Tired of waiting around Cotonou for our license plates, we took a little trip to Ouidah, an historic town on the coast about 40k West of Cotonou. We visited Guida’s cousin, who moved from the north down to the coast 20 years ago. While the Fulani traditionally live in the grasslands of the Sahel, some have found their niche herding cattle in other parts of West Africa.

Salou set up a traditional camp in a coconut grove outside Ouidah, with some local adaptations for the coastal climate.

Because of the heavy rains in Southern Benin, he cannot build in traditional clay and straw. He’s built a simple one-room home out of cinder blocks.

The coconut grove is an ideal spot to tie up his cattle, and their manure helps to fertilize the trees.

It’s not necessary to tie up the young calves at night, as they won’t leave their mother’s side.

Although we haven’t yet hit the trail, we’re excited to be getting up close and personal already.

Guida’s getting quite adept with the camera.

This is one of his creative shots from Ouidah.

In Cotonou, we’ve been staying with Salomon Matchoudo, a Fulbe linguiste who is a big supporter of the Pulaku Project:

He’s been kind enough to let us set up Pulaku Global Headquarters in his guest bedroom:

We’ve been pulling all the strings to get our paperwork sorted out. Hopefully we’ll have good news and we’ll hit the road this week!