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Benin Travel Blogs

Background: Present day Benin was the site of Dahomey, a prominent West African kingdom that rose in the 15th century. The territory became a French Colony in 1872 and achieved independence on 1 August 1960, as the Republic of Benin. A succession of military governments ended in 1972 with the rise to power of Mathieu KEREKOU and the establishment of a government based on Marxist-Leninist principles. A move to representative government began in 1989. Two years later, free elections ushered in former Prime Minister Nicephore SOGLO as president, marking the first successful transfer of power in Africa from a dictatorship to a democracy. KEREKOU was returned to power by elections held in 1996 and 2001, though some irregularities were alleged.

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By philannie
June 3rd 2009

Accra to Parakou-back to Benin May19-25 Africa » Benin » East » Parakou

Benin Waterfalls
Highest in West Africa

3 Days of luxury at the New Haven Hotel in Accra spoiled us. Air con internet at all times day and night at Busy internet to complete our business and catch up and beer and junk food interspersed with a little sightseeing. we met up with the rest and off we went.We travelled north East to Lake Volta and camped by the dam. Lots of water sports and the biggest dam in West Africa. This little travelled area was very beautiful. We continued our unusual route and travelled further up visiting the highest waterfalls with 1000's bats and crossed into Togo [View Full Entry]

By Squidsickle
April 20th 2009

From far away places. Africa » Benin » East » Parakou

Toronto
Clearly Ive adventured into the deepest depths of Ontario.

And here I am. About to embark, yet again, on a dangerous, scary journey, across vast expanses of space, through time and the universe its self. However this time, the journey wont be quite as scary as one would imagine. The journey is with Otesha. Again. This time, a Tour Liason position, is what I will have. I will be in charge of everything awesome, when it comes to corresponding with communities we pass through. In return for mountains of paperwork, I do not have to fundraise for my tour. Which is awesome. The tour its self, rides two months long, [View Full Entry]

By Adventurouspirits
December 6th 2008

ChAOS IN COTONOU Africa » Benin

We crossed into Benin at the main border crossing on the road between Lome and Cotonou. Formalities on the Togo side were pleasant and quick. Benin police took their time filling in all our information into their books before we headed for customs to have our car paper stamped. Once there however the customs man refused to stamp our carnet unless we paid him CFA 5,000, we refused and left returning to the man who stamped our passports. We kindly asked him to stamp our carnet, he looked confused but we reassured him it was necessary because we are from [View Full Entry]

By ichaselions
December 6th 2008

E.T. Phone Home Africa » Benin » South » Ouidah

I was we would say in Ghana...I have gone and come. Rachel and I left to go to Benin on Wednesday. I'd like to say we got up bright and early but considering we were up in moving before the sun...we just got up early. We hoped on a bus bound for Aflao, the border crossing point to go into Togo and of course got the bus without air conditioning, hooray!! But we did see an old woman who looked exactly like E.T. which basically made my day... Unlike my last time going through Togo, crossing in this time was pretty [View Full Entry]

By Kurogawa
November 23rd 2008

Big juicy prawn pasta with tomato and ginger!!! Africa » Benin » South » Ouidah

Prawn Pasta!!!!
mmmmmm ginger. In Gran Popo, Lion bar, where I stayed, highly recommended.

Benin, Benin, a stable democracy and what seems to be a good president investing in healthcare and education. lots of NGOs working all over the place,roads are crumbling and it doesn't seem any much better than it's dictator ridden neighbour that get no funding whatsoever, ok, not looking at numbers, just the visible signs. Granted, Lome in neighbouring Togo is really not tidy, if you see what I mean. Throughout my journey in Benin though, I was constantly bugged by one statistic, all the economic progress made by it is rendered null on a per capita basis because they have so [View Full Entry]

Chemin des esclaves view of the marshes.

By Squidsickle
August 16th 2008

Addition Africa » Benin » East » Parakou

Something bigger than my bicycle
And heavier, too.. this truck was at one point the biggest truck in the world.

No I'm not going to "add" anything. But here are 3 more photos, taken since my last update. They have the internet, over here in Alberta, so I mind as well put it to use. The truck: Fricking huge. Kind of crazy to walk underneith it. Or stand in front of it. The valley: So, this last Thursday, myself and my teammates had a day off, in Fernie. We rode a little over 100km the day before, so we threw in a rest day into our scedule to keep from killing us all. And my, what a rest day in Fernie [View Full Entry]

By TerriandTim
July 15th 2008

Egypt is freakin' hot - in more than one way Africa » Benin » South

Safe & Sound... will update the blog at some point in the very near future! :) (Finally found a wifi connection here today). :)TnT [View Full Entry]

By Letapaka
July 7th 2008

Mbulu 2 Africa » Benin » North

Framleis er alt vel. Eg kjem ikkje inn paa yahoo mailen og for derfor ikkje skrive mail. Dette beklagar eg. I ettermiddag vert det eit moete med CHRISC styret her i Mbulu, og der haapar vi aa faa mykje nyttig informasjon som vi kan vidareformidle til StudentKRIK i Bergen. Naar dette er gjort vert det truleg volleyball med dei lokale heltane! Jaja, det var no berre ein liten beskjed. Ha det bra! [View Full Entry]

By rosekanasty
June 26th 2008

Cotonou, stilt villages, and lots of transport Africa » Benin » South » Cotonou

Floating market in Ganvie

We arrived in Cotonou and got dropped off at the main market during rush hour. Then followed the most terrifying moto taxi ride of my life. The driver weaved between cars that I thought were going to hit each other, at one point I actually put my hand on the hood of a car I thought was going to hit us. I could see, though, that if he hadn’t driven like a maniac we would never have gotten anywhere, traffic was hardly moving. We met up with some Benin PCVs at their bureau who pointed us to an affordable hotel and [View Full Entry]

By rosekanasty
June 24th 2008

Ouidah: Benin's Voodoo capital Africa » Benin » South » Ouidah

Our first stop in Benin was Grand Popo, a small beach town not far from the Togo border. Grand Popo has lots of hotels but seems to lack tourists this time of year. I think we were the only ones staying at the beautiful Auberge de Grand Popo; they were so desperate for our business that they invented a 25% Peace Corps discount. The Auberge has a beautiful beach with thatch shade huts and a swimming pool. It also has a beautiful outdoor restaurant that we couldn’t afford, but we found some great seafood in town. There are several kinds of [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Africa » Benin