Benin City to Calabar: a day with AKTC

I found a website for a bus service I once used, not sure even when, 2008 or 2009, coming from Owerri to Calabar. ABC transport. It advertised a N6500 bus from Benin to Calabar at 11am. But when I walked around Benin City and asked around noone was able to tell if that’s true, the […]

Idanre to Benin City: there is art

I was woken up by a cockroach. It fell on my face sometime after 5am. I was in deep dream and I thought it was a grasshopper. I shook it onto the bedside where I thought I killed it with a pillow and threw it off bed. Only later when I looked for the grasshopper […]

Porto Novo to Lagos

I planned to arrive at the border early in the morning. The sooner I got to Lagos the better. The plan of course didn’t work. I slept too long, the darkness in my room helped. I took a 200cfa moto to what I thought will be some gare du Nigéria but instead we rode for […]

Visa no. 13: Congo in Cotonou

The Republic of Congo has an honorary consulate in Cotonou. It’s a bit away from the city centre but the 10kms cost me 600cfa on a zemidjan. They ask for passport photocopy (there is a place to do it on a street parallel to where the consulate is), one passport photo and hotel booking. A […]

Lomé to Ouidah

Distance from Lomé to the Togo-Benin border is about 50kms. Distance from border to Ouidah – the voodoo capital of universe – is the same. Both countries use the same currency – West African Franc, CFA. Benin is the last West African CFA country on my trip. Cotonou is the biggest city in Benin, its […]

Visa no. 11: Benin online

Republic of Benin sets a bar high when it comes to how visas should be. I did it online (possibly it’s cheaper in the embassies) at http://www.evisa.gouv.bj, paid 50EUR and the visa was in my inbox the moment the card was charged. OK, maybe three moments after that. It’s a single entry visa valid for […]