Benin runs an official online visa application on a government website. Apply from home in advance and keep the approval both as a file on the phone and as a printout, because you may be asked for it at the border. Requirements on supporting documents, length of stay and any vaccination certificate you must show should be checked against the official site or the embassy before each trip rather than from an older travel blog.

Motorbike taxis, known locally as zémidjans, are the backbone of getting around Cotonou; you agree the fare before getting on, or you use an app such as Gozem or Yango that shows the price up front, which removes the haggling and leaves a record of the ride. Ask for a helmet and avoid unfamiliar routes after dark. Between towns, shared minibuses and intercity coaches are the normal way to travel.

Assume no service for the whole time you are inside the parks. Load offline maps, save the lodge coordinates and your guide's number to the device, and tell people at home you will be reachable again once you are back in town. More importantly, check current official travel advice for the northern border regions before you plan the leg at all, because the security picture in some districts changes and that should shape the itinerary before connectivity does.

Cash in West African CFA francs still runs daily life, especially in markets, on motorbike taxis and in small shops, while larger hotels and some city businesses take cards. ATMs exist in Cotonou and the bigger towns but get scarcer as you go north, so withdraw ahead and break the money into smaller notes before leaving the city — small vendors frequently cannot change a large bill.

Most plans here start when the phone first connects to a network at the destination, so you can install in advance at home and switch it on after landing. Each plan page states its own rule.

No. The eSIM is a second line, so you keep your home number for SMS OTP. Turn off roaming data on the home line and set the eSIM as the data line.