Country Info
- Porto-Novo
- Capital
- CFA Franc BCEAO (XOF)
- Currency
- 6,590,782
- Population
- BJ
- Country Code
Benin Slideshow
Top Hotels in Parakou
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Novotel Orisha Cotonou
51 reviews -
Ibis Cotonou
25 reviews
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Benin Marina Hotel Cotonou
32 reviews
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Dichotel Cotonou
2 reviews -
La Casa del Papa Ouidah
15 reviews
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Hotel Awale Plage Grand Popo
12 reviews -
Auberge de Grand Popo
12 reviews
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Hotel Beaurivage Porto-Novo
1 review
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Hotel Bimyns Porto-Novo
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Hotel Dona Porto-Novo
1 review
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Hotel du Lac Cotonou
23 reviews
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Hotel du Port Cotonou
16 reviews
Parakou
Travel Blogs from Parakou, Benin
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Happy Holidays
This is a top pick! ... years! I still continue to be surprised in Africa. It's amazing to see the ways in which things are developing here in Parakou. For instance, I am now sitting at a brand new internet place that is probably one of the nicest internet places I have ...
Back to School and Girl's Camp
This is a top pick! ... Hopefully, we will be able to find the money to get them down there. It will be much more expensive than a trip down to Parakou. Cecile and I had our second girls club meetings this week, as well. It was not necessarily easy, but we are plugging on ...
Elephants, Oro, and school strikes: a packed entry
This is a top pick! ... had left, and the guests were taking their tired eyes back home to rest. Sarah and Jeremy spent the last week visiting Parakou, watching me teach a couple of classes, meeting all my friends, seeing the sites of Ouidah, and shopping for souvenirs. ...
Backtrack: Voodoo
This is a top pick! ... how to play Spades, and now we play it all the time. Some people already knew how; it is actually a popular game in Benin. Who knew? School was supposed to start on October 2 (with people really showing up on Oct 6), but it has been pushed back due ...
Saying Goodbye
This is a top pick! ... with for the past two years, not knowing when I will be able to see them again. This is my last weekend in Parakou. I am having a couple of different goodbye gatherings. I return to N'Dali on Monday morning. I will spend the next three days ...
Random Photos
This is a top pick! ... respect for him. Once again, I lucked out. Classes have also been going as smooth as butta. This weekend I came down to Parakou to get some things for my scholarship girls. With the help of Women In Development (WID), Peace Corps runs a ...
Harmitan, Ramadan, a folk tale and School
This is a top pick! ... what everyone else does). Instead, I went inside to get some cherished apples I had bought a while back on a trip down to Parakou. Apples, I must note, are actually quite expensive here and a rare treat, so I thought I was being quite nice and generous ...
More Photos
This is a top pick! Hello Everyone, I have added some more pictures to the entry about the Peuhl marriage, but it is taking forever to upload them. I wondered if it might be shorter if I uploaded them to a different entry, one that doesn't have any pictures yet. These ...
scorpion story as promised
This is a top pick! Excerpt (slightly modified) from my journal on October 02, 2003 I saw a really scary thing last night. I was almost asleep in bed when I heard Victoire banging on my door and calling, "Suzanne! Suzanne!" I answered the door, and she asked me for ...
The Toughest Job You'll Ever Love
This is a top pick! ... will move in. Yesterday, Johnny, a fellow stagiaire and volunteer in Lokossa with his wife, came up for the afternoon (he was in Parakou doing some HIV stuff) to see N'Dali and the Peuhl camp. We headed over to the camp to deliver some of the photos ...
check out photos
This is a top pick! ... is just north of N'Dali. Some of the photos she has on this site are probably very similar to ones I have taken (ex. trip to Ouidah). Anyway, the site is http://www.mbaypreps.com/charline/benin.htm . Go check them out and tell me about them. ...
Girls Club, Theatre and Ghana
This is a top pick! ... is pretty funny. The next day I left Parakou to come to Cotonou to get a Ghanaian visa. (I began this letter in Parakou.) Tomorrow afternoon I am off to Ghana! In other news, I checked my Free Will Astrology horoscope this week and found out ...
Volunteer in N'Dali at last (new address included)
This is a top pick! ... know that I will be going to the cinema so often. But, you never know...Crouching Tiger's not so bad. Now, I am in Parakou. I came down to take care of some business, and tonight some other volunteers and I are going to make pizza. YUM! I ...
