Many Nigerians travel abroad for holidays to places like Europe, America and Dubai but do not holiday here in Nigeria. The reasons Nigerians don’t travel for short city breaks or holidays within the country even though there are many nice places to visit are mainly insecurity and the state of our roads.
I have been to a couple of places in Nigeria and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I went to the likes of Lekki conservation center through the canopy walk, Badagry slave market to point of no return and the first storey building in Nigeria, Erin Ijesa waterfall in Osun state. But by far my best weekend away is a trip to Uyo, Akwa Ibom in 2017 to watch the Super Eagles play against Cameroon at Akpabio Stadium.
It was a weekend getaway, I had worked really hard through the year and felt I deserved a few days off. It coincided with the Super eagles match, so I decided to go and watch the match live as I had never watched a match at the stadium prior to that time. I booked my ticket with Air Peace and traveled on a Friday morning through the Lagos airport. It turned out to be the best trip ever and an eye-opener for me.
The flight was about one hour thirty minutes very smooth , got to Uyo about 3.00 pm and quickly set about getting an accommodation, the elderly driver that brought me from the airport suggested I stay at IBB ‘’yunction’’, he took me to about two hotels before I finally settled for a very lovely hotel. He gave me a short course on getting around in Uyo and a few words in the local language. I must say I was impressed, as there are many nice and affordable hotels in Uyo. I settled down in my Six thousand naira a night room and thereafter went to buy a match ticket for the game and sample the local cuisine. The restaurants in Uyo are clean with very good food
I noticed very quickly Uyo is a very lovely town, clean and the people are very friendly and ready to help with descriptions, there is a very big park with a play area for kids. Moving around in Uyo was easy I got a Keke for three hundred naira to take me round the town. The football match itself was very good and memorable as Nigeria defeated Cameroon. The people of Uyo came out en masse to support the super eagles.
The next day I went to Calabar about two hours thirty minutes journey from Uyo, in particular, to go to Obudu ranch, but could not make Obudu ranch as I didn’t get to Calabar early enough to make that journey to Obudu. So I settled for Tinapa which was a bit disappointing at the time because much of it was under construction. It was my first time in Calabar too and for a second I thought I was abroad. Calabar is a gorgeous town, very neat with rows of trees planted along the roads, eco friendly, no traffic, and no noise like in Lagos or other parts of the country.
Akwa Ibom and Calabar are known for very good food. I enjoyed the food; my swallow of choice was always pounded yam and Abak or edika ikong, egusi. I ate pounded yam back to back. It was here I ate the best-pounded yam and white soup ever. I was genuinely sad to be leaving Uyo on Sunday morning and was tempted to do pounded yam and white soup one more time. I will surely come back.
We have beautiful places that can be developed as tourist attractions in Nigeria, that can generate huge income for the local economy, but first, we have to deal with the issue of insecurity.
Kaa di