Today we docked at the port of Cotonou in the country of Benin. There is a lot that could be said about Benin as it played a noteable role in the Transatlantic slave trade, both as a source of slaves with local rulers selling slaves to Europeans, as a location of one of West Africas Gate of No Return and as a departurre point for slave ships from the Benin coast near the town of Whydah. In addition Benin is a country where the practice of Voodoo is very active. But rather than give you a lecture on these topics I will provide some wikipedia links on these subjects for those that are interested; Cotonou Benin Voodoo Whydah

As usual our outing was a bus tour that stopped at various points to allow us tourists to take some photos, often only through the not so clean windows of the bus. Even before getting on the bus we were welcomed onto the dock by a very energetic dance troupe; note the local tour guide in the background with a sign trying to collect all his charges for the day.

The first few points of interest were quite surprising. First a very long wall covered in some really high quality graffiti, really quite impressive and I would have liked a closer look. Next came a huge statue of a Dahomey Amazon; an amazon in this context is a female warrior who protected the local kings from approximately 1700 to 1900. Finally at a roundabout we were introduced to a statues of Bio Guera a 19th century freedon fighter against the French.

Bio Guera was the end of our sightseeing in Cotonou, after that we found our way to the main East/West road and headed West towards the town of Whydah as it seems to be the cultural capital of Benin and there was some "stuff" to see there. This drive was about an hour, say 60-70 km and the entire way the road was bordered by small shops, gas stations and various kinds of vehicle repair businesses housed in steel, containers, rough brick structures, or even rough shelters made out of sticks and sheet plastic with people, trucks, cars and motorcycles every where. But photos were almost impossible as we did not stop.

In Whydah our first stop was the Kpasse's Sacred Forest; which it must be said was a really impressive forest of large old trees, with a bunch of rather weird statues presumably representing gods of some kind. The meaning of the one with the large phalus probably did not need any explanation.

Following the sacred forest we visted the Serpent Temple where we were supposed to see a bunch of snakes in a cave, but the temple was under going renovation so the cave was out. However the serpents were still available, much to Nina's delight and she pushed herself forward to get her turn at having a snake around her neck. We were both amazed at how many locals were also visiting the Temple and how dressed up they were. Oh, and by the way, Nina decided she wanted to buy a piece of cloth like the one the local women wear on their heads when they are carrying loads on their head.

The day was finished off with a vist to the location of the traditional slave market which has been turned into a paved park, a visit to a village to watch a traditional dance, and then a visit to the coast to see the modern re-creation of the Gate of No Return and a replica of a traditional slave ship.