Stilt Village, Benin

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Benin was much the same as Togo, only a 48 hour transit visa but we did do a little bit more.

We went to Ganvie, a stilt village on a lake just outside Cotonou. We took a pirogue trip out for a look around. That was ok, except that the first few places in the village we stopped at were tacky souvenir shops! The village was interesting, all the houses, churches, shops, schools etc on stilts about 2m above the lake. The market was great, all these women in their canoes floating in the "market place" selling their wares the same as in the markets in dry land. We saw fuel stations, fresh water pumping stations (take along your empty container and get it filled), all sorts. They survive on fishing, but the fish they are pulling out are tiny. Not as bad as some we saw in Ghana, I'll have to tell you these sizes in person as I cant describe them that well here.

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