West Africa

The resort coast at Kotu, Kololi and Bakau, and the base from which everything else is reached.

A shrinking island in the river with the ruins of a slave-trading fort, and the village on the bank opposite…

Five forested islands in the middle river, holding a chimpanzee population reintroduced from the 1970s onward.

A private reserve of mangrove creek and palm forest near Brikama, half an hour from the coast.

The Dahomey kingdom’s palaces, the embarkation port at Ouidah, the home ground of Vodun, and a stilt village on a…

The arrival city and economic centre, with one of the largest markets in West Africa.

One of the main embarkation ports of the transatlantic slave trade, and the centre of Vodun in Benin.

A town of tens of thousands built on stilts in Lake Nokoué, reached only by boat.

The capital of the Kingdom of Dahomey, with royal palaces on the UNESCO list since 1985.

Savannah in the far northwest holding one of the last populations of West African lion, with access that depends entirely…