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
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| Click on the images below to enlarge |
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A ferry taking part of our
group
across the river
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An enormous church just
outside of Allada
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Harvesting pineapples
in the fields.
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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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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 10th is one of the largest voodoo
celebrations in Benin, so we may time it just right to see some interesting
things.
