₦airaland Forum

Inspire Your Muse with These 8 Unique Holiday Spots

History’s most creative talents know the environment is key in inspiring great works and that occasionally they might need to go hibernate in some awe-provoking holidays spots to enflame their creative minds. Let’s take a tour of some of the unique holiday sites that’ll fire your own imagination too – starting from home….

Olumo Rock, Abeokuta

The ‘Olumo Rock’ defines the landscape of the bustling ancient city of Abeokuta. Literarily translated as ‘What God moulded,’ this natural wonder of giant boulders piled on top of one another like hand-made obelisks and slanting skyward gives you an awe-inspiring feeling of the supernatural presence of God, and lifts your creative spirit to the high heavens.
Now fitted with stairways and lamp posts that wrap round the rock right to its upper level, connecting one boulder to another and a covered veranda at the summit, Olumo Rock is an equivalent of a 17-storey building or a total of 412 steps. The tourist destination guarantees to energize your creative juices with soul-reviving fresh air and panoramic towers of elevator that offers a scenic view of the city.

Obudu Mountain Resort, Obudu
The Obudu Mountain Resort has never ceased to amaze visitors, inspiring them for repeated visits to inhale the soul-embalming feel its unique climate and wonder topography generates. The mountain’s plateau temperate climate and natural sculpted roads that snakes round the landscape in phenomenal picturesque beauty is sure to invoke divine inspirations to the creative mind to better practice their craft. Little wonder this premier holiday and tourist resort centre - about 332 kilometres drive from the charming city Calabar – has become some Mecca of some sort to recording artists to shoot inspirational videos for their songs. The Obudu Mountain Resort is the creator’s paradise; nature’s own gift to Nigeria.

St Petersburg’s Famous Literary Museums

Most famous Russian writers find their muse in the beautiful landscape of St Petersburg which is graciously dotted with literary museums. This includes the House of Pushkin (whose writing tackled the snobby superficiality of the St Petersburg wealthy) and the digs
of Dostoevsky, whose Crime and Punishment novel contrastingly focused on the city’s deprived. What better way to stimulate the gentle flames of literary genius than inspirational solitude in a city of literary museums and home to writing legends.


Gallery Chemould, Mumbai
The Gallery Chemould in Mumbai, India is one of many top tourist sites in the Bollywood capital that have long showcased top contemporary talents including the Progressive Arts Movement, which shaped modern Indian artistic identity.
The Gallery’s exotic collections of colourful artworks in Mumbai’s sizzling cultural scene is the perfect inspiration for budding talents to create their own cutting-edge art. Renowned writers like Salman Rushdie, whose classic, Midnight’s Children is partly set in the city, and gives credence to Mumbai’s strong literary tradition.
This definitely plays a key role in why India and Bollywood are the hub of the global movies industry today, churning out the highest volume of films for the viewing pleasure of its growing audience.

Vatnajökull glacier, Reykjavik (Iceland)
The dramatic landscape, unique culture and unpredictable weather conditions of Iceland, and in particular the tourist haven of the Vatnajökull glacier in the capital city, Reykjavik have helped cultivate an influential body of literature by authors from around the world. The magical Vatnajökull glacier, Europe’s largest ice cap, was a prime location for George RR Martin’s imagined world in the Game of Thrones.
Iceland has a higher percentage of writers in its population than any other country in the world, and the Vatnajökull glacier in its capital city, Reykvajik is at the heart of the inspiration the land evokes. Not unexpectedly, in 2011, Iceland’s capital Reykjavik became a Unesco City of Literature, continuing the country’s literary traditions with a growth of events, tours and sites that celebrate the nation’s love of storytelling.

Charles Dickens Museum, London
Who hasn’t read or heard about the classic novel, Oliver Twist, which has and continues to inspire not only writers but music artistes and other creative talents, generation after generation? So, how about visiting the Charles Dickens Museum in London for the right muse that can also propel you to legendary writer? The Charles Dickens Museum, which bewitches the tourist with an eclectic array of the works of classic and contemporary geniuses, is one of the city features that immortalises London in the eyes of writers as the holy pilgrimage for literary talents. While in London, you can also take a tour of the Sherlock Holmes’ fictional house at 221B Baker St, a museum to the sleuth nearby; and the Regent’s Park, which inspired Willkie Collins to write The Woman in White after witnessing a lady screaming from a balcony.

