This tiny country, once called Dahomey, was home to the ferocious Fon tribe and it so dominated the slave trade the coast was called the Slave Coast. For over a century approximately 10,000 slaves a year were sent from it's ports mainly to Brazil and Haiti.
The Fon were also famous for their women fighters. These were the "Amazon Women" some 2500 strong who formed the personal battalion of the Chief and who's legends still carry on today. They so frightened the native tribes and the European's that the region wasn't brought under French control until 1882 and then the slave trade was finally abolished. Within one generation, the Fon changed from being savage warriors to well educated bureaucrats and served the French throughout their African colonies.
The Fon were the reason for our first excursion. There was a tribe called the Tofinu who fled the approaching Fon by building a stilt town in a large lake far from the shore. The Vodoo beliefs of the Fon did not allow them to pursue their enemies on the water and thus, the Tofinu were safe. For over two hundred years they have lived in a settlement called Ganvie and carry on the traditions of fishing as they have for centuries with scant contact with the mainland.
The houses are all on stilts over the water and the only transportation in or out is by boat.
They may have invented fish farming by using fronds from local plants to build enclosures in the water, trapping the fish and allowing them to grow in the enclosed areas until harvest.
Even with the advanced fish farming method they developed, they still use the traditional ways.
We were there on market day and like in far away water based villages, such as in Cambodia, Vietnam Nam and Thailand, all commerce took place from the small boats, here called pirogues, that were the mainstay of life.
These people mainly practice Vodoo or other animist religions and while there was a large mosque and several churches in the village, many turned away or covered up if you tried to take their picture. They didn't want you taking their souls.
What struck me the most was how many children were working, especially young girls, and how many were not in school. While their smiles were infectious, you have to worry about their future.
Leaving Ganvie one had to wonder how long this way of life would continue. The city of Cotonou was only thirty minutes away from the shore of the lake and another twenty minutes by boat to the village. One thing we didn't see much of, as we did in Southeast Asia in similar villages, was a profusion of satellite dishes. We saw none and only a few antenna's. While there was some electricity, there didn't seem to be a lot and you also didn't see anyone talking on cell phones. It was quite an interesting excursion.
Quickly we were back in the real world of an unairconditioned, rather worn bus, fighting the thick traffic of Cotonou. Not being a wealthy country, most of the traffic was motor bikes and the commerce of the people was done on the streets. The stalls stretched from the shores of the lake we had just visited to the port. It's how commerce is done in just developing countries and it looked pretty normal. For new comers to this part of the world, especially after Namibia, it was pretty mind blowing.
I'll save the city part of Benin for the next post and tell you our visit to Togo was all about countryside life,Voodoo Chiefs and some pretty wild dance, but you are probably wondering about French bread. Just like in Viet Nam and Cambodia, one of the legacies of French occupation was that the people love their bread and sell it and eat it everywhere.
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I hope you enjoyed seeing this slice of history. It's now cocktail time on the ship so I will stop, but leave one last picture that for me sums up why we love to travel, Africa, and photography: the reaffirming happiness found in a smile.
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great...it looks like the men just sit around while the women and children work...
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