Tooth sticks

To the east of Benin, on the otherside of the countries of Nigeria, Cameroon & Equatorial Guinea, lies the country of Gabon, which does a great deal of trade with Benin via small old and very overloaded passenger ferries and old cargo ships. One of Gabon's big exports to Benin is wood (see photos) which comes in massive quantities, and is cut up to make...unbelievably...tooth-sticks. This wood is apparently quite fibrous, and when chewed becomes brush-like and is used to clean the teeth much like a regular toothbrush.


Surely, thousands of tooth-sticks must be made from each piece of wood. It takes two strong guys to carry each log, the end of which is painted with the owner's colours for identification - yellow stripes in the photo above, and blue-and-white in the photo below.

I never dreamt that this massive and highly organised industry would produce a product that would be in such demand. Olly