seyewest

Wow... I loved the way you fell in love with the pepper soup. I stayed in Abuja and I wondered why you never visited the Wuse Market and the Art Gallery by Silverbird Galleria. Glad someone visited Nigeria and actually had fun.

Romanianflyer

Magnificent TR and pictures. Thanks a lot for sharing!

DanielW

A very cool trip to Nigeria. Looks like quite a place of great contrasts with wealth and poverty within a stone's throw of each other

Great to be looked after by some welcoming hosts too, makes these kind of trips so much less stressful and more enjoyable.

I'm shocked about the Yellow fever vaccination cost, about six times what I paid a few years ago!

ChiefNWA

Thanks and exactly, it goes to show how little someone can live with but still appear to be satisfied.

I wasn't really in control of what we did like I normally am. Typically, I'm by myself on a trip with everything meticulously planned out from sunrise to sunset, but this time the hosts were in charge, which is new to me. I'll add the Gallery and Market to my list for next time. I have quite a few places I'd like to visit including the parks in Cross River State, Kano (the city walls look interesting) and Calabar, so a return trip is certainly a possibility.

Thank you.

Thank you Daniel. $400+ after tax (insurance here doesn't cover it) sure is a tough pill to swallow. The clinics I called said there's a shortage of the vaccination in the US right now, hence the hefty fee. Most vaccines here run about $150, plus the office visit. It looks like I can get it at Schiphol for about 50 Euro next week, so I might just do that.

I completely agree, having a host sure does make things easier. The only other time I've ever had a trip like this was to Shanghai for a month in 2008 when visiting an uncle that lived there for work (I was only 15 at the time). I can certainly see how Nigeria could be a bit intimidating for a solo / first time in W. Africa traveler.

lds89

wow, wonderful pictures, thank you for sharing!

GodAtum

You didn't put Your Royal Highness on your booking did you lol?

ChiefNWA

Thanks!

No, but I did put "Sir Prince of the Federal Republic of Nigeria" as my host. Reason for visiting of course was to collect my $16,500,000 from my deceased third uncle.

blueferrari

I am starting to think that the Nigerian prince that keeps sending me email is real.... lol

great reports and photos as usual. you have your ways with the camera and I really admire it!

onedog

Awesome trip report. Thanks for the wonderful pics and informative commentary.

If I ever go to Nigeria, Fred will have to be my guide.

Onedog

Madone59

What an awesome Tripreport, thank you for sharing ^^ It's really cool that you got to see where Femi Kuti plays!!

Old Coaster

Very many thanks for your wonderful write up. Brought back many memories of my past visits to Nigeria during the '70s to the '90s. Not much has changed!

ChiefNWA

Thank you! Hey, maybe that Prince is real, sounds like it's time to pay him a visit so you can collect payment.

Thanks. Fred was indeed a fantastic person to have around and made life a thousand times easier. It makes me wish I could afford drivers/guides/guards everywhere I went lmao.

Thanks! Indeed, it was cool to see where he plays.

Thank you, glad I could help bring back the memories. I assume when you mean nothing has changed, you're referencing Lagos? Abuja was built more recently and most of the city still seems like it's under construction. Lagos is 'planning' a new airport and 'Dubai like" financial area, but who knows how many decades that'll take to build.

Old Coaster

Yes, I mainly meant Lagos. In the early days I used to stay in Apapa and later on the Sheraton in Ikeja. My visits also included Onitsha, Enugu, Calabar and Kano. I haven't been to Abuja and reading your report it looks like a very respectable place.

fotographer

what a great report, it seems like you had quite a bit of down time, but still at least you were able to get a nice feel for the country and its poeple

Dover2Golf

Great report.

I worked in Lagos for six months in 1985, I've never been back but much of it doesn't seem to have changed. The pictures of LOS are exactly as I remember it and I can certainly remember being asked to 'help out' the security staff who you encountered passing through. My relief arriving intact at the BCal gate with the sign of the lion rampant above it usually brought on enough sense of relief to bring tears to my eyes. It's not somewhere I will ever go back to.