EXPERIENCE AN AMAZING ATMOSPHERE AT THE BANANA ISLAND CULTURAL FESTIVAL

Hearing the name “Banana Island”, one could imagine the area being set aside for banana plantation. But it is not so. The name is derived from the banana- shape of the island as portrayed by the aerial photograph.

Banana Island is an area of Ikoyi-Lagos, Nigeria, 8.6km east of Tafawa Balewa Square. The area is part of the Lagos Local Government Area of Eti-Osa in Central Lagos, and it is known for its wealthy, multi-cultural community and has some of the most expensive real estate in Nigeria. The Island also has one of the highest densities of millionaires within the country.

The Banana Island is known for being a community in Nigeria with the presence of people from virtually all the continents of the world. You would think it should be difficult for residents of the place to mingle freely or even know each other due to the quietude and the untainted environment of the area. But the Banana Island residents, through their annual cultural festival, which is a celebration of different nationalities living within the island, get to know themselves and the nationalities feel at home though they are hundred miles far away from their original homes.

The festival which was first celebrated in 2015 has become a yearly celebration showcasing what countries, irrespective of colours and race, can do when they unite together. The level of conviviality among the residents, though multi-cultural, is demonstrated in the festival.

At the festival, which is annually staged at the Oval Garden in the Banana Island, allows residents to display their various culture, foods, drinks, etc. At each stand, there is a placard bearing the nationals, Poland, France, South Africa, Egypt, Azerbaijan, Rwanda, Italy, Cameroon, Jamaica, Philippine, India, Japan, Indonesia, etc. Their flags are shown and their national anthem being sang.

There is so much to eat and drink. As part of the fun, you can just get into any of the stand of the countries represented there and get a taste of the foods and drinks. You can also get to interact with them to know their countries and their tribes.

The festival is just about bringing the different countries together and making them feel at home, and lots of music accompanies with dancing take the stage. Each country representatives are allowed to take the stage to entertain the audience in their respective local music and dances. It is just all about having fun, as you get to know each of the country representatives without traveling in the air to visit their countries.

This year festival which is themed “Looking Back, Giving Back” is a huge networking /bonding activity that the community looks forward to annually.

EXPLORE YANKARI NATIONAL PARK

Make a point to visit the Yankari National Park; one of the largest national parks in Africa with natural eco-system and unique features. It is Nigeria’s first and best managed forest wildlife conservation product with an area of 2,244 square kilometers where tropical animals can be found in their natural habitat.

Yankari National Park is an area of rich biodiversity; it shelters teeming species of large mammals like elephant, buffalo, hippopotamus, lions, water buck, bush buck, monkeys, and about 153 known species of birds and reptiles. It is also fascinating to know that Yankari National Park has the largest concentration of elephants in the West Africa region. You can observe these mammals as you walk through the passageway.

You would not also like to miss the opportunity of getting enmeshed into the ethno-historical and archaeological attractions such as the catacomb and Dukkey wells of about four meters deep the park is equally enrich with.

You could also indulge in warm and relaxing sensations as you soak in the free flowing warm spring’s pools. The Wikki Spring, Tunga-Maliki Spring, Gwana Spring, Dimil Spring and the Mawulgo Spring are the five spring’s water that oozes out from cretaceous deposits of shale and sandstones.

Yankari National Park also provides amenities for more than 100 visitors a night, which includes accommodation, restaurant, and conference hall, indoor and outdoor games.

The park can be reached from Bauchi town through Bauchi-Gombe paved road for a distance of 37km to Dindima on the east bank of the Gongola River. From Dindima, following the park’s signpost, one has to make a right turn after Gongola Bridge on a laterite road which leads to Mainamaji, the base camp of the park.

The physical environment, water resources, the climate and weather, the geological, vegetation and the floral species found in the park make it an ideal destination to explore.

MY UNFORGETTABLE TRIP TO BADAGRY SLAVE ROUTE

A visit to Badagry Slave Route is just a reminiscence account of the era of slavery on the coast of West Africa. Badagry happened to be one of the numerous transport hubs in West Africa where over 600,000 slaves were sold to slave traders and shipped to Western World. It was even more painful to learn that the local chiefs and their warriors perpetrated slavery in the land when they captured their own people and sold to the slave merchants in exchange for small valuables.

We left for the trip on the 9^th of July, 2018, both me and my amicable friend, Kenneth Stephen. Mr Kenneth is a robust and well fed guy with a medium-size pot-belly. I love him for the fact that he is a fun-loving and adventurous guy; features we both shared.

The visit was worth the travel as it is 2hours plus from Lagos; and Badagry itself is a coastal town in Lagos State, and it is between the City of Lagos and the border within Benin Republic at Seme.

The tales behind the Badagry Slave Route might move you to tears, as it did to me. Yes, you might have heard about the story in your History class; but seeing the paraphernalia used for slavery and the spots it happened, with a demo on how they were used on the slaves is definitely something to cause you to quiver. It is quite an emotional experience!

