Ouidah, Benin

Jumped onto the back of a motorbike and headed for the shared taxi station to get a ride to Ouidah. It was only a 42 kilometre journey so it didn't take long although there were a few checkpoints to go through.

As the guesthouse we wanted was only a few hundred metres from the main road, the taxi driver dropped us there, and saved us a walk in the heat and humidity. The receptionist could speak a bit of English so we were lucky. Of the eight rooms in the complex we were the only guests. Our room looked like it hadn't been used very much and I had to get the receptionist to come and give the bathroom a scrub while I brushed away the cobwebs on the walls and ceilings.

The yard had a disused tennis court and lots of trees. There was also a monkey tied to a mango tree who leapt down everytime he saw us come near. The poor thing couldn't swing as he was on a short chain belted to his waist. There were a couple of dogs and four puppies lolling about the restaurant floor as well and the ubiquitous chooks pecking in the dirt.

When we ate at the restaurant in the evening there were trillions of termites flying into the light and dropping all around us. It was an effort to keep them out of our steak kebabs (brochettes) and salad.

We visited the History Museum inside the Fortaleza Sao Joao Batista, a fort built by the Portuguese in 1721. The tickets included a guide but none of them spoke English so we had to try to figure things out for ourselves as there was little signage and what there was, was in French.

The fort

The display was rather disppointing in the museum, with a few artifacts and lots reproductions of early maps of West Africa.

We hired a zemi-john and drove the four kilometre Road of the Slaves. We started at Chacha Place which was the auction place for the slaves. From here the slaves were then shackled and marched to awaiting ships on the coast. Along the route are fetishes like this one.

There is also the Monument of Repentence and the Tree of Forgetfulness. The slaves were marched around the original tree to forget the land they came from.

A sign in the town

40% of the people are Christian and 25% Muslim, but most people practice voodoo whatever their religion. The Dahomey slaves took voodoo to the Americas and mixed it with Catholicism and their Afro-Brazilian descendants brought it back. The northern people practice voodoo under the name of fetishism where they have shrines. A fetish is a potion or object imbued with the spirit's power. Fetsih markets are where the buyer can get the items they need to make a concoction.

In voodoo there is a supreme god, Mawu, and loads of lesser spirits. Traditional priests or juju men are consulted as they are able to communicate with particular spirits.

A street scene

There was a python temple in the town but we didn't bother to go in as it is more like a tourist trap where they charge you to drape a python around your neck. We expected to touted by tour guides but were left alone to wander about so it was quite a relaxing place to be.