Imagine waking up, looking out of your window, and seeing water everywhere - not a road in sight! That is everyday life in Ganvié. The houses, the market stalls, the school, and even the little shops are all on stilts rising from the lake. To visit your neighbour you hop into a wooden canoe and paddle across.
The village sits on Lake Nokoué, which is a large shallow lake close to Benin's biggest city, Cotonou. The lake is rich with fish, and many families have been fishing there for hundreds of years. You will often see fishermen setting out early in the morning, their nets spread out like giant spiderwebs across the water.
Ganvié is sometimes called 'Africa's Venice' because, like Venice in Italy, it is a city where boats do the work that cars and bikes do everywhere else. Children paddle to school, traders paddle to market, and at festival time the whole lake fills with colourfully decorated canoes.
Visitors from all over the world come to Ganvié to see what life on water looks like. The sunsets turn the lake gold and pink, and at night the lights from the stilt houses dance in the gentle ripples below them.