-Frank Herbert-
Somehow both Pat and I slept in. I do remember changing the clock on my phone
to Benin time the night before, but somehow it changed itself back and we woke
later than expected and with pat on cooking this morning, she was in a mad rush
to make sure that she wasn’t shirking any of her duties. As it worked out Bean and Patrick were
already up and the chairs were out (Duck’s job) and the kettle was already on
the boil. Disaster averted!!! As always I had tome for a quick shower
before food was served and within an hour of finishing brekkie we were on the
road for a short hours drive today to a town called Ouidah (phonetically
pronounced Weedah). Ouidah is a
city on the Atlantic coast of Benin. The commune covers
an area of 364 square kilometers and as of 2002 had a population of 76,555
people. In local tradition Kpase is supposed to have founded the
town. This probably happened towards the
end of the sixteenth century. In 1727
the Kingdom of Whydah was captured by the
forces of King Agaja of
Dahomey. The Portuguese, English, Dutch,
and French all constructed forts in the city to protect their interests in slaving.
The Portuguese reached the town they
called Ajudá in 1580 and the Portuguese Fort of São João Baptista de
Ajudá, now housing a museum, dates from 1721 and remained with Portugal until
31 July 1961.
Our first stop of the day was at Ouidah Fort also known
as the Fort of São João Baptista de Ajudá.
In English, St. John the Baptist of Ouidah Fort is a small fortress built
by the Portuguese in
the city of Ouidah on the coast of Dahomey
on the Atlantic coast
of modern Benin. Reached by the Portuguese in 1580, after
which it grew around the slave trade, for which the Slave Coast was
already renowned. The Fort, built in land given to Portugal by
the King of Dahomey, remained under Portuguese
control from 1721 until 1961. In 1680
the Portuguese governor of São Tomé and Príncipe was
authorized to erect a fort. In 1721, after having been abandoned for some
years, it was reconstructed and named São João Baptista de Ajudá. The fort had an important impact in Benin, greatly
contributing to both the Portuguese and African slave trade. Its importance is attested
by the fact that the Portuguese language was the only foreign
language that the Kings of Dahomey authorized. Portuguese descendants were also important
in the political structure of the kingdom and some established Portuguese-Brazilian families,
such as the de Sousa / de Souza whose descendants still
exist in Benin, Togo and Ghana, were powerful and abided by private law. In
January 1722 the pirate Bartholomew Roberts ("Black Bart")
sailed into the harbour and captured all the eleven ships at anchor there.
Following the abolition of the legal slave trade in 1807,
the fort, which had before been one of the major slave ports, gradually lost
its importance and although Portugal continued to claim it as one of its
possessions, formal occupation and administration were abandoned on several
occasions. It was only when French presence in the region started threatening
Portugal's interests that the settlement was again permanently manned. This
didn't prevent the French conquest of Dahomey (1891–1894).
After this, São João Baptista de Ajudá – now reduced to the territory actually
within the walls of the fort – lost what remained of its importance. The fort was re-occupied by Portugal in 1865.
In this period it served as a base for a brief Portuguese attempt to create
a protectorate in
the Kingdom of Dahomey of which the city of Hweda (Ajudá – Ouidah) was part
(1885–1887). Until its annexation by
Dahomey in 1961, São João Baptista de Ajudá was probably the smallest
recognized separate modern political unit, initially around 1km2 and being
reduced until only 2ha (5 acres) by that time: according to the census of 1921
it had 5 inhabitants and, at the moment of the ultimatum by the Dahomey
Government, it had only 2 inhabitants representing Portuguese Sovereignty who
tried to burn it rather than surrendering it.
Only in 1975, after the Portuguese Estado Novo regime has been
overthrown due to the Carnation Revolution at Lisbon, did the
annexation of the fort by Dahomey (now renamed Benin) gain official
Portuguese recognition. This was followed by the fort's restoration, which was
paid for by Portugal. The fort is a small square with towers at the four
corners. It comprises a church and officers' quarters. The Fort of São João
Baptista de Ajudá now houses a museum.
We were able to take photos of the court yard, but once
inside this small museum we were not allowed to take them inside. It really amuses me that we can take pictures
in one of the most stunning museums in the world at The Hermitage in St
Petersburg, but in the small town of Ouidah, we can’t take pictures of some of
the most basic items that they have in the museum. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed the hour that we
spent at the fort and it was interesting to learn more about the slave trade
and what it entailed and it is another piece of grizzly history, and I am not
sure if people actually really know much about that piece of time. In the 400 years that the slave trade was in
action over 10 million people were sold and shipped from African shores. Imagine.
TEN MILLION. African kings did
not initiate the slave trade yet most of them benefited handsomely from
it.
