Trips to Benin, the country of voodoo.
Here is a glimpse of our trips to Benin, a friendly, colourful and attractive country.
The Republic of Benin is located in the Gulf of Guinea between Nigeria, Togo, Niger and Burkina Faso.
Geographically, the country is divided into five natural regions: the coastal region, the plateau area, a high plateau with wooded savannah in the north, a mountainous region in the northwest (“Atakora”) and the fertile plains along the Niger River in the northeast.
Benin is a paradise for photography lovers. On a trip to Benin you will discover and experience an authentic Africa, full of rituals, where voodoo is the official religion and not a tourist attraction.
Benin was once the powerful Kingdom of Dahomey, from where thousands of slaves were shipped to the “New World”. Among the cultural visits that can be made and that we include in our programmes, there will be interesting museums that will remind us of an atrocious history, old UNESCO Heritage palaces and colourful markets.
In the valleys of the Atakora mountain range, in the north of Benin, we find the Somba Country or Otomari Country, a unique natural and cultural territory, where we will find the fascinating tatas, or castle houses.
What do we visit on our trips to Benin?
- Ganvie, the African Venice. About 25,000 people live in this lakeside town near Cotonou.
- Ouidah, the religious capital of voodoo where you can visit the temple of the pythons. It was also an important point on the “Slave Route” and the “Door of No Return” and the Museum of History are not to be missed.
- Abomey: the former capital of the kingdom of Dahomey is full of palaces and voodoo temples. We will visit the Royal Palace, which is a World Heritage Site, among other places.
- Ethnicities:
- In the north: Somba Country in an environment of beautiful mountain scenery and fortified houses and Taneka Country with its fetish witches.
- In the centre and south: Holi, Mina, Pedah, Agonli, Fulani or nomadic Peul ethnic groups.
- Ceremonies and dances: Benin is synonymous with voodoo, although it is not the only country where it is practised. On our travels we’ll see various displays such as the Gelede dance dedicated to women, Egungun masks (spirits of the dead) and the Zangbetos (guardians of the night) which are spectacular.
- Grand Popo, a very friendly beach town, perfect for relaxing, with beautiful surroundings and the Mono river estuary.
Tailor made trips to Benin
We organise tailor-made trips to Benin with an excellent local guide who will help us to better understand the culture, religion and history of this small but interesting country. We can combine the trip to Benin with Togo and Ghana.
The level of comfort and adventure as well as the duration of the trip can vary according to the preferences of the traveler.
If you want more information do not hesitate to write to us at info@kumakonda.com or leave us a message on our form.
Security in Benin
Travel to Benin, and by extension Togo, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and much of Nigeria, countries with which a trip to Benin is often combined, is perfectly safe.
In recent months the situation in the north and east of Burkina Faso has been getting worse, which makes us at this time (november 2023) advise against travelling to Burkina Faso from Benin.
Besides being a safe destination, Benin is an easy destination, not too expensive and pleasant to travel to. Benin is a largely developed country, which has an acceptable network of paved roads, a proper police force that will not harass the traveller, a good public transport system if you want to travel to Benin on your own, and acceptable hotels and campsites, compared to most of its neighbours.
Best season to travel to Benin
If you dive in the travel guides, you will read that the best time to travel to Benin is in the dry season, which runs from October to February. But for colorful tastes, and we love to travel through Africa in the rainy season. The landscapes are bright green and the skies are blue and clear. The heat is always mitigated by the occasional downpour or shower. Also, in August the rains give a little respite in the Gulf of Guinea and make it a great month to travel to Benin.
Benin Visa
For some years now, Benin has made available an online visa that is very easily processed in:
- https://evisa.gouv.bj/fr/
- Its price is 80 euros, and it is valid for 3 months
- The Beninese visa can be obtained quickly in a few minutes and we recommend taking it out a few days before the trip.
The documents required to obtain a tourist visa to travel to Benin are:
- Passport valid for at least 6 months
- Photocopy of your passport
- Hotel booking
- 1 identity photo with white background
Photographic trips to Benin
Benin is a paradise for photography lovers. You don’t have to be a professional photographer or have expensive lenses to return home with a large number of good pictures.
Colourful and lively markets, colonial or traditional architecture, unusual places and, above all, fascinating ethnic groups that preserve rituals and traditions.
Some examples of beautiful portraits are these great images (and others in this blog post) courtesy of Miguel Del Valle, one of our travellers who have joined our trips to Benin.
And here is a video of our collaborator Alicia Ortego, who has also travelled to Benin with us and is the author of the blog Los viajes de Ali:
