Ganvie – “the Venice of Africa” – in Benin is the largest village on Lake Nahoue, known for its city of stilt homes and floating markets. And on this day after the New Year:a lake of vibrant, colorfully-dressed people.
Ganvie is a community that settled here some centuries ago to avoid enslavement by the blood-thirsty, slave-selling kingdom of Dahomey (central Benin) who sold their product onto the Europeans based in trade forts along the coast; because of their religious beliefs it was forbidden for the Dahomey African slavers to go out onto the waters. Today the people of Ganvie are very shy about having their photo taken so mostly these pics were taken discreetly from my stilt-house guestroom balcony.
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