THE TRANS - SAHARA EXPEDITION, 6300 Km of pure sand and adrenaline. Looking for new adventures, Gunnar followed an old dream: knowing Sahara trough an incredible trip. Feel free, since now, in the desert with him, following each moment closely. Benin Station!

Continuing south we reached the border of Niger and Benin. We crossed the big river Niger, the third biggest in Africa, where we entered the real tropics. Banana trees, Mango trees, sugar cane and lots of flowers. Benin has 7 million people that live along the only road that crosses the country from north to south. It?s like driving through a big market. Thousands of people selling everything you can imagine along the road. It was very interesting to see women and men dressed in their colorful African outfits. The local markets were fascinating to see. Abomey is a big town where we visited the historic palace of the Kingdom of Dahomey. The palace had many quarters where the king had his 900 wives.

We spent the whole day visiting the town of Ganvie, the "Venice of Africa", riding on a motorpirogue excursion. This is a complete town built on stilts, where thousands of people live from fishing out of Lake Nokouesee. Ganvie was built in the middle of this huge lake by slaves to stay away from being captured. The town has a mosque, restaurants, hotel, souvenir shops, floating markets, and a real interesting sight. It was a huge contrast from the desert of Sahara to this water land.

We visited the local market at Cotonou, the biggest city in Benin, and spent the last day at Grand Popo beach, a beautiful and quite resort at the Golf of Guinea, by the Atlantic Ocean. The sun was bright and hot, we got all sunburned, and we danced that night at the sound of African drums having a good cold Benin beer.

Photos: Cortesia SVEN SABROWSKI

INEMA Team