Cruise Port 9 – Cotonou, Benin

by Ed · Published May 12, 2023 · Updated June 3, 2023

Kudo and mi kwabo (greetings and welcome in Fon) from Benin!

On May 7th, 2023, we arrive at the port of Cotonou in Benin. Benin is a sliver of a country along the Sea of Guinea between Nigeria and Togo.

This is the dirtiest pier we have ever seen. Sand is everywhere, and paper trash is scattered across the pier. A group of men begin picking up the paper and depositing it in a construction trash bin on the dock, on the left of the photo below. That is likely where the paper came from!

We have an excursion today to see the Ganvie Stilt Village! Soon we are on the bus.

I see beautiful artwork on a wall topped with concertina wire!

Our first stop is a visit to the tribute to the Amazon women. Do not confuse this with women from the Amazon in South America. These Amazons were fierce fighters for the Kingdom of Dahomey. This monstrous 30-meter-tall bronze statue recognizes their role in protecting the country! If you get a chance, look for the movie “The Woman King” for an interesting look at the Dahomey warriors, called the Aboujie.

The Palais de Congress (Congressional Palace) is next door. It is an interesting building based on three partial conic structures.

We head next to the airport to visit the Bia Guera monument. Even though the bus drives around the circle twice, this is a useless visit because the bus windows on the left side are opaque with scratches and an advertising skin applied to the outside. I pulled an image from the web so I can preserve what I missed, but I’m not going to include that here.

We head out of town and begin to see many instances such as this where the main roads end a hundred feet into the side streets. Paved roads do not extend into the communities off the main drag! Dirt roads!

Construction takes on a completely different approach here. Wood poles are used to support upper floors during construction or refurbishment!

The soccer stadium appears to be a beautiful structure! This is named the General Mathieu Kerekou Friendship Stadium.

Motorcycles appear to be the dominant mode of transportation. And I must point out here that yellow is the dominant color because it is the color representing Benin. We see a lot of yellow here!

Motorcycles haul loads!

And we are told people make a little extra money by giving people rides, instead of having them wait for taxis!

This fried chicken restaurant carries the same colors as a very familiar US food chain!

We finally arrive at the boat dock for the Ganvie Stilt Village visit! Vendors line up to sell us hats, belts, and food!

We are interested in watching this woman pass by, not because of the pans and basket perfectly balanced on her head, but because of the baby strapped to her back!

We make our way to the boat dock. Dozens of boats are lined up!

We are led to the far end of the dock. Men are waiting to fit us with life preservers!

I will use this moment to point out that Beninese men appear to like dressing in outfits that have matching shirts and trousers! Large, bold prints are the norm!

We board our boat and meet Gandun, our driver! It takes him a while before he rewards us with a smile. His clothing echoes what I just mentioned!

There are only ten of us on this boat, plus Gilbert, our guide, and Gandun, the driver. Lots of room for us to stretch out! Gandun asks us to move a little closer to him to balance the boat.

Then we head out! The last of our group finishes boarding their boat at the dock behind us!

I see my first stilt structure. I suspect this is a fishing platform, but it may well be someone’s “house”.

Father and son make a formidable team as the son aggressively poles while dad retrieves and tosses out the fishing net!

We come across a boat with excellent singing and drumming! This boat follows us for a minute, then it turns back to meet and entertain the next boat coming our way.

Another stilt house is in much better shape and very obviously occupied as a small child hangs out in the shadows on the corner.

Then the village appears! The line of houses stretches seemingly forever! 20,000 people live here!

We slide past this boat. The sail is made of cloth from the rice and produce bags!

We see the first of many yellow houses! Remember what I said about yellow?

The village is organized with “side streets”! No paving issue here!

This is an Art House for batik and sculpture!

Ganvie also has a stilt restaurant!

Children grow up on the water and are probably better rowers than many adults I know!

This is the local pharmacy!

These buildings are close to the center of town, and were probably some of the best homes in their time! I can’t believe the left one is inhabited, but the one on the right has a jug of sun tea brewing on the ledge! (At least my guess is tea…)

We see part of the village is actually on land. Even so, most of the homes are still on stilts, and the one on a foundation has a tall foundation. Water must periodically rise above the land level.

I snap this photo for the tiny goat, but realize after the fact that this is also a tiny house!

A new structure is being erected! This has proper concrete piers and sturdy framing! It must be a community center or something similar.

We get closer to the grasslands. Gilbert, our guide, tells us Ganvie is his home, and he still lives here. The grassy area to the right of this photo was the original village but is now the graveyard since most of the village moved out over the water.

A large church is just letting out. It is Sunday, after all! Many women are impeccably dressed in white!

Soon the singing boat catches up with us, and three of the women climb aboard and begin dancing! The musicians and singers are still in the boat next to us. It is loud and fun!

We stop for a chance to shop. This place is relatively large, with a restaurant on the left end, the baskets and carvings in the middle, and painting and fabrics on the right!

As we begin to head out we see the people receiving fresh water from the well hose. They fill the blue tubs in their boats and take the water home.

An ornate Muslim mosque comes into view. I still can’t figure out how I didn’t see this on the way into the village!

A short while later we return to the dock and make our way to the bus.

Interesting note about our bus – it is not the same bus we arrived on! We now have a bus with a Chinese motif, a working PA system and clear windows on both sides!

We pass some beautifully arranged market stands! These are the neatest I have seen since we arrived in Africa!

Then I find the funniest stand I have ever seen! This man is sitting in his stand, and the bottled products are stacked on the ground! He has a homemade funnel in this hand. I guess he fills bottles from the large jug at his side.

As we approach the port, Alex, a new guide, points out that we will pass a mural dedicated to the twelve groups of people who have come and made Benin their home. They all live peacefully together – twelve peoples, one country! I take a video of the wall as we pass, certain I won’t succeed in capturing decent photos. I stitched together screenshots from the video to share this wall with you. It’s a beautiful work of art!

We return to the ship, and find many groups of musicians, dancers, and performers waiting for us!

There are interesting performers, and interesting face paintings on the dancers. A couple of the dancers appear to be very young!

A man on stilts is an amazing acrobat! He leans back, he jumps and spins, he swings a stilt over our heads!

One thing they all have in common – stamina! They dance for hours on the dock, in the heat with bare feet on hot concrete!

The three “tented” costumes in green, yellow, and red are Voudoun dancers (you may be more familiar with “voo-doo”). I can’t imagine being in those costumes in this heat! Maybe they have miniature portable air conditioners? Not.

As the ship pushes away from the dock, they move together to bid us farewell!