Your Travel Experience with Finest Journeys
We checkout of our hotel after a relaxing breakfast. Our focus today prior to heading to Abomey is visiting one of the most beautiful communities here in Benin at Ganvie. Known as the Venice of West Africa, Ganvie is a community of over 30,000 inhabitants living in structures built on stilts over Lake Nokoue. The largest community living on water in Western Africa, most locals here are fishermen. A relaxed paced day and we may decide to try our hands at fishing under the tutelage of a local fisherman. If we are lucky and get a sizeable catch, then our lunch will be fresh fish grilled the local way. After our lunch we set off to Abomey which is approximately a 2 hours' drive. Our aim is to reach Abomey by mid- afternoon and visit the recently (1998) discovered underground dwellings of Agongointo - Zoungoudo just a few kilometers outside of Abomey. Discovered during road construction these underground dwellings are believed to date back to the 16th century during the reign of King Dakodonou the second King of Abomey. There are believed to be several hundred of these built 10 meters underground and they were used to protect locals from invaders in addition to offering the element of surprise for local warriors when attacking the enemy.#