Benin: Djougou - Bassila - Abomey - Allada - Ganvié - Ouidah -
Written by traveladdictLast updated 2005-06-01 01:47:47
June 12, 2004: Sonaholou - Djougou - Bassila Around noon, we arrive in Benin, our last - new - African country on this one-year-travel. We get the Benin road map out and we are happy to have made it so far. Ependa, our car, has done a good job. Wim has lost some weight during this 8 months and I have gained some. We make a good balanced team!
We are surprised about the good road conditions during this wet season in Togo and now also in Benin. Now we drive on a straight, smooth red sand piste to the south. In Bassila, we spent the night in Auberge Mbobo.
June 13, 2004: Bassila - Savalou - Dassa - Abomey We advance at a good speed and early noon, we are in Abomey. This historic city was once the capital of the powerful Fon Kingdom Dahomey. We visit the restored palace, which is now a Unesco World Heritage Site and museum (Musée Historique d'Abomey).
The bas-reliefs that remember the different Dahomey kings are exceptional. Stools, autels, weapons, umbrellas and applique banners are some of the artifacts you can admire in the museum.
The stool is one of the Kings attributes and is made out of one piece of wood. The stool of Ghézo is decorated with four human skulls (war trophies) and is so high, that his feet needed to rest on the back of a bend-forward-man.
An autel is a bronze artifact like a scepter and is decorated with symbolic figures. One of them shows a chameleon and means "under his hands, the branch won't brake". Slowly but surely he maintains his goal.
The umbrella is another royal attribute and makes sure that the king is sitting in the shade, while the peasants are sweating in the sun.
Applique banners are a way of history-telling, using figures and symbols. Every king has his sign: King Glélé is represented by a lion, his father, King Ghezo by a buffalo, and so on?Many war scenes are shown, where heads are cut off, bodies are separated etc. In Ghezo's time, even women - Amazons - were part of the army. It's a bloody history.
The "Centre des Artisans", which is situated inside the palace courtyard is a good place to see some craftsmen at work. A huge variety of applique banners are for sale, and so are little bronze statues, weavings etc?
June 14-15-16-17, 2004: Abomey - Allada In Allada, we see the process of the drying of pineapples in the CO.PRA.TO factory. We take pictures for the Belgian NGO OXFAM who buys the products at a fair trade price. Thanks to Mr. René and Mr. Augustin Ahouanse, we could complete our "mission" and we enjoyed our time here.
June 18, 2004: Allada - Abomey-Calavie - Ganvié - Ouidah As usual, they make a "mistake" in calculating the bill for our accommodation and drinks. This is one of the certainties in Africa. Is it because we are white and they deliberately increase prices or are they not good at calculating? We give it the benefit of the doubt, but make sure that we always double check.
At Abomey-Calavie, we take a pirogue to get to Ganvié. This is a stilt village on the Lake Nokoué and is also called "Venice of West-Africa". It is the biggest stilt village in Africa with over 30000 inhabitants.
The main activity is fishing. There are several ways. First there is the round-net fishing from the pirogue. Second there is the breeding of fish in akadjas: artificial constructed "forests", where fish come to eat and to be "safe". Then they also make huge net-traps, where fish can't escape from, once they swim in. Fishing is a men's job.
Women process the fresh fish into smoked fish and sell it on the market. They wear huge hats against the blistering sun. Today, it is very gray and cloudy, so we miss that part of the view.
Fresh water from the mainland is sold out of big plastic vessels and offered from door to door. The floating market is interesting to see.
A part of the village is situated on an island an it is funny to see pigs, ducks and chickens crawl around under the stilt houses. This exceptional life is fascinating to observe and it would have been a good choice to stay over night in one of the little hotels. Instead, we enjoy a wonderful fresh fish meal and return to the mainland. This has been a relatively expensive trip, but more than worthwhile.
We take the road to Ouidah and over the "route Des esclaves" we arrive in Le Jardin Bresilien Auberge de la Diaspora. This hotel is next to the UNESCO monument "La Porte de Nonretour", which remembers the massive export of African people (ebony wood) to America and Europe.
If they survived the transport, they were sold as slaves to work on the fields, in the household,... It is a very sad period in African history of which there are many historical remains at the coast of Ghana, Togo and Benin. This deportation is the reason that the voodoo cult arrived in Haiti, Cuba, Brazil,?
The word "voodoo" comes from the Fon language of the ancient Dahomey kingdom and means "God" or "Spirit". In West-Africa, voodoo is called Juju or Grigri and is the local animism. You find it in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin,?It differs in practice according to the region. But the main aim in Juju is to serve the Spirits (Loa).
Ceremonies are mainly dancing rituals, where the Spirits take possession of the human body -who is in trance - and becomes visible. Sacrifices, offerings and alcohol are often part of the game.
White is the color of voodoo, the Spirit and the Gods.
Juju is inhabited in most of West-African daily life and can be found in so many different forms of fetish, grigri, amulets,? Especially children wear charms to protect them. This can be a kauri shell, a piece of cloth, leather, an amulet with herbs,? which they wear around the neck/arm/leg or pearls around the waist. For foreigners, it is sometimes hard to recognize the signs. Even in the locally adopted Christianity, where Jesus Christ and Maria are adored, you find a hidden trace of Juju.
June 19, 2004: Ouidah - Abomey Our visit to the Casa do Brazil, where an exhibition of black and white photos about voodoo rituals is supposed to be, turns out to be disappointing. The guide hardly speaks French and gives at each collage/painting (no pictures!) a memorized line. If you ask more, he can't answer. And what ever you ask, he answers "yes". Only when you want to take pictures, it is "no". Nevertheless, there are some nice paintings. The second and last room is filled with assembly-art. The statues are the reincarnation of dead people. They show something typical about the deceased, such as his profession.
As the weather is not very bright, we decide not to go to the Grand-Popo beach, but to return north. We are both not feeling too well, but we comfort ourselves with a yoghourt Fan-ice and some peanuts on the road. We pass many markets, but stopping is not a pleasure today. In a few seconds, the car is surrounded by children demanding "cadeau". On a weak moment, such as now, this drives us crazy...
Pictures with this story: www.traveladdict.be
