My introduction to Nigeria was very much what I had been expecting. An intense, in your face welcome, with border officials trying to get money off us using a few custom made “first time entry costs”. But its not all corruption and bribery here in Nigeria. More often than not people are just keen for a chat, and to welcome us to their country.
Over the last 7 days we have travelled across the southern section of Nigeria, from the border town of Porto Novo (just outside Logos in the west) to the coastal town of Calabar (close to the Cameroon border in the east). Our route has taken us through some of the most heavily populated regions of the country, and with a population of over 150 million, we have realized that there is no such thing as a small town in Nigeria. We entered from Benin through the border at Porto Novo, spent a night in a hotel/brothel (couldn't quite decide what it was), then headed north to avoid the traffic of Lagos. This was a massive failure, because the town of Ibadan (also known as super car city), which we went through to avoid Lagos, has about 3 million people living in it's surrounds. The reason I know this incredible factoid is because we drove behind each of these inhabitants. This meant we lost a day here trying to get through some of the most insane traffic that I have ever driven in, but once though Ibadan, we headed south again and joined the motorway which joins Logos to Benin City. It turned out that four white boys, or 'Oyibos' if you like, staying at a motel along this motorway was big news because we woke-up the next morning to an SSS officer (that’s State Secret Service for those of you not down with the lingo) who had heard that we were arrived the night before. He thought we were completely ignorant about Nigeria, and wanted to know why we were travelling without a police convoy if we were not 'agents'. Not the sort of thing you want to hear on the second night in a country, but after he checked out all our passports and visas he seemed to be more relaxed and was actually a really good guy. We exchanged details with him and then headed east towards Okumo National Park which was first on our list of parks to be mapped.
Okumo is a rain forest reserve, a first for us so we were all keen to check it out. The list of birds and mammals for the park is impressive, but whether or not all of these are still found in the park seems very unlikely. The forest itself is amazing, with trees more than 40m tall in every direction. This makes it difficult to see much in terms of wildlife. Being in a tropical forest is awesome though, and something that I have always wanted to see. Driving on the overgrown tracks seems surreal at times, and you have to keep reminding yourself that this is the real deal.
I have started to get some good stuff on my bird list which I will present to Nick and Marco when I get back in a more formal setting – maybe a short film, I haven't decided yet. After 2 nights in Okumo, we headed east again towards Benin, and then on towards Calabar. This route of about 500 km took us 2 days because of the bad roads, traffic and road blocks. In one section of about 150km, we counted 33 road blocks, and got stopped at about 25 of them. Most of the time the guys are just interested in what we doing, but the phrase “what do you have for me” does get a bit old after a while. Nothing that a classic smile or an ignorant facial expression couldn't get us through though. Another strategy is to bombard the guys with questions as soon as they come to the car window - “Is this the route to Calabar?”, “How far is Oweiri?”, “Did you what the world cup?” “What do you think of my beard?”, “Do you agree Chris is gay?”. All of these seemed to work well, especially the last one, where they would agree profusely, give me a high five and wave me on my way.
Unlike road blocks in South Africa, we have never been asked if we have been drinking. We have however been offered alcohol, and asked for drugs. But so far we have had not real problems and have paid no bribes, so I won't rant anymore.
People along the way are all really stoked to see tourists. A stop at any village or market usually begins with a couple people walking over to shake your hand and say “well welcome”. We have heard a couple names for white person being used along the way, but 'Oyibo' seems the most popular. Everybody from kids to cops shout it out as you drive past. My personal favourite however was when a guy called me “Mr. White” when we were walking through town. Chris was just “White”. Calabar is a completely different town compared to everything else we have driven through in Nigeria. The state of Cross River, where Calabar is situated, seems to be on top of things compared to the other southern states we have crossed. Closed drains, clean roads, and working lights make the town look a bit out of place in Nigeria, and it it clearly geared up for tourists judging by the number of hotels and guest houses around. We did some food shopping at the local markets and managed to buy the biggest pineapple I have ever seen, and a vest (white cotton – classic). The pineapple was as big as a water melon, but with no sacrifice whatsoever to the flavour ! Unbelievable I know, but believe it. We ended up staying an extra night in Calabar because of car trouble which saw Greg spending the day under the car, but seeing as it was Sebaz's birthday, we took the opportunity to check out Calabar's nightlife. It turned out to be a mad night after we were adopted by a group of local politicians who were staying at our guest house. Being South African was a big hit and they ended up taking us out for fish and beers, and then to some bars where I showed them that white men can dance, but rhythm is overrated. The best part of the evening came when Chris was cut short by our drunk host, Mr. Ouche, who interrupted Chris mid sentence with simple phase “lets enjoy old school”, and then cranked up the radio to full, playing Micheal Jackson's “Blame it on the boogie”. That's where I'm going to stop now.
Running a couple days behind with this blog but this is getting too long now. Stay tuned for some some more tropical times when we start heading north, and look out for handy tips on how to get by when you are camping in a rain forest. Don
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