Benin -- Cotonou

In case you wondered what a large West African city looks like, here's Cotonou, the largest city in Benin (the capital, more of a town than a city called Porto Novo, is about 30 km away). I've mentioned my visits to Lome, which is Togo's biggest city and its capital as well, and in comparison I would say Cotonou is more developed and more organized. There are more paved roads, street signs and amenities there. But since it's a bit bigger (I would guess about 2 million people to Lome's 1 million), it's also more crowded and polluted -- as you can see -- tho cleaner when it comes to garbage, which in Togo tends to be disposed of in large piles on the side of the road. The primary mode of transportation in Cotonou is motorcycle taxis, and there are literally tens of thousands of them weaving in and out of traffic at a frantic clip. You can see the roofs of the stalls at Cotonou's main market on the right.