many people were stopped that it was difficult to locate your documents on the table! He had an app on his phone but my phone wouldn’t scan his QR code so he accepted the 10,000CFR cash (£13.10) eventually…. Someone else stopped was speaking English to him and trying to pay a bribe of around 60%, he seemed to leave so I guess it worked.
It seems that we have been in Benin at just the right time to catch the annual Vodun festivals. Lucky. We understand that the format of the Ouidah festival is markedly different this year. We might have been better to go to the smaller Grand Popo festival.
11th January 2024 – visited the Turtle centre in Grand Popo. More than 30 local people volunteer here to comb the beaches at night to find the Turtles laying their eggs. The strong ones which hatch are allowed to go to the sea but the small ones are kept at the centre for a few days to get stronger.
They also have a hospital for adults that are injured. Fishermen bring them to the centre and they stay for 2 weeks to recuperate. The fishermen keep the jellyfish and sell them to the centre for the Turtles to eat. There are 4 different kinds of Turtle here:
Rescued adult:
High speed 2 day old baby:
We have seen some young men digging a hole in the beach here and defecating in it. I asked the manager where we are staying about this. He said that it is seen as “traditional” and open air! I explained that they must put a stop to it but he didn’t seem interested. If they don’t have access to sanitation then that is one thing but choosing to regardless of others then definitely not.
We are now close to our “turning point” where we need to head back towards the UK which feels very strange. 6 months on the road seems a long time but it really isn’t, especially when travelling through so many countries.
Tonight’s beautiful sunset:
Had Lamb in a peanut sauce last night. Unsure which bits of the sheep were in it. Just about all of it I suspect, offal and all! It came with an incredibly firey relish made from Scotch bonnet!
