Road Trip Through Interesting Nigeria (with pictures)!

Yea, I always felt 'sorry' for Lagos-kids while growing up. Remarkably for me, whenever i mentioned a simple popular novel while in the boarding house, the lagos boys would say thay had seen the film. Tom Sawyerr, Prince and the pauper, Oliver twist are actually films to them, not books. They just didnt know what they were missing.
It was also interesting that majority had never seen snakes before, except inside zoo (which they still did not have).

Not too late though.I myself lived in Lagos for five years after graduation some years ago. And i'm glad to be out.
http://www.guardiannewsngr.com/editorial_opinion/article02//indexn2_html?pdate=250808&ptitle=Suffering%20and%20smiling%20in%20Lagos


Back to the topic. My parents first lived in Zaria after marriage and later moved us down south. They took us kids round a huge part of nigeria in the 80s, with a sister in FGGC Akure, and a brother in Ilorin, we also visited the FGC in Ugwualawo once. That was a Mr & Mrs Bako kind of experience (or should i say a Mr & Mrs EI). The Makurdi bridge wasnt quite done so went by ferry through Agenebode in present-day Edo and landed in Idah (present-day Kogi). I also went to Jos much later.

Some people just simply hate the process -traveling,  They just want to get there! And while this is understandable on nigerian roads, i have a friend that simply can't look out of an airplane window. he starts sweating very profusely and refuses to answer you during take-off or landing. He's at that moment gripping the arm rests. He once heard that most plane crashes happen either during take-off or landing.

Mark Twain recommended travel as the best source of inspiration.
We all can do with emulating EI.
Good job.

Adechuks,

An informative link you provided - thanks.

Nice that you also got your opportunities as you grew up - mobile parents, who were also adventurers   
I also got some opportunities too, in my very early teens:
- an 8wk long holiday visits to maternal aunties in Ibadan & Ilorin ('78 and '79 resp.)
- a 2wk Easter holiday visit to a paternal auntie in Lagos, 1980.

The best was saved for the last, as my parents as civil servants were able to afford one way tickets for four of us (my brothers, a cousin & I) on defunct Nigerian Airways to Lagos (our econonmy don spoil sha), while my uncle sponsored the return air trip   

And my uncle spoilt us kids sha O - bless him.
Treats like many road sight seeing; lunch at Federal Palace; film show (Mario Puzo's "The Godfather") at then very active/standard National Theatre; Easter Sunday at bar beach (when it was still a beach  ) etc. I still have the pictures, which I cherish so. . .   

EI, your exploit is quite interesting and should be emulated by people that attach value to the environment. Traveling by air  has its own merit in terms of safety and time saving, but hardly have any value in area of knowledge acquisition when it comes to environment and people. Despite the odds of bad roads, security and associated troubles on Nigeria   roads, I feel this type of adventure could be highly rewarding when the money and time is available.
More grease to your elbow.

Pops

Normally Calabar is my choice for tranquility, minimal hassles, fun etc.
For this trip, and without giving it too much thoughts, it is the village called Miango!

Miango is a village 30mins from Jos with a temp of 18-20deg late July, housing Kent Academy (an American ECWA/SIM managed grade 1-6 boarding school) and Miango Rest Home (MRH). Some facilities are the age of most grandpas around - the central restaurant/reading room for MRH was commissioned in mid '40s.

The best ambience anywhere in Nigeria; flowers, natural rocks, staff residential area for KA, chalets for MRH (for up to 120 guests!), 3-course meal system, courtesy/general hospitability of staff, welcomeness, etc.
Adult and children friendly - playground facilities and 1 to 4 bedroom chalets (each with its small compound) that provide individual families their privacy.
Quite a perfect resort/retreat environment, appropriate for non-Lagosians in spirit (or Lagosians that have repented and wish to find an outlet out of the fast lane, in settling gently into the real world). . . 

PS:
For all 1989 KNCCFites, take this as advance notice that a 1-week family retreat may hold at MRH next year as part of 20th year reunion. . . stay tuned!

this is truly a wonderful experience for u and ur family
please can u put a more detailed itinery on the page like the duration of every trip,attractions and maybe hotls used

sth like this,

Ikot Ekpene - Calabar

2 hrs

Yakari resrve etc

additional info like hotel and price

I'd like to do sth like that too sometime

Biola,

Ol' guy, sub-details of de itinerary go long pass WAEC essay 

Actually I thought I earlier did a few lines and pictures to show some of the public places stayed. I will get a little bit more specific hereafter on your requested additional information (hotels, rates, distances etc), although there will be a definite challenge getting trip durations and distances right at this time, nine weeks after the road trip!

As accommodation for my family of six would always be the top cost element, the plan was to minimise overall costs (as much as possible), through planning stops at places we had very close family members and friends.
However this was limited only to the Southern axis, except Kano where we spent two nights with the remnant of our (i.e. my wife & I) KNCCF number, during our service year in Kano.