Edinburgh
Scotland’s capital city, Edinburgh has influenced most of its notable writers, significantly contributing to the country’s rich literary output. The ‘Writers Museum,’ off the Royal Mile, presents a personal side to the lives of Scotland’s authors, and includes exhibits like Robert Burns’ writing desk. When in the city, also take a tour of the bizarre ‘Surgeons’ Hall Museum’ and discover Arthur Conan Doyle’s inspiration for Sherlock Holmes, among other medical oddities.
San Francisco
City Lights Books in San Francisco is the writer’s hallow ground to set him a trance of celestial inspiration. Owned by onetime Beatnik Lawrence Ferlinghetti, City Lights published Allan Ginsberg’s then-radical Howl poem in 1956. Maybe you could get a glimpse of Ferlinghetti himself whilst browsing at City Lights Books. Also visit the Mission District for some moving murals and other San Francisco world-famous street art that resonates with its colourful past.

Personality Traits of Legendary Leaders
How did people like Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King or Mother Theresa transform from regular folks to legends of their time and arouse so much love and devotion even long after they were gone? What cues can you take from them to carve your own path and inspire followership in your own generation?

Everybody admires great leaders and aspires to be like them. Some have inspired cult followership, not just in their respective countries, but globally; and in time evolved into enigmatic phenomena that have become subjects of study of remarkable human personalities.
At personal levels, these great leaders have enjoyed enormous satisfaction, reverence and goodwill that have lasted a lifetime and even outlived them. We closely studied some of the greatest names of this century for the unique qualities that made them legends that have provoked worldwide followership. Here’s the best 10 personality traits that’ll guarantee you too can inspire large and devoted followership...
Vision and Passion
If you ever get a chance to sit with your greatest mentor, vision is one of the first of many qualities that will immediately jump at you as you converse. They have a definite purpose and a definite plan for attaining it; and they are in love with their vision. They are enthusiastic, optimistic, and persistently fuelled by their vision.
Knowledge and Discipline
Leaders are usually the best or in the league of the best in their chosen field of pursuit, mopping up all available knowledge and information in their profession to be one of their career’s top craftsmen or women.
You perhaps didn’t know Mandela attended six higher education institutions including the University of South Africa (1943), Healdtown Comprehensive School, University of Fort Hare, University of the Witwatersrand, University of London International Programmes, and the University of London. Other great leaders like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi persistently searched for knowledge, learning how far humanity has come as motivation to push and make their societies better. According to Mandela; “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
Character, Charisma and Conscience
The internationally revered father of Indian independence resistance movement, Mahatma Ghandi is profiled by the UN study centre as the forerunner of the ‘Soft Leadership’ model characterised, among other qualities, by character, charisma and conscience.
These primary tripod elements together make up the the key that differentiates good leaders from others. They also have an open mind and are tactful. They are first great listeners and gifted with exceptional communication and interpersonal skills.
Fairness and Integrity
Their near-impeccable character and integrity also means they are fair-minded and will collect all possible facts before making judgments. They are able to act without being guided by emotion. They simply treat others the way they would like to be treated.
Love and Sacrifice
A true leader is selfless and is ready to go to great costs to advance humanity. Their decisions put them in the public eye and often rob them privacy, placing great responsibilities on them to shoulder for the larger society.
Empathy and Loyalty
Leaders are loyal and equally know that empathy breeds loyalty. For business leaders, this their ultimate corporate secret and most powerful resource. It is the ability to sense and respond to the feelings, and then use it to form strong relationships. Empathy in leadership is what inspires loyalty among their followers.
Humility and Responsibility
True leaders are not quick to point fingers at other team members for a project failure, even when that is in fact true. They can take criticism and learn from mistakes. They readily assume responsibility for the actions of the entire team and mistakes of their subordinates. This is because they recognise that somehow their behaviour affects and influences the group vision down to the base of the pyramid in the hierarchy. It takes humility to admit your mistakes in business or social leadership; it takes humility to learn new things and it takes humility to direct smarter individuals.
Non-Conformism and Out-of-the-Box Thinking
Great leaders make decisions because it is the right one, and not because it is the conventional choice to make. As non-conformists or iconoclasts, they think outside the box and would not simply stick to the easy path most would follow; like in the case of Mandela, who despite living in a highly repressive culture, opened a legal firm serving black clients in 1952.
Teamwork and Communication
Great leaders don’t work alone; they surround themselves with talented people who share their vision and delegate duties. For example, Steve Jobs was always on the hunt for talent in unique ways, like accepting invitations to lecture at universities so he could scout potential employees. The iconic late Apple CEO personally interviewed over 5,000 applicants during his lifetime, managing all the hiring for his team.
Also, being able to clearly and succinctly describe what you want done is extremely important. If you can’t relate your vision to your team, you won’t all be working towards the same goal.
Courage and Determination
When Richard Branson was younger, his aunt bet him that he couldn’t learn to swim during their family vacation. After failing to master the skill during the trip, on the drive home, he asked his father to pull over the car. He jumped into a river, swam, and won the bet. Today, Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group, which is made up of over 400 companies, believes in a philosophy of taking risks and stepping out of your comfort zone. “You don’t learn to walk by following rules,” Branson said. “You learn by doing, and by falling over.”
As a leader, you will need courage to hold the mantle of leadership; courage to face your worst fears and courage to do the right thing regardless of whose ox is gored. Courage is essential for handling challenges.

