Photo : Fawaz.tairou — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Borgou· Northern metropolis· Princely culture
The capital of the north, Bariba chivalric spirit and the flavours of the savannah.
Ideal stay
1 to 2 days
Theme
Princely culture & flavours
Ideal for
Traditions, food
The city
Parakou is the largest metropolis of the north and the capital of the Borgou. Dynamic and airy, it marks the shift between the forest zone of the south and the great savannahs of the north. Historically tied to the Bariba kingdom of Kobourou, it keeps a deep respect for its princely traditions. Its open-air museum, a vast park, rebuilds at full scale the traditional dwellings of the northern peoples, Bariba, Peulh and Otammari, with their tools and ways of life.
At the city's heart, the Arzèkè market lays out under its halls the products of the north: waragashi, that Peulh cheese fried in roucou, pure hand-pressed shea butter, savannah spices and hand-woven fabrics. Parakou is also the stage of Bariba equestrian culture: during the Gaani, horsemen in regalia perform charges and vaults before the royal palace. You come to taste the waragashi, leave with quality shea butter, and live the chivalric spirit of the great north.
What you'll experience
Gastronomy · Rare flavour
The real waragashi at the Arzèkè market
Under the halls of Arzèkè, you taste waragashi fried in roucou, that Peulh cheese found nowhere else, and choose pure shea butter at the source. Your host knows the best hands, the ones who still do things the right way.
The right stall, the right price. Far from industrial shea and imitations.
Equestrian culture · Prestige
The chivalric spirit of the Bariba princes
Before the palace, during the Gaani, the Bariba horsemen perform charges and vaults in regalia. You touch the living royalty of the north, the one that never stopped reigning in hearts. A display of power and pride that leaves you speechless.
Front-row placement, within the princely protocol.
Peoples of the north · Understanding
The open-air museum, the Africa of terroirs
You walk the rebuilt dwellings of the Bariba, Peulh and Otammari, at full scale. In one visit you grasp the diversity of the north before you truly dive in. The best key to reading before entering the Atacora and the great Sahel.
The ideal introduction before Natitingou and the far north.
Traditional northern dwellings
Open-air museum
Waragashi, shea butter
Arzèkè market
Traditional authority
Bariba chiefs’ palaces
Equestrian culture
Gaani festival
Historic rail terminus
Parakou station
This stop is part of our circuits
Parakou is lived through taste and horse. Our hosts guide you through the open-air museum, the Arzèkè aisles for the real waragashi and good shea, and place you front-row at the Bariba parades.
Sources: Destination Benin (gouv.bj) and Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Some museum facilities in the north and in Ouidah are opening gradually under the Destination Benin programme. Content to be refined with Wa Afriki local guides.