Lagos is prime of the thoughts for most individuals visiting Nigeria. It’s the nation’s long-standing industrial and leisure capital filled with thrills and treats. However then, the town can typically be an excessive amount of to deal with.
At instances like these, Lagosians journey the comparatively brief distance to close by cities like Abeokuta and Ibadan, each of which provide a heartwarming mixture of scenic views, historic and cultural gems. When you’ve got a free day, or two, in your itinerary, take into account filling them up with any of those day-trip choices.
Abeokuta
Why go? To hike Olumo Rock, purchase conventional adire material and be taught some historical past
Abeokuta is legendary for its rocky terrain. Start your sightseeing at Olumo Rock, its most visited attraction. Hike to the highest (137m) to get a birds-eye view of the traditional city and a few of its prime landmarks. The tour begins with a briefing on the Lisabi Backyard, named after one of many city’s earliest warrior-leaders; right here, you should purchase bottled water or palm wine to take with you on the climb.
In your manner up, guides narrate the story of how this place served as a shelter for hundreds fleeing the a number of wars in Yorubaland within the Nineteenth century, together with bloody and repeated battles with the soldiers of Dahomey. You get to step again in time by getting into one of many caves preserved from that interval. There are no less than two shrines – often with clergymen seated in entrance of them – on the way in which, each tied to the early historical past of the city.
Abeokuta can also be well-known for its colourful adire (indigo-dyed) material, a heirloom that has been handed down for a lot of generations and over the centuries. Households can nonetheless be seen producing reams and reams of it in numerous compounds (there aren’t any official excursions of those compounds, however you’ll be able to prepare with an area information to take you to 1). Store for these materials on the purpose-built Adire Mall, a brief drive from Olumo Rock.
In your manner out of Abeokuta, drop in on the placing Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL), a multiplex on 37ha of land. The identify is considerably deceptive – it’s greater than a library and there’s sufficient to maintain you right here for a day, so it is a good factor to resolve what to see and do, and what to go away out.
Among the many services, there’s a cultural village, sports activities and recreation middle, cinema, a wildlife park, an African materials middle and theme park for teenagers. The primary draw is its museum (excursions value N3000 per customer), which paperwork Nigeria’s political and financial historical past, by means of the involvement of its two-time post-independent chief, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. Enable two hours for a tour of each wings within the museum. If you’re achieved, stroll over to the Bamboo Grove, the place you’ll be able to loosen up over gourds of palm wine and plates of suya (barbecue meat).
The right way to get to Abeokuta
Abeokuta is just a little over an hour (100km) north of Lagos by highway, on the Lagos-Ibadan Freeway. You may get a shared taxi from the Ojota Motor Park or rent a automobile out of your lodge to take you. Alternatively, you may go by prepare from the Mobolaji Johnson Station at Ebute Meta, or the Babatunde Raji Fashola Station at Agege.
Ikene & Ososa
Why go? To higher perceive native politics, and the way Nollywood started
A distinct form of expertise awaits you at Ikenne, the nation residence of one in every of Nigeria’s founding fathers – Chief Obafemi Awolowo – typically described because the “greatest president Nigeria by no means had”.
Along with his mausoleum, the compound holds a museum devoted to his life as a politician, creator, lawyer and mental. Reveals embrace unique copies of his books, tutorial robes in addition to numerous employees of workplace as a a number of chief of various communities round Nigeria. You’ll be able to view entries in his journal about his many political struggles and ideas about nationwide points.
An extra 15 minute drive away from Ikenne, at Ososa, discover the filmic paradise that’s the Hubert Ogunde Living History Museum. Ogunde, who died in 1990, was one in every of Nigeria’s most versatile thespians, who rose to turn out to be one in every of its most influential filmmakers. Older Nigerians recall trooping to the nationwide theater in Lagos within the Seventies and 80s to look at his box-office hits.
The museum – the place Ogunde lived the final 10 years of his life – highlights his many accomplishments in music, stage and movie and a profession that spanned 5 a long time. In each his stage and movie productions, he celebrated the variety of Nigeria by means of dance, cultural objects and costume (a complete room is devoted to a big assortment of those).
The right way to get to Ikenne & Ososa
Ikenne (75kms, one hour) and Ososa (one other 25 kms, 20 minutes) are on the Benin-Sagamu Freeway, the gateway to Nigeria’s Japanese area. One of the simplest ways to achieve them is to rent a automobile for the day.
Omo Forest Reserve
Why go? To identify wildlife notably elephants
If you happen to’re visiting Lagos within the dry season (October to March), then there could possibly be no higher time to go on an journey to the Omo Forest (675 ha). A Unesco-designated biosphere reserve, it hosts the very best variety of butterflies on the continent. It’s also the closest location to Lagos the place you’re prone to spot elephants within the wild. The aim of just about all visits is reaching the Elephant Camp, which may take three hours of climbing by means of wealthy lowland rainforest. Different wildlife right here embrace civet cats, white-throated monkeys, chimpanzees and pangolins.
