In my missionary travels,I have gone the length and breath of Benin Republic this few weeks on official missionary assignment. I came here on the 28th of Dec 2021 and plan to return to Nigeria next Tuesday the 25th January Dv. The time here has gone very well indeed. I have had travels all the way from the down South and other parts. This post finds me way Up North of Benin Republic,on your way to the Togo border really,about a 100km to the Burkina Faso border so it’s the end of the country really. This village is called Boukoumbe,don’t know what it means though,unfortunately I didn’t ask as well. It’s a village about 600km from the commercial capital of the country Cotonou. In general the roads are all paved and very good. It’s not a bad ride at all from the South all the way to the North. Although I travelled in a private convoy,in company of other missionaries but they are very nice commercial transport running the travels. It’s a very safe and nice country not highly populated, friendly people but quite Fetish in their ways. There are other points to note if you ever think of taking the tour of Benin Republic.
Points
- It’s a french speaking country although the local language Fon is more and widely spoken. Nevertheless you can get by with French.
- It’s a country of three major religions,Christianity,Islam and traditional worships. The North is predominantly Muslims
- The local currency here is CFA. There are various forego exchange places around and the exchange rate is very constant CFA 655 to £1
- There are very nice affordable hotels in most part of the country. The current one we are using for here is called **Hotel Tata Somba **you can also find my **Review **of the hotel here.
- There are various tourist and tourist places you can visit while here.
- There are also some tourist companies that run the services and plan your travels for you if you so desire.
- In general the country is stable and safe physically and economically.
Now back to this nice village of Boukoumbe in the North. It’s a really nice country side. Quiet serene,so natural. Although it’s harmattan season now,so it’s quite dry and the Sahara wind is quite chilly and brings some dust as well. That aside it’s an Ideal place to live I thought,although I am just here for an official visit. The emission of fumes here is almost at 0% ,it’s unbelievable. As for noise,it doesn’t exist here except for the birds and cricket and other human noise which you hardly hear because the place is sparsely populated.The atmosphere is so pure. A look at the hut or house and you’ll fall in love with the place. I did anyway. The building is made of mud or earthen brick. The roof is called thatched roof,made of dry grasses so cool and interesting to see. The hut in the photo above has no ceiling, but a very nicely arranged rows of stick from the forest. You could stare at it all day long without getting bored.There is no such thing as a running tap water,No !!! If you need water you have to go to the well and it’s a good exercise daily. The water is also quite clean and pure,very natural. The furniture in the place is not left out,so fascinating.
All made locally from the palm trees or from timber in the forest. There are other very interesting structures as seen in the photo above. It’s a mud structure. The upper section is used for storing dry grain for further use. It could be replanted,used for commercial purpose or even for daily consumption. It’s stored that way to preserve the grains for at least a year. It’s also stored that way to keep them safe from predators and rodents.
Now the lower section is for the livestock of the family. I didn’t see any,but from hear say,there are occasional visits of wild rabbits, antelopes and monkeys. I really wished I’ll see one but didn’t. I just thought I’ll share this on conenct. It might interest some maybe it will not…