The Venice of West Africa

Ganvié, sometimes referred to as "the Venice of West Africa" by people who have never been to Venice, is a town on the coast of Benin. It's a UNESCO world heritage site and if Benin has any tourist sites, this is it. The attraction lies in the fact that the whole town is on water. It might be the biggest lake village in Africa (it's hard to know things for sure in Africa).


The town was built on water to escape invading warriors from the dominant Fon ethnic group; apparently Fon warriors were forbidden by their religion from entering the water. While the likelihood of a Fon warrior attack these days is slim, the townspeople continue to live on the water.



The town did provide a nice site for photography. Unfortunately, the townspeople may have been the rudest bunch of people I've ever come across. Ironically for a tourist town, they really seem to despise tourists. There was an overt sense of hostility, with people asking for money and then acting really aggressive if you don't give, lots of dirty looks, mean-sounding comments, and hand gestures that I'm pretty sure didn't mean welcome. At one point, I even thought a guy was going to hit us with an oar. Maybe they were on better behavior when the UNESCO people visited. Anyway, it's kind of a nice place in pictures.