CFA Bill
Exchange rate: 1 Euro = 800 CFS (Dec 2015)
Accommodation per night
Hotel du Lac, Cotonou: CFS 44.000
Hotel La Diaspora, Ouidah: CFS 15.000
Hotel Sun City, Abomey: CFS 16.000
Hotel in Catholic Mission, Dassa: CFS 6000 Continue Reading →
King of Dassa
To be frank there are not many sights in Dassa, the Royal Palais is a run-down building and was closed at the time of my visit. If it was not for the fading letters on the wall saying Royal Palais, it would pass for another descript building in a dusty town.
The present king chooses to live in a simply house right next to it. He receives visitors, when they bring a bottle of gin and CFA 5000 in cash as a present.
Center of Dassa
It took quite a while for the bus to Dassa to fill since it was Saturday, besides nine people certainly are not enough for nine seats. Only when about 16 passengers filled the vehicle, lots of cargo was stowed away on the roof, including a moped, did we leave Cotonou. Since I got the privileged seat next to the driver, it was a sweet trip.
Ganvie Village
Ganvie is home to a fishing community of about 30.000 people, who all live in wooden huts on stilts in the lagoon waters of Lake Nokoue. The village, far away from the mainland, was founded by the Tofino people back in 17th century, when Dahomean worriers raided their countryside for captives to sell to the European slave traders. The Tofino word for gan means we are save and the word vie means community.
Visa Benin
Never has there been a visa more desired. The day before the X-mas holidays started and three days before my departure, it still had not arrived, although I had applied two weeks earlier. Hectic phone calls, email exchanges, mapping out a plan B (which quickly imploded) and the very sad thought of losing a plane ticket, turned the 23rd of December into a nightmarish day. At 4pm I could not take it any longer and called the responsible person in Benin on my mobile. Guess what, he told me to tell the consulate to issue the visa. He will give his okay the next day. And they did.
