Agongointo Underground Village

In 1998 a road crew working near Bohicon put machinery through the roof of a chamber cut into the laterite, and survey afterwards found a system of them across the area: rooms several metres down connected by passages, with shafts to the surface, benches cut into the walls and ventilation. Tradition connects them to the wars of the Dahomey period, when people used them as refuges. A visitor centre now covers the site.

The main sights

• The chambers - rooms cut several metres down into the laterite.
• The connecting passages - the tunnels linking the chambers underground.
• The cut benches - the seats worked into the chamber walls.
• The 1998 discovery - the road works that broke into the system by accident.

When to go

November to February is the cool dry season. The site keeps daytime hours. The chambers stay cool inside year round.

Practical notes

Only part of the system is open and the accessible chambers are few. Interpretation is limited and the dating is not settled. The descent is by ladder and is not for everyone.

Nearby

Bohicon is beside it, and Abomey is west.