There is something almost supernatural about the midday sun over Cotonou. It does not simply shine it commands. It dominates the entire sky, burning so intensely white that it bleaches the clouds around it, turning the atmosphere into a living painting of silver, grey and electric blue.
I captured these images during a motorcycle ride through the streets and avenues of Cotonou, phone in hand, helmet on, the wind pressing against me as the city unfolded frame by frame. Every angle told a different story.
On the newly paved brick roads, the sun's reflection shimmered across the wet surface like liquid silver after a light rain, while high voltage transmission towers stood tall against the clouds like iron sentinels of a city that never sleeps.
On the wide main avenues, solar streetlights stretched into the distance one after another, their panels tilted toward the very sun that powers them a small but powerful symbol of a Benin that is building its future one street at a time.
The clouds themselves were extraordinary. Massive, dramatic, sculpted by the Atlantic winds, they gathered around the sun like a crown sometimes hiding it, sometimes surrendering to its power and parting to reveal that blinding white disc hanging high over the city.
Motorcycles, cars, minibuses and pedestrians all moved beneath this spectacular natural theater, going about their daily lives completely unaware that the sky above them was performing something breathtaking.
This is Cotonou in full daylight. Alive, luminous, powerful and moving at full speed beneath one of the most beautiful skies in West Africa.
Crédit photo :
