Day 1                                                                                                              

Arrival  – Cotonou

On arrival at Cotonou, guests will be picked up for a hotel transfer.

Spend the night at a 4-star hotel in Cotonou

Day 2                                                                                                               

Cotonou – Porto Novo (40km)

Start the day with a visit the Dantokpa Market and the Artisans Center.

Set off for Porto-Novo named by the Portuguese in the 1500s. Many Afro-Brazilians settled in Porto Novo following their return to Africa after emancipation in Brazil.  Drive by the Grand Mosque, formerly a church designed in Brazilian.

Also visit the 300 year-old Royal Palace of King Toffa, which retraces the history of Porto-Novo.

Spend the night at a 4-star hotel in Cotonou  (B)

Day 3                                                                                                               

Cotonou – Ouidah

Set off for Ouidah, the centre of the Voodoo religion in Benin and also known for its role in the Transatlantic slave trade. En route, we visit a branch of the Zinsou Foundation, created by the Zinsou family as a private initiative to create a platform and exhibition center for contemporary African artists, particularly those active in Benin’s art scene.

Onarrival, visit the Sacred Forest a spiritual site and the former residence of King of Kpasse. A visit to the site includes an insight and understanding of the symbolic statues and shrines.  Also visit the Temple of the Pythons, a home of sacred royal pythons dating as far back as 1717, when the kingdom of Dahomey still existed.  After lunch, we take a walk down the Slave Route, a trail down which slaves were taken to the ships, is lined with monuments and leads to the Door of No Return, a memorial arch on the oceanfront.

End the tour with a visit to the village of Akodeha to witness the Zangbeto ceremony of the traditional voodoo guardians of the night also known as the “Night watchmen”.

Spend the night at a beachfront resort in Ouidah (B)

Day 4                                                                                                               

Ouidah – Ganvie

Visit Ganvie, the “Venice” of the Continent, a 500-year-old village on water lying in Lake Nokoué, near Cotonou.  With a population of around 20,000 people, it is probably the largest lake village in Africa.  The village was established in the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries by the Tofinu people, established on the lake because the Dahomey’s (a slave trading tribe) religion forbade the Fon warriors from entering water, therefore the lagoon was a safe territory for other tribes.

End the day with a visit

Spend the night at a 4-star hotel in Cotonou  (B)

Day 5                                                                                                               

Cotonou – Departure

Check into airport for departure.

No overnight stay (B).