Travel to Benin

Browse listings of  Home Exchange, Vacation Rentals, B&B, Homestay (furnished apartments, villas, cottages, condos, farmhouses and other types of accommodations) of Benin:

Vacation Rentals

Home Exchange

B&B

Homestay

Last Minute Tips Before you Travel to Benin

• Time Zone: GMT/UTC +1
• Electricity: 220V, 50 Hz (bring an adapter/transformer for your hair drier, laptop, cellullar phone etc.)
• Currency: West African CFA Franc (CFA)
• Country Dialing Code: 229

Must See - Properties on UNESCO World Heritage List

• Royal Palaces of Abomey

Benin

Location
Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Benin, between Nigeria and Togo

Capital
Porto-Novo is the official capital; Cotonou is the seat of government

Population
7,460,025 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2005 est.)

Regions
12 departments; Alibori, Atakora, Atlantique, Borgou, Collines, Kouffo, Donga, Littoral, Mono, Oueme, Plateau, Zou

Climate
tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north

Ethnic groups
African 99% (42 ethnic groups, most important being Fon, Adja, Yoruba, Bariba), Europeans 5,500

Religions
indigenous beliefs 50%, Christian 30%, Muslim 20%

Languages
French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), tribal languages (at least six major ones in north)

Government type
republic under multiparty democratic rule; dropped Marxism-Leninism December 1989

Background
Present day Benin was the site of Dahomey, a prominent West African kingdom that rose in the 15th century. The territory became a French Colony in 1872 and achieved independence on 1 August 1960, as the Republic of Benin. A succession of military governments ended in 1972 with the rise to power of Mathieu KEREKOU and the establishment of a government based on Marxist-Leninist principles. A move to representative government began in 1989. Two years later, free elections ushered in former Prime Minister Nicephore SOGLO as president, marking the first successful transfer of power in Africa from a dictatorship to a democracy. KEREKOU was returned to power by elections held in 1996 and 2001, though some irregularities were alleged.

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