Making the trip within the Northern axis was a little bit tricky for someone like me that had never on my own driven through the North before. It took quite some planning in fitting into the family life/job schedule of another of our then KNCCF friends, resident in Plateau State. He it is, that assisted with the bookings and road trips within Plateau & Bauchi, and the last-mile trip from Miango/Jos, to Kano - the guy being our guide of course  

Northern axis

a) From the South . . .through Auchi-Okene-Lokoja-Abuja.
We passed through Benin about 1010hrs, had a 1hr stop at Lokoja for lunch and got to Abuja at past 1700hrs.
Accomm: Abuja - Transcorp Hilton @N29k+ per night for standard room; meals at N4k+ per plate 

b) Abuja-Keffi-Jos.
3hr trip, with Abuja-Keffi road topping my list of best roads in the course of the road trip.
40mins from Jos to Miango, our base for the Plateau-Bauchi runs.
Accomm: Miango - Miango rest house (MRH) @ almost N7k for a 3 bedroom chalet (with living/dining rooms!); meals free for kids less than 6yrs and N800 (N850?) per meal, something like a buffet, for adults. Breakfast was complimentary . . . what even Hilton didn't offer us!!!
Getting space at MRH must not be taken for granted as so many groups regularly use the facilities for retreats etc. We had to confirm our reservation well in advance through a down payment, and when we had to launch out to Bauchi, we also held our chalet (where we kept the bulk of our travel items).

c) Miango-Jos-Bauchi-Yankari; a little over than 4hrs
The main gate of Yankari games reserve is about 30mins after Bauchi (from Jos), but that point is about 56km from the YGR living settlement for guests. Good and tarred road within though, but person go tire for that leg of journey sha, with advised speed limit and all the road warnings signs that tell you to watch out for crossing animals   
Accomm: Four classifications of chalets; different sizes. Since we sponsored another family on that trip, we stuck with the third least expensive chalet class, per family. Rate at N14k/night. Meals at N850 per person, or something like that. Unfortunately, no complimentary breakfast   
Because of the number of tourists (lots of foreigners), one was expected to make bookings of tour vehicles the evening before, something we didn't do. But it worked out for good! Rom 8:28!! Because it was an opportunity to explore Wikki hot springs, and for me to get a good dip (and swim ) in the warm spring water.
WWS is within YGR; trekkable.
A 1hr ride of tour vehicle costs N7k; each vehicle takes 9-10 persons outside driver and tour guide, if I can remember correctly. An option for those that have the right eqt (4-wheelers) and can't endure the queue, was to rent a tour guide and go it yourself into the wild. . .

d) Yankari-Bauchi-Jos-Miango
-do-

e) Miango-Jos-Miango; various!
Visits to Jos wildlife park (where we got more sightings than YGR) and Church on Sunday. . .

f) Miango-Jos-Kano
Can't remember details of this journey, but methinks about 3hrs or a little bit more.
A lot of army presence at some point; almost a score of sentry posts at almost every 5km interval, at a portion of that highway that had dense forestation at both sides, and apparently was recently a hot spot for armed banditry (Nigeriens/Chadians?). A nice assurance/feeling for us travellers. And of course the army guys welcomed the cash token at every point we crossed - not like I may have done same if they were police checkpoints (also not like the civility we may have encountered!). . .
Accomm: Free!   

g) Kano-Zaria-(Niger State)-Mokwa-Jebba-Ilorin
I will do this under the narratives around the Southern axis. It has been two hours since I put my family to sleep bed, so it is my turn to get some sleep 

We covered the Northern axis over nine nights, of stops. That axis was the business part of the holiday, while the Southern axis, which gulped 67% of time put into subject trip, was also optimised for family visits.

Overall, we endured 2,900km+, travelling within the Northern axis, up till Kano. . .

Wow!!!!!!
It sure sounds like fun. I like travelling but i'm spoilt. I like to go by air and arrive in the blink of an eye. 

  bears r still here

tx EI would surely note ur itinery and be in touch with u for more info esp on the abuja- jos - yankari - miango end of the trip as i may be interested in that next year.

for that purpose,
1. what is the best time to go and see the best sigths considering waether such as harmattan which I'm senstive to
2. do u have contacts of the miango guest hse so that i can make bookings
3. does u have yankari's contacts too,

tx once again

190,
EI and not el   
My apologies if I came out as effecting self praise. 
Trust me if you can, that was not the intent . . . and who says I have not travelled around the world?   



Bros,
I've some contacts and I will be glad to be of any assistance. Basically to get more value, you should visit Yankari during the dry season, otherwise the thick foliage prevents good viewing of the animals.
But to avoid some sensitivities like that from 190 and privacy of my contacts, kindly send a mail to "ei_nland@yahoo.com" and we can discuss further. . .

i believe the guy just joking and trying to generate more traffic on the thread,
EI good job once again i sent u an email

Biola,

I think so too   

I've just sent a reply to your email - apologies for the late response