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Ouidah Heritage Tour
Language : en

Ouidah Heritage Tour

The Slave Route, a red-brick road running towards the beach

The Slave Route

Just over 3 km, from Place Chacha to the sea.

Six stations

Each station recalls a step on the road forced upon the captives, all the way to the beach.

  1. Stop 1

    Place Chacha

    The former auction square, where the captives’ walk to the sea began.

    Painted columns on Place Chacha, Ouidah’s former auction square

  2. Stop 2

    Tree of Forgetfulness

    According to tradition, captives were made to walk around it to forget their origins.

  3. Stop 3

    Zomaï Huts

    “Where fire does not enter”: remembering captives held in darkness.

  4. Stop 4

    Zoungbodji Memorial

    A place of remembrance on the site of a mass grave.

    Sculpture of a kneeling captive at the Zoungbodji memorial, a place of remembrance

  5. Stop 5

    Tree of Return

    The hope that the captives’ souls would one day return to their ancestors’ land.

  6. Stop 6

    Door of No Return

    On the beach, facing the Atlantic, the monument marking the place of forced embarkation.

    The Door of No Return lit up at night on Ouidah beach

Along the route

The Door of No Return by day, with its frieze of captives in chains
Photo: Borisghost, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Weathered plaque reading “Benin UNESCO, the Door of No Return”
Photo: Rachad sanoussi, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sculpture of a kneeling captive at the Zoungbodji memorial, a place of remembrance
Photo: Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Door of No Return esplanade facing the Atlantic Ocean
Photo: Ji-Elle, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons