Ganvie

18 FEBRUARY 2023

I took a shared taxi this morning heading for Cotonou and got out at Calavi, the junction closest to where you get the boats to Ganvie. I walked down to the water side and arranged the ticket (8000CFA) and a guide (5000CFA) for the trip.

The guide and I joined a group of villagers in the motorised boat. They were returning from shopping on the main land. As it was Saturday, there was lots of activity and a great buzz as people got into boats and headed into the lake.

As we travelled we passed several fishermen. Many were young boys, casting their small nets off the sides of wooden pirogues close to the reeds. Their boats housed plastic containers full of their catch. Also travelling alongside us were boats paddled by women and girls. These were carrying produce and in many cases were mobile shops.

We pulled up at the restaurant in the centre of the village - a hub for the tourists which included a shop of souvenirs. Here I had the set dish of rice and fish with fried plantain.

The next two hours was spent travelling around the village in a wooden pirogue. I sat up front and the guide paddled us around, chatting to his friends as we passed them by. Roughly 24,000 Tofinu people live in this extended village which covers several km. They live and work from bamboo buildings built on stilts above the water; these include homes, shops, hairdressers, the disco, mobile money centre, churches and a mosque. Scattered around the village on stilts or attached to the houses were several voodoo shrines. The village mayor had died a few weeks earlier and this day was part of the extended funeral ceremonies. Boat loads of guests were arriving all dressed in their best and in similar attire to demark each village. The guide explained that the original villagers of Ganvie were from Benin and Nigeria, trying to escape from enslavement from the kings soldiers and the colonial slave traders. They found shelter by the waters of Lake Nokoue and above the water so that they could respond to approaching enemies approaching in their boats. Today the village is thriving. Dependent on fishing, the Tofinu people are fighting to maintain their fishing rights and the environmental upkeep of the lake waters. Like so many communities across Benin, they have an expanding younger generation and their school is packed. My guided said that his classes at school never exceeded 20 in the 70s. Now the island school has 50-60 students in each class. They are hoping to get support to build more classrooms and employ more teachers.

I made my way back to Cotonou by motorbike taxi and stopped off at the Le Lab gallery, part of the Zinsou Foundation. There were two major exhibitions on show here:

The Sape of Congo; this series of photos depict the life of the Sape (The society of ambience-makers and elegant people). This subculture centred on the cities of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Bazzaville in the Republic of Congo embody the elegant style and manners of the French colonial predecessors. A fascinating look at a cultural identity that is alive and well in these cities.

Further photos by Benin photographer and multimedia artist, Ishola Akpo; these included some of his work inspired by the underground tunnels of Aboney.

I stayed at the wonderful family-run Cocotiers Guest House in Cotonour for 18,000CFA. This was in walking distance of the airport and a large supermarket, adjacent to the Boulevard de Marina which runs along the beach side.