Last month I visited Ganvié, the 'Venice of Africa', located in south Benin (west Africa).
The city is built in a lake, and it is very populated (20,000 people).
This special place has been built between sixteenth or seventeenth centuries by Tofinu tribe. People created it to defend themselves from Fon warriors, who kidnapped people to sell them as slave.
The only public and private transportation is by boat:
Main activities are fishing and tourism (this city is famous over the world). Citizen are just a bit angry because of from 1996 Ganvié belongs to Unesco world heritage, like Venice in Italy, but they aren't helped enough by government.
Children learn to drive the boat very early. They like to joke...
... instead women don't like to show their faces, so they hidden it under hat or they take an hand on the face.
Here we took a boat to sail to city center:
Along the way we see often fluvial plants with beautiful purple flowers:
We are approching the city:
First houses...
and men at work:
A dead goat on the river:
King Gbewou statue:
Water is a common element of dailylife:
We were happy to visit a friend of our local guide in his house. I have tried to imagine life here. Maybe not an easy life, I imagine they are great worker, but simplest than our frenetic life, and with a greater sense of sociality.
Despite a bit of sadness in his eyes, I felt a great dignity in this man:
At the restaurant:
Here a boat made of grass!
Here you can find drinking water, with a lot of people filling plastic bins:
And the main square of the city:
Coming back to land:
Pictures taken with Sony Alpha 7iii
Thanks to Ganviè guide and to our guide in Benin, Constant!
Organized by Beetourist
October 2022.
[//]:# (!pinmapple 6.46986 lat 2.41202 long Ganvié, Benin d3scr)