Cotonou sits on a strip of land between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Nokoue'. The lake is on the northern border of Cotonou. This lake is large at twelve miles wide by almost seven miles long. To be more accurate, the lake is more like a lagoon. It's quite large but also quite shallow.

This stop on our tour will involve three separate posts. The reason for this stop was to visit the town of Ganvie, which is a lake village. It's built mostly on stilts and sits in the northern edge of the lake.

The first photo is a transportation hub for both locals and tourists who are going to Ganvie, from Cotonou. The pier is on the right side which is primarily for the tourists.

Below, you can see the two boats which our group used to go to Ganvie. You can also see some of the locals, here to either buy or sell things or to go to town to either buy or sell their goods.

I just included the next photo because I was amazed. You can see this local woman, standing in her boat starting to paddle off, but still with her goods on her head! That takes ability and experience!

The rest of these photos are just boats going to or coming from Ganvie. I would say that most often, women had a sail on their boats. Men most often just paddled their boats.

Everyone out on the water was working by hauling goods one way or the other. We didn't see anyone out in the lake just paddling for pleasure.

I'm not sure how this last guy managed to navigate with his load.