Ouidah Voodoo Festival

Benin

–Togo

Foto © T. Redaelli

Trip info

Dates:
03/01/27 – 11/01/27

Duration:
9 days

Price:
From 2.490 € / person

Code:

BENTOG01PS270103

Type:

Ethnographic
Classic

Group:
Min. 4 / max. 12 people

Guide:
Group departure with english speaking guide

In Benin, Voodoo is the unseen cornerstone of society, a rock-solid faith centred on devotion to hundreds of invisible deities, which gives meaning and order to the lives of the local population. Every year in January, the Voodoo Festival is celebrated in the Ouidah region; it is the main event dedicated to this religion.

Voodoo was formally recognised as the official religion of Benin in 1996, a national holiday featuring ceremonies, sacrifices, songs, dances and grand banquets, attended by the country’s most influential figures from religious and political life. Faith, magic and the supernatural are revealed through complex rituals and spectacular performances, featuring devotees falling into a trance and juju priests in mediumistic connection with ancestral spirits. For anyone travelling to Benin, a stay in Ouidah during the Festival is certainly an unmissable opportunity!

Request info

Itinerary

Day 1 : Sunday 03 January 2027

Departure flight/Cotonou (COO)

Welcome and transfer to the hotel.

Day 2 : Monday 04 January 2027

Cotonou/Ganvié/Porto Novo/Cotonou

The romantic village of Ganvié, where the Tofinu live on stilts suspended in Lake Nokoué, the Afro-Brazilian architecture of Porto Novo and the Gelede mask dance.

Day 3 : Tuesday 05 January 2027

Cotonou/Abomey/Dassa Zoumé

The vestiges of the bloody kingdom of Dahomey and the temple of the chameleon.

Day 4 : Wednesday 06 January 2027

Dassa Zoumé/Pays Taneka/Natitingou

The sacrifices to the Dankoli fetish and the animist traditions of the Taneka.

Day 5 : Thursday 07 January 2027

Natitingou/Pays Somba/Pays Tamberma/Sokodé

The tatas, fortress houses of the Somba and Tamberma ethnic groups, the views of the Atakora mountains and the fire dance of the Tem.

Day 6 : Friday 08 January 2027

Sokodé/Lomé/Agbodrafo

The fetish market in Lomé, where you will find statuettes stuck with nails and amulets.

Day 7 : Saturday 09 January 2027

Agbodrafo/Togoville/Possotomé

The villages dedicated to voodoo cults of Togoville and Possotomé.

Day 8 : Sunday 10 January 2027

Possotomé/Ouidah (Voodoo Festival)/Cotonou

The chants of the adepts, the dances of the women in trance, the temple of the pythons, the ceremony with the Egungun…all this is Ouidah and its Festival!