Walk up to the young, Westernised bachelor in any of Nigeria’s big cities and ask him if bigger is better in choice of a bride. You’ll most probably get that quizzical stare and a coy smile that give you the sneaky feeling that your question is – well – silly (Hellooo! At least, you do sometimes watch beauty pageants, don’t you?). So, very likely your poll result would be: the modern African bride must be slim, curvy, and graceful; very much like an Agbani Darego, Oluchi Orlandi, Genevive Nnaji or a Tiwa Savage.

But all that runs against the grain in the Efik tradition. Here, the pride of the groom is an obese bride just emerging from a fattening room; where she is subjected to an incredible six months session of no-work-and-all-food-and-sleep! So is bigger the better, according to this curious African marriage rite?

Among the Efik, domiciled in large parts of Akwa Ibom and Cross River States, beauty is not always in the eyes of the beholder; but as defined by the fattening room marriage rites of the people.

In this culture, the men are conditioned to have a preference for round, fat, overweight women which in their eyes is the epitome of beauty and symbol of desire, prosperity, wealth, homeliness, motherliness and virtue. Sometime easier pregnancy and fertility are associated with obese women, making the fattening room culture an important aspect of Efik culture and tradition.
Big is Beautiful

In contrast, slim women are seen as unhealthy, unfed and likely to have difficulty bearing children; and men who prefer them looked down on as tasteless, poor, too Westernised and, ultimately, un-African.

Although as a result of modernity as well as the well-known health problems connected to obesity, the cultural practice of fattening room is not as rampant in that part of Nigeria as before, some African societies still view being fat as a symbol of status and power. In fact, some rich grooms or families pay for special "fattening rooms" for their bride to put on extra weight.

Ethnic interpretations of what constitutes beauty in a woman aside, medical experts often warn that obesity comes with many negative attributes which are all health related like coronary heart disease, blocking and narrowing the arteries, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, abnormal blood fat, metabolic problems and even early death through stroke.

But like all entrenched cultural practices, the Efik have their own compelling arguments why the curious marriage rites of the fattening room is a very important traditional and cultural event that symbolises wealth, prosperity, good fortune and beauty by the bride to her husband.

‘All Play and No Work’

The bride is subjected to seclusion for a long period – ranging from three months, six months to an entire year – and fed a large quantity of rich fatty food daily and allowed lots of sleep so she can gain excess weight and become obese. After the rites, your bride of just about 60kg will be well over twice that.

The foods the woman is forced to consume in large qualities, even when she has no appetite, are usually rich native delicacies loaded with calories like Ekpan Koko, Edika Ikong, Afang generously filled with snail, bush meat and fish, as well as meals consisting yam, rice, beans, cassava, and wheat.

The woman’s entry into and eventual emergence from the fattening room is characterised by funfair celebrations and excitement. She is attired in traditional outfits, beautified in finery, colourful materials, beads around the waist, hair properly woven in cornrows and bangles on ankle and wrists. She may also be painted in earthy colours all over the body.

The isolation of the bride also means she gets no visitors either male or female (except minders) and is restricted to her immediate environment which could be a bungalow, hut, or small compound. Although, in modern times she may have a few home comforts to compensate for a likely feeling of boredom or loneliness. She may also be allowed to relish the taste of palm wine, undergo massages, spa and body treatment, stretching, rubbing of lotions, use of herbal concoctions and oils on the body.

But besides fattening her up for her would-be husband’s pleasure, the bride is taught other cultural traditions of her people by her minders, who are usually elderly women.

This includes certain traditional wifely duties and expectations like how to cook some native dishes and properly care for her new family. She may also learn some traditional songs and oral traditions and be tutored in traditional art and crafts, manage funds and ultimately please her husband.

Waning Tradition

In the olden days, sometimes a more sinister purpose like circumcision is carried during the fattening room rites as it was erroneously believed to aid child birth and reduce the likelihood of promiscuity. In more modern fattening room practices, this particular function is banned and long forgotten.

As glamorised as it may look, in the past the fattening room was not a journey to blissful pampering, indulgence, and sumptuous meals. In reality, the rite was tough, frightening, and forced on the woman. Thankfully, in modern times it is no longer compulsory. Only those bound by a need for tradition and the rich with a compulsive itch to be acknowledged as wealthy and healthy still carry out this practice.