If you happen to’d quite not return to Lagos the identical day, lodge on the leafy and serene environment of the Babcock College Visitor Home in Ilishan – a five-minute drive throughout the freeway from Ikene.
The right way to get to Ikenne & Ososa
Past Ikenne and Ososa, 80km from Ilishan is Omo Forest Reserve. If you wish to do all three in a day journey, it’s greatest to sort out the Omo journey very early within the morning, stopping over at Ikenne and Ososa on the way in which again to Lagos.
Ibadan
Why go: to grasp the worldview of the Yorubas
Ibadan, based by migrants fleeing battle within the early-Nineteenth century, is a industrial and deeply cultural society. It’s the one metropolis in Yorubaland the place you’re most probably to run into an Egungun (masquerade) pageant or procession. Its royal succession mannequin, instituted within the 1850s, can also be distinctive amongst the Yorubas; to be the Olubadan, candidate-chiefs may have needed to rise by means of 23 intermediate positions.
If you happen to’re all for studying extra about kingship in conventional Yoruba society, perceive its age-long perception system and the causes of its many inter-tribal wars, then go to the Odu’a Museum and Hall of Fame, up at 14th ground of the Cocoa Home, the 26-storey skyscraper constructed within the Nineteen Sixties.
Cease for a meal on the Kokodome, simply beside Cocoa Home, earlier than exploring different landmarks round city. Mapo Corridor (b.1929), an essential relic of the colonial years, has hosted many socio-political gatherings. It’s also the place the coronation of a brand new Olubadan takes place. From right here, stroll throughout the highway to Oja Oba (King’s Market) to get a really feel for the vibe and vibrancy of a typical market in Yorubaland.
Bower’s tower, Agodi Gardens and Eleyele Lake are favorites of native vacationers. The College of Ibadan, the primary in Nigeria, has a bookshop price visiting, and so is Booksellers. Wrap up your go to to Ibadan with a stopover on the Nationwide Museum of Unity, one in every of 4 in Nigeria. Its galleries showcase among the most cultural components shared by the completely different ethnicities that make up the nation, from masquerade and textile tradition to pottery heritage and conventional musical devices.
The right way to get to Ibadan
Iwo Rd is Ibadan’s main motor park the place minibuses arrive from Lagos (130kms, 90 minutes to 2 hours away). Trains run from Mobolaji Johnson Station. Alternatively you’ll be able to organise your personal transport.
Oyo, Osogbo and Ile-Ife
Why go? For cultural immersion
When you’ve got a weekend to spare, then by all means enterprise past additional afield. An hour or so away from Ibadan is Oyo, the present location of the city that was as soon as on the coronary heart of the famed Outdated Oyo Empire. A band of drummers welcome you to the spacious grounds of the palace of the Alaafin, a masterpiece of conventional structure. Oyo individuals are expert calabash carvers, and so they have practiced this craft for hundreds of years; you’ll be able to go to them proper of their compounds or on the market, the place completed items are on sale.
From right here, head to Osogbo – 80km north of Ibadan – to discover the Osun Grove, a Unesco World Heritage web site and the one one in southern Nigeria. If you happen to’re visiting in late August, then plan to see the grand finale of the Osun-Osogbo pageant, a celebration in honor of the goddess of River Osun and which pulls devotees from around the globe.
Much less well-known to vacationers, but in addition price your whereas, are the centuries-old palaces, each inside the grove in addition to within the premises of the Ataoja of Osogbo, the standard head.
In Ile-Ife, go to the white wonderland that’s the palace of the Ooni, the extremely regarded monarch and religious head of the Yorubas. You’ll be able to prepare for palace guards to take you on a tour to among the key spots inside the palace. Proper subsequent door is the Ife Nationwide Museum; inside the museum premises, you’ll discover a grasp artist carving wooden into fantastic collectible figurines, all on the market.
When you’ve got any curiosity in Yoruba conventional faith, then cease at shrines devoted to Ogun, Obatala, Oduduwa, Oranmiyan, Osun and Yemoja, amongst a number of others. The World Ifa Temple, often abandoned and quiet, comes alive in August when it hosts the World Ifa Congress. In September, Ife hosts its most essential conventional gathering, the Olojo Competition. Wrap up your weekend with an evening on the palatial Ife Grand Resorts.
The right way to get to Osogbo
One of the simplest ways to achieve Osogbo and Ile-Ife is thru Ibadan. Take the prepare to Ibadan and get a personal automobile for the remainder of the journey. Osogbo is off the Ibadan-Ife freeway, on the Gbongan junction.
