Descendants of slaves on a voodoo pilgrimage in Benin
Every January, thousands of voodoo worshippers joined by crowds of tourists and descendants of slaves head to the Gate of No Return monument in Ouidah in Benin. Erected in 1992 in memory of those packed on ships bound for the New World, it is a living reminder that the small Beninese coastal town of Ouidah once was the muster point for the black slave trade on the southern coast of West Africa.