Ganvie Stilt Village

There is a village 18 kilometers outside of Cotonou which is situated on a river that runs inland from the port. The entire village is built on the river and is therefore built on stilts raising the buildings above the water level.

The pictures show the boat we travelled in, and some of the sites along the way, including a riverside market.

We left the ship at 8:30 on Saturday morning and met with the rest of our group at a local hotel that provides a boat service to Ganvie. The boat ride along the river takes about an hour and half.

We saw some interesting sites along the way.
The staple diet here in Benin is FISH. We therefore passed many fishermen in their boats and also fishing farms, netted and with basket traps for crabs and other shell fish displayed in the pic below.

The village of Ganvie is a fascinating insight into African village life. All of this village life takes place on the water, not only with the fishing done predominantly by the men and children but also the market place is also situated on the water. This local woman is preparing her canoe and loading her produce to sell along the way. This pic below shows part of the market.

Canoe is the only mode of transport in this village.These are some of the homes we saw as we travelled by boat around the village.

The picture below shows a line of canoes waiting to collect fresh water from the local water pump station.
The people of Ganvie are hard working people who have grown accustomed to visitors to their village. They have a number of local craft stores along the way which sell local print fabrics, wood carvings and jewellry as well as an assortment of voodoo amulets and masks.