He came by bright and early the next morning so we could see some wildlife before they retreat from the afternoon sun. Unfortunately, no one had told us about the time change between Burkina Faso and Benin, so we were still fast asleep, thinking that the was an hour earlier. After a late start, we made it to the park, riding on top of the car with the wind in our hair. That morning we saw several species of antelope, crocodiles sunning on the sand, a big herd of buffalo, and elephants on their way to the watering hole. The elephants even waved at us Dumbo-style with their trunks. We took a short siesta as all the animals were doing the same and heading out again for the evening. We went to look for the lions, but only managed a glimpse before they jumped into the tall grass. That night, we played soccer under a single light bulb hung on a clothesline and slept under the stars. We woke before dawn to pack up and beat all the other cars to the lions. We found them lazing about in a clearing, a male and female, the smell of their recent kill on the breeze, much grosser than it sounds. We were only about 40 feet from them, each of us enjoying the cool of the morning.
We left for Natitingou that afternoon, stopping in Tanguieta for some wagachi, a beninese specialty of fried cheese. (sidenote: we later had a wagachi eating contest and Chris M. won, eating 17 nugget sized pieces) In Natitingou, we went out for a dinner of antelope and Beninoise, the national beer. The next day we did a moto tour of the Tata Sombas, the castle-like mud houses built by the Tammari people of the North. Driving on our moto scooters down dirt roads, we were basically the Hells Angels of Benin. We spent the afternoon washing the layers of dust off at a nearby waterfall. It was then that one of the most important developments of the trip happened: we got our CD player to work, allowing us to listen to the wonderful sounds of Baha Men for weeks to come.
Then we headed south to Cotonou, the biggest city in Benin. There we got to bask in the luxury of beer on tap (it was an IPA!), cold cuts, and nightly games of pool. We also had to say goodbye to a member of the gaggle, Molly (don't worry, we stayed away from oranges even after you left!) . We visited Ganvie, a village built completely on stilts over Lake Nokoué . Everyone, even children as young as 5, gets around by boat. One day we traveled the 40 km to Porto Novo, the capital, to visit the Songhai agricultural center. Started several decades ago by a Nigerian brother, it is a place where interns are trained in the most up to date permaculture methods and new techniques can be experimented. Also near Cotonou is Ouidah, one of the villages from which voodoo originated. The people of Ouidah practice fetishes rituals and build shrines to ancestors or other animist dieties to whom they regularly sacrifice chickens. There is also a python temple, full of hundreds of snakes, that is admittedly kind of a tourist trap. But we got to put pythons around our necks and take pictures, so totally worth it.
We then visited the biggest part of departure for slaves coming from Benin, the same slaves who brought their culture with them to become what we call voodoo in the States. It has now become a "door of return", welcoming people of African heritage back in a sort of reverse diaspora. This was the first of several historical slavery points we would visit, and the first of many Brittany would nearly pass out at.
And with that our visit to Cotonou, and Benin, was over. But here's some last things about our visit through the ancient Kingdom of Dahomey .
Time spent in Benin: 9 days
Lions seen: 3
Wagachi eaten in total: an estimated 130 pieces (at 100 CFA a piece, that's about $26)
Rounds of Pool Played: 19
Zems (moto taxis) taken: 60
Nems (spring rolls) eaten: 12
Nems eaten on zems: 0 (still my biggest regret)
- Michelle
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