Our first impressions of Benin came sometime after 2 a.m., exhausted and trailing behind our group through an unfamiliar immigration hall. By the time we made it outside, we still hadn’t really seen the country yet. That changed quickly — motorbikes everywhere, women carrying entire markets on their heads, and roadside gas bottles that looked like drinks until you looked twice.
The Royal Palaces of Abomey in Benin tell the story of the Dahomey kingdom, the Agojie women warriors who inspired The Woman King, and the uncomfortable complexities history rarely simplifies. Walking through the earthen palace grounds brings all of it into focus — power, beauty, violence, and the legacy of the Atlantic slave trade.
Ganvié is often called the “Venice of Africa,” but that doesn’t quite capture it. This is a real community on the water, shaped by history and still living it every day.
I don’t think I understood this trip until it was almost over. On paper, it was one itinerary: Benin, Togo, Ghana, Senegal, then north to the Canary Islands and Madeira. In reality, it was two trips — and they had almost nothing in common.