New contact info , Wish List, and more
This is a top pick! ... gotten. All is well in N'Dali. School is moving along at a brisk pace. I have to turn in my first exams tomorrow! Came down to Parakou to type them up and do some other things. The exam period isn't for a few more weeks, but of course, there is no ...
Brace Yourselves, It's a biggie
This is a top pick! ... near Parakou. They had been to the hospital in N'Dali, and the doctor there said he could do nothing and referred them to Parakou. Another passenger and I yelled at the chauffeur to get into the car and get going. This was an emergency. This boy was ...
School Strikes
This is a top pick! ... In fact, life in Benin has been going well. In N'Dali, I have been enjoying my neighbors and my colleagues. In Parakou, I have really been enjoying spending time with my friends. Yesterday, Julie, the volunteer in Parakou, and I had a luncheon ...
Alive in Africa
This is a top pick! ... this together, this stuffy, stinky voyage from N'Dali to Parakou. We were all alive journeying in Benin, West Africa, somewhere between N'Dali and Parakou, and tuning out of that particular journey was pretty difficult. Now that I have ...
On Safari in Parc Pendjari
This is a top pick! ... . It is a camp that first started with Peace Corps volunteers in Romania. Now, we will be having one in Benin. Horray! It will be for five days in Parakou. Fifty-six girls from all over the Bourgou region will be invited. The goals of the camp are ...
African Christian Wedding
... at Bembéréké, which, if I haven't mentioned already, is one of SIM's missions and the major hospital in northern Benin, officially named by the government as an AIDS patient treatment center. Thank God for his abundant grace in using his children for ...
A day in the life of
Just so you know it's not all uproarious conversations with dashing and gregarious Béninois who propose marriage on the first meeting and hold out hope despite my anxiously-awaiting nearly betrothed (true story), I thought I'd share a couple less than ...
Sleepless Nights
The cool breeze from the fan flutters the mosquito net in graceful wisps as the squeaking of the bats lulls me to a desire for the sleep that's recently eluded me. I roll over to face away from the small gleam of the porch light that sneaks through the ...
Baturé!
(The following entry should be read in my usual laughing, sarcastic tone and not as a serious comment on any society or the current state of race relations in any nation or internationally. It is simply a random anecdote from no particular day of my ...
Causer avec les gens (Chatting with people)
... talked about languages...in two months I probably won't learn any Fon, Fulani or Baruba, the dominate languages here in Parakou (disclaimer: don't trust my spelling of those or anything!). As usual, he commented on the bizarreness of an American speaking ...
Not Even Squirming
... hadn't known I was sick whose reply was, "Ah! It's like a wind of malaria. A gust of malaria and typhoid. All over Parakou." So you see. Secondly, there are three bits of good news. One, since it's so common, it's also totally treatable with a wide ...
Last entry from Benin
... worried patients when they don't speak the same language. I've gotten to be part of forging a stronger relationship between the churches of Benin and the mission as they minister to the needs of the people. I've gotten to clash with the best of them in ...
Bonne arrivee!
... wheel with all her might to weave between pedestrians, motos and potholes. The SIM guesthouses in Cotonou where I arrived and Parakou where I live are quite western. Aside from the cement floors and walls and the brightly colored, patterned fabrics on ...
Trying to Digest
... that I'm trying to come up with about the past two months. There are a lot of things I really, really love about Benin. I love these things because they are different than home, admirable, challenging, interesting, funny. This is what I will miss and ...
Sunday "Out"
... casual, it'll-start-when-we're-all-there stroll. I clanged through the green metal gate into the openness of Sunday morning Parakou. The paved street wasn't especially busy so my three or four glances were enough to make sure I wouldn't be run over by a ...
Chauves souris
The sound of fruit bats fills the air like the music of a thousand squeaky toys being jumped on in sporadic harmony. When I first saw them I thought, "That looked like a bat, but it was way too big." Indeed. They fill the sky even in the day. As much as ...
Le Grand Marché
Every second I learn or experience something new. One thing I hope to learn is posture! Every African from the moment they stand has such a proud, straight back and high-held head. No wonder the women manage to carry such heavy things on their perfectly ...
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