In a journey which started in 2017, when i started my travel expedition of the world starting out with south-west Nigeria, I have come to learn a lot traveling round these states by the interaction and subliminal immersion into their cultures and norms.
All these are in a bid to reveal the tourism potentials of the world to both locals and strangers in the most interesting way.
Here are the things I’ve learned from my travels around South west Nigeria and would want you to go through them to see if there’s any you can relate to.
(1) Components of the South Western region
In the real sense of it, 6 states basically make up the south-western Nigeria and they include: Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo, but for the sake of this post, I’d like to add Kwara to the list for reasons best known to me.
(2) The People
The friends I made when I hiked up the mountains of Ado awaye
In case you think it’s a fluke, there are people here on earth who are ready to grill their eyes for you for dinner if that’s what you crave as a stranger. Guess what, a very tiny portion of these people reside in South west Nigeria. From the locals who took their time in showing me directions to the traders who’d voluntarily add extra to the things I buy, down to the hosts who joyously accommodate me and show me round town when I’m down on cash, I say a big thank you.
(3) Cab colours
Every state has a unique colour code for taxis.
Lagos
yellow and black
This was before the advent of ride hailing services like Uber and Taxify and the introduction of varying colours of taxis by the Lagos state government.
Oyo
Dark brown and cream
This used to be white and green until few years ago.
Ekiti
Green with 2 yellow stripes from bonnet to trunk.
Ondo
Blue on both sides with yellow from the bonnet to boot.
Kwara
Kwara state’s taxis have the highest number of colour combination: red, green, yellow and black.
Ogun
Green and two yellow stripes on each side.
(4) Traveling isn’t as Expensive as we think it is
Yeah, take that from me. It actually costs less than you think. On the average, it costs N2,000 to travel by bus from one state to another within south-western Nigeria. N7,000 to any Eastern and Northern state.
It costs on the average, N4,000 to sleep in a decent hotel and N0 if you have a host. Street food ranges from N20-N100. Accessing any tourist attraction on the average is N500 anywhere within Nigeria.
(5) Roads
The road which leads to Ikogosi warm and cold spring, Ekiti.
I Haven’t really traveled to other regions of the country but with what I’ve experienced so far, It’d be safe to say the road network is somewhat fair in the south-west region. And were I to choose the states with the best road condition, Osun will have to take my vote then Ekiti.
(6) Best tourist sites
It has to be firstly cleared that all the tourist destinations in south-west Nigeria have the potentials to be great if the government and citizens do their bits in improving the facilities and frequenting the sites respectively.
Idanre hills- 3,000 feet above sea level.
The destinations I’ve enlisted below are solely based on how well maintained and awesome they are. In no particular order, I present to you:
- Olumo rock
- Erin Ijesha
- Idanre Hills
- Badagry
(7) Travel time
It takes approximately 4 hours to travel from Lagos to any south-western state. Ogun is the closest to Lagos while Kwara is the farthest.
Have you any contributions? Drop it in the comment section.
Source: http://www.nomadicnegro.com/south-west-nigeria/
Lalasticlala help tame this snake
