Been in Benin

Cotonou is a city in the Republic of Benin and that’s where we woke up this morning. Over 2 million people live in the Benin (formerly known as Dahomey) urban area. Contonou is Benin’s largest city and government seat, although Port-Novo is the official capital. It’s name means “by the river of death” in the Fon language. What began as a small fishing village later grew as a center for slave trade, and later for palm oil and cotton.

The city now has a transportation infrastructure including air, sea, river and land routes that allow trade with neighboring countries of Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso and Togo. Our tour started with a short drive to the Esplanade des Amazones to see the 98 foot tall statue, built to honor the famous female warrior of the ancient Benin kingdom (of "The Woman King" movie), Tassi Hangbe who ruled from 1708 to 1711. Her motto was “win or die”.

 

see students for scale

Tassi Hangbe (98 ft tall)

We were very impressed with the relative cleanliness of that part of the city and all of the manicured areas with colorful trees and flowers. It looked like a modern city with many large buildings including a US Embassy. There are thousands of scooters on the road, many of which serve as taxis (can identify them by their yellow t-shirts). There are also lots of beat up vans packed to overflowing with people, as well as nicer cars as well (almost all Toyotas or Volkswagen). And of course many people on foot. As in other African countries, the women carry an unbelievable amount of merchandise on their heads, many with babies on their backs. Women with babies on their backs ride motorcycles as well. 

Bernardin Gantin, a black cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church

The further away from the city, the more poverty we saw. I read that 38.5% of the population was below the poverty line (as of 2019).

We continued our journey to Porto-Novo where we visited King Toffa’s two century old palace. It was very crude and extremely hot – not impressive in the least, but there were also some gelede mask dancers and drummers there who performed for us. The ritualistic dancing and drumming is definitely a part of the culture of this region but some of it has its roots in African voodooism. While it may be interesting to watch, in all honesty it gives me the creeps.

 

ready for the dancing and drumming to begin

 

 

gelede drummers

mask dancers

Ronnie at Honme Museum

inside King Toffa's Palace

The guy belong gave new meaning to "pole dancing"

 

 

 

...but boy could he dance!

 

I took a lot of photos as we drove around the city and made another stop to see a very old church. According to our guide, the 3 main religions in Benin are Voodoo, Muslim and Christianity. (Voodoo is also practiced in Togo, Ghana and Nigeria, with Benin being considered its birthplace (see link on yesterday’s post). 

 

Voodoo worshipers temple complex

 

I'm sure you'll find this hard to believe - but I took a LOT of photos today! And also some videos which I won't try to post. Many of the still shots were taken through the bus window whenever the bus would have to slow down for some reason. Others were taken during the short times I was out of the bus. I'm posting some of my favorites from today and a few random "bus window" photos.

I'll post some random street photos that I took on today's excursion. Hope you enjoy!

 

now that's a load!

who are these strangers on our street?

"look Ma, no hands!"

hello, strangers!

taking it all in...

friendly children

checking out the white folks

he smiled for me

quick glance down a side street from bus window

I'm clueless as to who this is

goat crossing

children outside Do Vodun Houan Loko (voodoo temple)

they don't see a tour bus often

lottery tickets sold here

mother and son