Eating Pineapples and Fording the Oueme

January 7 - 8

Day #11 – Started : Come                            Ended: Zinvie                                     Distance Covered: 78 km

Day #12 – Started : Zinvie                             Ended: Ahoueda                                Distance Covered: 43 km

Highlights

• Pineapples
• Canoe river crossings
• 110% Humidity

Click on the images below to enlarge

A ferry taking part of our

group 

across the river

An enormous church just

outside of Allada

Harvesting pineapples

in the fields.

The last two days have been some of my favorite of this trip so far.  We’ve been crossing the south of the country from the west to the east, and the scenery has been completely gorgeous.  Many of the trails have been small, dirt paths that run alongside lakes and rivers, and they’ve been lined with palm trees and pineapples.  The only down side has been the ridiculous humidity; it seems like it only takes 30 minutes before our shirts are completely drenched in sweat each morning.

A truck being packed with pineapples to take to market

On our way from Come we passed through the city of Allada, which is the pineapple capital of Benin.  This time of the year is the height of the pineapple season as well, which means that they’re everywhere!  I couldn’t count the number of pineapple we saw; just about every other field seemed to be filled with them, and just about every market corner seemed to have a vendor selling them.  And to top it off, people are incredibly generous with the pineapples as well.  Throughout our day-long trip to Zinvie, we were given a total of 10 pineapples as gifts along the way.  Needless to say, dinner that night was pretty sweet.

From Zinvie, our route caused us to face the daunting task of fording the Oueme River.  This region is a flood plain, so during the majority of the year the roads and fields found there are nonexistent (since they’re inundated).  As it’s currently the dry season, the water has gone down, but the roads are still barely established.  With the water level low, we were able to pass through most of the flood plain on a peninsula that runs between diverging streams, but it was extremely slow going.  It takes time for foot traffic to even out the paths here, and then they are simply destroyed months later when the rains return.

Homes are built on stilts to
avoid flood waters

To cross parts of the river that were too deep to cross by foot, we took canoes (which was awesome, though a bit shaky).  Villagers in this area frequently use canoes to ferry between villages on opposing sides of the river and to transport goods to markets up- and down-stream.  The canoes are made from trees that have been felled and hollowed out.  They’re pretty well crafted, but they require a bit of baling each time you use one.

The contraptions within the boats
are used to catch fish

From our trip across the peninsula it became apparent that the people of this region are very adept at living within their environment.  They take advantage of the benefits the river brings them, but they are also aware of its strength.  Many people make a living by fishing or by cultivating the rich flood plains once the water in them has receded.  To survive the floods, though, they must build their homes on stilts and be prepared to constantly repair them.  It’s pretty amazing that a community so close to others in the country can have such a unique manner of living solely due to the conditions they are faced with.

Starting tomorrow we’ll be heading back north, making our way to the city of Ketou, and then alongside a sacred forest to our midway point in the town of Save.  Ketou has a pretty big voodoo influence, and January 10^th is one of the largest voodoo celebrations in Benin, so we may time it just right to see some interesting things.