"Meeting the King of Abomey" a Abomey Travel Page by niamey00

Amadee, our guide, helped to organize a visit to the current king at his palace. We arrived on time, but the king was not ready yet. After waiting about 20 minutes, there he comes walking down the road with part of his retinue and a couple of his forty (!) wives.

Amadee did all the needed formalities in Fang, a language none of us could speak, and then Bio presented the king with the traditional presents of rum and cigarettes. On of his wives took it. The king could not have direct contact with the likes of us!

The king then let the kids ask questions about the history of Abomey, and a little about his own personal life. He had studied veterinary medicine in Germany, had 40 wives, but he wasn't too sure how many children he had. He was very gracious and funny in his answers. He then had several questions for the kids to answer. He was impressed with their knowledge, and asked more about the school where they attended. Maybe he'll send some of his kids to school in Niger!

At the end of our visit, the king let us take a group picture with him. The visit was the highlight of our trip to Abomey. The kids talked about it for weeks afterwards.

We also visited the statue of King Gbehanzin on the Eastern edge of town. He was the last independent king of Abomey. In the statue he is holding his hand out to stop the French invaders. It didn't work. The French exiled him to Martinique in the Carribbean with two or three of his hundred-plus wives.

As we were returning to Chez Monique, some of the kids started asking Amadee about voodoo. He asked if we would like to see a voodoo shrine, and everyone said yes. After bumping down a dirt track for a couple of minutes, we came to a small shrine. As Amadee was explaining voodoo to us, a woman came up to make an offering of a chicken. The priest took the chicken, slit its throat and let the blood spurt down the sides of the fetish, adding some palm oil for good measure. When he was done with the chick, he threw it at the feet of the kids watching outside. I thought for a minute a couple of them would faint. It was a very quiet ride back to Chez Monique for a lunch of, what else, chicken!