Nigeria in Pictures

I thought I would tempt you with some photographs of Nigeria. Perhaps you too would like to take that once in a lifetime trip to darkest Africa? A land that is quintessential Africa, exquisitely beautiful in parts and violently chaotic and ugly in others. It is certainly a land that requires exploration with camera in hand but that may well lead to your camera not being in your hand, or your hand on your arm....




This is a warped view of the street outside the complex in which I stayed. The white wall to the left is the wall of our complex. This is a good part of town, as can be evidenced by the Mercedes on the pavement. It's time of going is long gone!



Most of the Nigeria I saw in Port Harcourt looks like these pictures. The nicest buildings are those that house fervoured revivalist Christian services and you will find at least one on every block. The sun struggles to pierce the clouds, smog, and humidity during the day. I saw blue sky once as evidenced by the picture below - my first day there!

Here are some photo's of places on the water. Port Harcourt is situated in the Niger Delta and so there is plenty of water all over the place. The waterways are really beautiful. Many houses are built on stilts in the water and would make awesome photographic subjects. Alas my camera spent a lot of time hiding!

There are 150 million people living in Nigeria. It is a hive of activity and there are people everywhere, all the time. Traffic is a debacle. I have never seen anything like it in my life. The driving skills seem to be inversely proportional to the amount of traffic. Perhaps due to the fact that the only driving speed is crawling, great driving skills are not required. I spent a lot of time hanging onto my seat!

This is not a land for the feint hearted! It does have an allure though. Almost a challenge that goes, I survived the place once, I can do it again!

Will I?