Ouidah is best known for its central role in the slave
trade during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, during which millions of individuals
were boarded onto ships from the beach at Ouidah and were transported across
the Atlantic. Originally, however, Ouidah was a small village in the small
Xwéda kingdom that supported itself through agriculture, hunting and fishing in
the coastal lagoons – the inhabitants had very little to do with the sea and
its treacherous tides. Ouida’s first
encounter with Europeans occurred during the 16th century. Though the slave
trade along the Bight of Benin began soon after, it was not until the end of
the 17 the century that European traders began purchasing slaves from the Xwéda
kingdom in earnest, establishing factories and forts in the town of Ouidah. The
kingdom of Xwéda prospered greatly from this trade, until in 1727 the
militaristic kingdom of Dahomey routed the kingdom of Xwéda, killing, capturing
and dispersing its citizens, and usurping trade with the Europeans.
Until Dahomey’s colonization by the French, the town of
Ouidah remained in Dahomean control. The slave trade was extremely active, and
by the middle of the 18th century the population of Ouidah verged on 10,000
inhabitants, and had reached its economic apogee. In 1818 Dahomey installed
Francisco Félix de Souza, known as Chacha by the Dahomeans, to manage the slave
trade on behalf of the kingdom of Dahomey. To this day, the descendants of de
Souza hold a place of importance in Ouidan society. As European governments began to denounce the
slave trade as brutal and unjustifiable, the trade in slaves across the
Atlantic all but closed. In the late 1800s the town of Ouidah began to focus
its export efforts on much less lucrative palm oil. Even as the slave trade
declined, there began a repatriation of many of the descendants of slaves
exported to the New World. Most of these were third-generation enslaved
individuals living in Brazil, and as they returned to Benin (and particularly
to Ouidah) they brought many of their customs and traditions. To this day there
are many examples of Afro-Brazilian architecture in Ouidah stemming from this
period. The kingdom of Dahomey
(including Ouidah) was colonized by the French in 1902; by 1961, however, the
country of Dahomey gained independence from France.
After we had finished here we were back in the truck in
search of an ATM for us to stock up on some more money. I am trying to just get as many CFA (West
African francs) as I can, as we visit 3 more countries that accept the same
currency and as I don’t have euros readily available to exchange, I need to
make the most of ATM’s as we see them.
It took a second try at Ecobank for us all to get cashed up and then we
were on our way to the Python Temple just a 5 minute drive away.
Our first stop was the Temple of Pythons. It is a place where all the pythons in the
town chill and get VIP treatment. The python is a respected deity in Ouidah and
a story goes that the pythons helped protect the town from invaders so they
don’t kill it. My take is that it is a
brilliant form of preservation and wild life conservation. I am not a snake fan at all, never have been. Snakes are way up there with spiders in my
most hated animals on the planet, so when I hear Python Temple, my skin crawls
in anticipation. I am not so sacred of
them that it would have stopped me going into the temple itself, but I just had
no intentions of holding one. Once the
entrance fee was paid, we had a guide to take us around the small courtyard
explaining some of the voodoo history behind the pythons and then he entered
what was like a big button mushroom shaped building and emerged with 3 snakes
in his arms. He handled them for a few
minutes and then dished the snakes out to people in the group. I was well hidden behind Zoe as the guide
went back inside the temple to get more of them. Everyone was having their photos taken and
the guide told me that none of them have EVER bitten anyone and when I
reconfirmed EVER I decided to bite the bullet and hold one. I just didn’t want to hold snake that was
looking at me, so I was handed one that was in the middle of the snakes stomach
and I got Patrick to take some photos as I braved up and then the snake turned
to look straight at me and that was my undoing as I freaked out and the guide
came immediately over to take the snake from me. I was pretty wired that I actually held a
snake and then the big test came to go into the actual temple. Our group walked in and there were over 50
snakes of all sizes sleeping mainly, but a few were slithering along the floor
and some on a shelf that ran around the mushroom shaped room. I was a little freaked out as there were some
snakes behind the door, but after I realized that most of them were in sleep
mode they didn’t seem to scare me as much, well until one moved of course! Patrick and Bean were right in there and even
sat on some steps and the guide came over and draped like 4 snakes on them for
photos. As much as that was an awesome
photo, I just could bring myself to do that and had to be happy with the shots
I had gotten outside, but held one I did and I think that is pretty amazing in
itself.
While we had the truck parked, we decided to walk to a
small local market just down the road so we could stock up on some food. Thankfully Cooking with Gas didn’t have any
cooking duties for the next 2 nights, so we initially went for the walk to the
market that sold everything from buckets to clothes to food and then Harj and I
decided to head back to the truck as it was hot and humid and we really didn’t
need to be there. On my way out, now
that the fridge was working I purchased a 6 pack of coke (500ml bottles) for
2000CFA (4AUD) for all 6!!! Imagine, and
then we walked back to the truck to chill.
