Zemidjans

Pronounced like Zimmie-Johns with a soft J  =P...

In Cotonou alone, there are approximately 80,000 zemidjans. They are basically motorcycles for hire, much like taxis. The whole economy depends upon zemis ("zimmies") -and people rely on them for everything from the day they are born until the day they die. You pay something like 30 cents for a quick 10 min travel. Or something rediculously cheep. And they are evERYWHERE! They don't stop for you. They don't stop for cars. They actually pull out in front of cars and people. Its quite insane. You could be walking a long the road and they will zip righT next to you as if you are not there. So it is up to YOU to dodge the zemis.  

Here are the Zimmies! They're crazy. This is a very main road. So this is an larger scale example. All the drivers that are registered with the official taxi company where the yellow shirt. And below, the next three photos, another crew member managed to take some photos of zemis on the streets of Cotonou, and what they can carry.. other than 2, 3 or sometimes 4 people.

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And lastly I took this one on the way out of the town last weekend. (below) If you look closely you can see the man in the back directly to the left of the man in the red shirt. And on his head, he is carrying/holding about 12 foot long metal tubing/piping. Running horizontally with the truck up to the very front of the truck.  It was stop and go traffic. Raining. And other zemis were buzzing in and around his. It was wild. and it is Africa baby.