How to travel to Benin republic without international Passport

There are three major reason why people use the boat to Portonovo from Lagos .

* Passport : most Nigerians and None Nigerians use this route because they do not have an international passport which is not out of the ordinary since we know how passport processing can take forever especially if you are a Nigeria. 

* Harrassment : see ehn I don't know how much of a patience person you are , if you have at one time or the other ply Badagry/cotonu by road you will be irritated by the number of check point especially if you do not have international passport which we both have but still choose it for the experience. We got to CMS and boarded the boat that took us straight to Portonovo , the boat was #4000 because it was on a Thursday but was told there is usually #1000 increase during the weekend. 

Experiences :There are people that have their passport nor doesn't mind being stop 100th times on their way but they want to use the boat just for the experience it gives and these are the adventurers , they don't care how long it will take nor if there is mami water on the ocean they just want to do it for the adrenaline sake and this is the category I find myself in.🌝

The boat cost #4000 because when we left lagos Nigeria on a Thursday, but was told it cost #5000 on weekends. You can either take your Boat from CMS jetty, Liverpool jetty or Apapa jetty priced may differ though since our boat left from CMS.

It was a 2hrs and 34mins ride since time keeping was my thing and because our boat was running like someone that has been told that his life depend on it if he spend 3hrs on water which is usually the estimated time .

There was about 5 check points in between lagos and Badagry, 2 checkpoints as soon as you cross the water boarder to Benin republic , the one you will have to raise your hand while approaching them, you will now end up looking like all those time in high school that one teacher will just enter your class while you were making noise and told you to raise up your hands .🙄,one other immigration check point and that's it, for the next 30mins you will not encounter any more checkpoints until you get to Ave maria jetty . 

Ave Maria is the name of the jetty you will alight before you continue your journey into Benin republic ,after a five minutes walk out of the jetty you will be welcome with the bureau the change , where you will be approach to change any currency you have to Cfa,if you are one of those that use to go to cotonou in the past with the mind set of balling especially since the exchange rate is like double , there is sad news for you because Nigeria currency is the same with Cfa now ,we had on us dollars , cedis , naira and some cfa but after weighing the exchange rate we concluded that it will be to our own advantage if we change our  naira to cfa since it's already 1dollar to 1cfa , the days of going to Benin republic with #100 to flex thinking you have arrive is over . 😫😫😫

There is a bike that will take you to cotonou for 500cfa per person and if you are two on a bike which they refer to as kekenor 1000cfa. 

Your journey starts from here you can head to anywhere you aim from here . I will keep you updated on how the tour went but for now its pen drop . .

Things you need 

Any means of identification 

Your Cash to get buy 

Facecap for sun 

Sun shades for sun

Water bottle for keeping you hydrated 

A lot of positive energy .

You need a lot of patience, especially if you are from lagos these people are not rushing anywhere .