The crew was 30 minutes behind and just after 1pm we pulled out of the
carpark to head to our last stop of the day The Point of No Return. This is where the slaves saw the last of the
African continent as they were sold and shipped to other countries. We were hoping to have lunch around the parts
before setting off to the camp, but it became apparent that there really wasn’t
anywhere for us to park and set up lunch without getting hassled by a flock of
people, so we decided to drive straight to camp, lunch it, and then head back
to see the Point of No Return. Ouidah
doesn’t seem to be that big and after a 15 minute drive we found ourselves
pulling up to the camp site, located a short walk away from the beach and the
first thing we notice is what appears to be a massive swimming pool. This is music to our eyes as it was so hot,
we were thinking the hottest day we have had on the trip so far and I rekon it
must have been sitting around the 37C mark.
It really was oppressive. So we
parked the truck and the second that upgrades were mentioned all our ears
pricked up and we said that we would love to get a price on the upgrade
tonight. So while that was getting
sorted, we set up lunch under the palm trees to try and escape the blazing HOT
sun while trying to not stand on the boiling hot sand for too long. It really was a scorcher and reminded me of
my trip to Morocco a few years ago when our days were sitting around the 45C
mark, the hottest I have ever been in my life.
This would rate right up there today.
We found out the good news that we could upgrade to the
air vented rooms for 1000CFA (2AUD) each and there was no hesitation in all of
us agreeing to that. The boys, as there are
3 of them, with the payment of their camping fees towards their room, they
actually didn’t have to pay a franc for their upgrade, so it was a win win all
round really. They did have the option
of air conditioned rooms but they started at 20,000CFA (40AUD) and none of us
were that desperate to get out of the heat.
For most of us it is the sleeping on a mattress that appeals the most as
there is nothing wrong with the tents, but it is hard to imagine setting them
up and sleeping in them in this heat! We
also decided because it was too hot, that we would do the point of no return
tomorrow morning on our way out ( I think we would have melted otherwise) and
to spend the afternoon by the pool to escape the heat, and it did exactly that
and was the best thing we could have done this afternoon. It was a great spot with a 50m pool, chairs
and tables under the shade, a bar where they came and served your drinks and
for a little while earlier on they also had free Wi-Fi which is the first we
have seen in 3 days. I was able to
update my status and send out 2 needed messages before it went down and I was
half way through loading a blog, so I wasn’t able to finish that-but eventually
I will be able to post them, it just may well be back in Accra in 10 days’ time!!!
As our food shopping has been done all at local markets
we have had to run with what we can find on the day, and this evening’s meal
was no different. Ring of Fire tonight
served sardine (of the tinned variety) pasta and as un-delicious as it sounds,
it was actually very tasty and I am going to say it had nothing to do with us
being ravenous by dinner time and we probably would have eaten anything. After dinner, we turned off the truck lights
and Sam asked us to look up into the sky and he walked us through what stars we
could see, which were planet’s and which ones we can see with the naked
eye. He pointed out a satellite and some
of the guys saw a shooting star which I missed.
Sam is a very, very smart guy and explains things in such a way that it
makes you think that just maybe you are a little smarter for it and for me it
was the explanation on the light years, that I never knew just how all that
worked and it is really fascinating. The fastest thing that we know of is light which travels
at a speed of 186,000 miles or 300,000 kilometers per second in empty space. To
get an idea of how fast this is, light can travel about seven times around
Earth in one second! Astronomers use the speed of light to measure how far away
things are in space. A light-year (ly) is the distance that light can travel in
one year. In one year, light travels about 5,880,000,000,000 miles or
9,460,000,000,000 kilometers. So, this distance is 1 light-year. For example,
the nearest star to us is about 4.3 light-years away. Our galaxy, the Milky
Way, is about 150,000 light-years across, and the nearest large galaxy,
Andromeda, is 2.3 million light-years away.
Pretty amazing stuff!!!
There were a lot of mozzies floating around tonight, so
when Sam had finished his star talk, I headed back to the room for my
‘refreshing’ (cold) shower and to pump out another day’s blog. I have to say the rooms were a little on the
warm side, even at 9.30pm and if it wasn’t for the small floor fan that was in
the rooms, I think it may have been better and cooler to actually be camping in
a tent. The room only came with a double
bed, so again Ducky and I shared a bed and we must be becoming fast friends as
the bathroom did not have a door (it was purposely made this way) and the
toilet faced directly onto the bed. Talk
about no shame and we just averted our eyes when one needed to use the bathroom,
the noise, well there was nothing that could be done about that. There were a lot of mosquitos also in the
room and I had left my bug spray on the truck, so I just hoped that I wasn’t
going to get eaten alive tonight as I have managed to stay mostly mozzie free
so far, but I could feel myself getting bitten at dinner and I am now glad that
I have been taking my malaria tablets.
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