Rainy season in Benin

Benin's rainy season is due to start this month. Clouds have been gathering ominously over the past few evenings, and today we had our first typical early rainy-season storm - a darkening sky followed by high winds which brought choppy seas (which sent all the little fishing boats scurrying back to the safety of the harbour), and then a torrential downpour which only lasted half an hour but washed the dust off everything and cooled the air down beautifully. It is still cloudy now, an hour after the storm, with the occasional rain drop; we're not sure what the afternoon will hold - more rain or the scalding sun and suffocating heat that always follows the rain. Olly

Above, fishermen head for home in the rain.

Above, patients seeking shelter.