Arriving in Benin...

In order to arrive one has to leave. I left JHB on Sunday morning and flew over the Okavanga Delta to Pointe Noire for a short and a good leg stretch. Flying over the coastline there gives an appearance that the ocean is on fire with the flame-licking stacks from the oil rigs scattered around. Most of the passengers disembarked there and the rest of the flight to Cotonou, Benin, was quiet. After 8 hours flying, the plane landed in Cotonou and I eased through customs after receiving my luggage while I adjusted to the humidity and heat, almost 10 degrees warmer in Cotonou than in Johannesburg from where I came.

The heat was bearable, and I settled in for the evening’s birding from the SIM guesthouse’s balcony. It was an early 6:00 rise to catch the 8 hour bus ride up north to Parakou. It was an adjustment since at 6 am the sun is shining in SA, whereas  in Benin it only starts to get light after 6 am. The bus ride was great – it had aircon and I had a window seat. It was more or less 2 hours into the ride when the aircon stop working and the window was opened. This was still okay until the further north I went… the air got hotter and dryer and was blowing directly on my face. Despite this the roads were good; I was not driving, had I been I would have thought differently. In Benin people drive on the right-hand side of the road, unless there is no-one coming from the opposite direction, then they drive in the middle. No-one coming in the opposite direction is relative to a distance the driver is comfortable with and not the sight of another car. There are more than hundreds of little motorbikes bustling around. Some of them serve as taxis, some delivering goods and other just consumers using them to get from one place to another.

Parkii clappertoniana (Nere,
in the local language), a tree
I have familiarized myself to.
It has these wonderful pom-
pom-like flowers

The bus drive was a good way to tour the country and get used to what it has to offer. I went from the South of Benin to the North crossing different climates. Between the South and the North the change in scenery was noticeable. Patches of rain forests could be seen in the south disappearing the further north I went. A more wooded savannah started to appear in the north. The sides of the roads were busy, people doing things, bartering, working or just waiting around. Despite being pretty flat at some point large granite hills rose up  and were scattered with Baobab trees. From then on, every now and then a baobab tree would appear. The excitement of what was to be seen kept me awake and many things could be seen along the way, marking the culture and difficulties of the people. Almost every piece of land had been used for something, whether it was still being used or thriving in its use was relevant. What stuck out the most was hand crushing of stone for gravel. Other noticeable things were the presence of trees, and in particular a select few, such as Mango, Tropical Almond, Cashew trees and White Teak, at least that is what my untrained eye could see. Almost everything else had been cleared away. Palm trees were also evident yet declined and restricted to river beds the further north I went. Benin is different, even their way of life is different. It set out its own challenges of which I was to find out.

My new set of wheels, it has been named "Taylor".

I arrived safely in Parakou on the 21^st January 2013, a Monday. It was hot but I was warmly greeted by the missionary folk from TWR. I was to stay with Garth and Fiona Kennedy.  Parakou welcomed me warmly that night with a power failure and no water pressure, however it came back on and I washed the sweat off before bedtime.

Orientation around Parakou and Serarou went well and I was soon thrown into the mix of things. Thinking that my motorbike will be waiting for me was too hopeful as I soon realized. Operations here in Benin don’t go nearly as smoothly as they do back home. To give you an idea is when things go smoothly here it is a little less comparable to when things don’t go smoothly in South Africa.  Motorbikes come in boxes here and my initial motorbike came in a box and assembled without the right pieces and so that deal was called off. This was done prior to my arrival in order for me to have a motorbike when I came. Instead I went out looking for a motorbike, which was a good way to familiarize myself with the town. I realized that you pay to fill a tire with air and that decent motorbikes don’t come easy. I had to settle for something a little less than a cross, which would have been the ideal. I was shown around TWR’s happenings, this included a trip out to Serarou where TWR has their transmitter station. This is where I hope to spend most of my time. The birds around the area were great with a few easy identifications and some which will keep me busy.

The next few weeks will be spent trying to get things up and running, and to carry on running with the projects currently under way. 

African Paradise Flycatcher,
West African variation