Togo Edition
Regional/Cultural Day
Ganvie Stilt House Gbe
Ganvie, the lake village on Lake Nokoue just across the border, is where Togo's Tofinu cultural connections run deepest. The stilt houses rise from the water on wooden pilings driven into the lakebed, and children paddle canoes before they can walk. The market happens on boats. Everything arrives and departs by water because there are no roads and there never will be. Togo shares this heritage with Benin, and Togolese families have kin in Ganvie who visit across the lake border regularly. The village is a feat of engineering, a work of art, and a home all at once.