Our first point of call was at the Mobee Family Slave Relics Museum which is located along the Mobee Street of Badagry, and it houses many of the tools used to capture and hold captives. A cold sensation ran down my spine when I saw the chains used to shackle the slaves; and more especially when the guides illustrated how the chains were used on the slaves:

                           

  “These chains were used to bind the slaves like this,” John and his fellow guide demonstrated, “both hands and feet, and clung the other at their necks, while they move on a single line,” They illustrated.

From  the Mobee Family Slave Relics Museum, we moved to the Baracoon; that is, the slave cell, where we’re made to believe that about 40 slaves were sheltered in a small room probably measuring about 3mx4m, until they were traded.

                  “Here’s the room the slaves were kept”, John said, ushering us into the room.

                   “About 40 slaves were celled here until they’re sold”, he said.

                  “You mean forty persons were kept in this thin room? Damn it!” My friend Kenneth                 exclaimed; “I am only imagining how compressed they would have felt staying in this small room”.

                “That one didn’t bother the slave traders,” John added.

            

  “Here are the objects that were traded in exchange for human slave,” our guide pointed at some moulded objects on the wall. “One ceramic bowl goes for 10 slaves; one umbrella goes for 40 slaves, but it strictly depends on their bargaining powers.”

And from the Baracoon, we headed for a 2-3mins boat ride to Gbeferu Island; the path to the point of no return. Gbeferu is a geographical area of Badagry leading to the Atlantic Ocean. In those days, slaves were made to walk along this Island on a single line bound with chains. Today, the Island has become a sandy beach domain.

The walk from the Gbeferu Island to the point of no return was a longish one. It takes 25-30mins walk to the Atlantic, and along the coast of Gbeferu is the spirit attenuation well. We were shown a well squarely borded with small wall erected with block and also having a locally thatched roof shading it.

                      “In this well,” our guide said, showing us a well, “all the chiefs in Badagry dealing on Slave business came together and cast a spell in this well; a kind of black magic (Juju) which brings memory lost. The slaves were forced to drink from the well and within three months, they lost their memory.”

 And for over 600 years now nobody has ever drank from the well, according to John, our guide. But I still could not believe that drinking the charmed water from the well caused the slaves to lose their memory; otherwise, they would not have replicated their culture in the white men’s land. I thought they might have been given something that caused them to hallucinate rather than to lose the memory.

And finally from the longish trek on the Gbeferu Island, the slaves were led on the path to the ocean, where a waiting vessel had been docked to ship them away. It is said that when a slave made it to this point, which is termed, “Point Of No Return”, there is no chance of returning home, as the slave would be shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, to an unknown destination.

It is hard to see what Africans had to pass through during those dark days of slavery, and the museum, especially the paintings there, clearly shown how the slaves were badly treated.

                       

WHY YOU SHOULD SEE AWHUM WATERFALL

The Story of Awhum Waterfall reminds one of the stories of the pool of Bethesda in the Bible. The Awhum waterfall is said to be associated with healing, and is capable of dispelling evil forces when sprinkled upon.

Awhum waterfall in Amaugwe village of Awhum town in Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State is an opulently grand rock encased waterfall. The waterfall is as a result of heavy outthrust of rock with water descending from the top and forming a rapid flowing stream at the base.

The waterfall is nature gift to the people of Awhum and it is managed by the Catholic Monastery. This is why you cannot separate the cave and the waterfall from the monastery. The waterfall and the cave and the surrounding environs were gifted freely to the monastery about forty years ago. Everything the monastery did at the cave and waterfall was permitted by the community; hence it becomes a place for religious and leisure tourism.

As a religious tourism haven, Awhum serves as centre for meditations and deep reflection. At the main entrance to the cave is the statue of Virgin Mary believed to have been erected by the Catholic Church. The statue has been erected in 2001. Also, before getting to the waterfall one can see another statue of Virgin Mary surrounded by late Christians’ faithful in genuflection to the Mother of Jesus. Beside, one can also see some piece of papers stocked on Mother Mary, believed to be prayer petitions of people who had once visited. However one sees it, this is a place where people seek for religious upliftment and solace to their troubled soul.

Awhum waterfall also serves the leisure tourists who wanted a place for adventure and picnicking experiences. The pattern at which the water undulates as it falls from the cliff makes it an eye-catchy site to visit. The long walk of about fifty minutes from the Monastery down to the mouth of the waterfall and down a slope surrounded by hills and green vegetations makes it an adventure to experience. One needs to be careful as you walk on the miniature rocks, and your footwear must be water friendly if you would want an easy walk through the fast running water.

The waterfall itself is an undeniably charming sight that entices one to a cool bath. Aside the waterfall, the mind-blowing 300m long limestone walls engulfing the footpath at either side would as well catch your interest. This is why the 30km high waterfall and the cave are something for the adventurous tourists.

THE LAKE EFI FISHING FESTIVAL- AN IDEAL TOURISTS MAGNET

The Lake Efi fishing festival takes place in Sabageria, Kolokuma/Opokuma LGA, Bayelsa State. It is a form of a homecoming for the sons and daughters of the town, as they use the occasion to give thanks to the river goddess for a bountiful fish harvest. The festival, which is usually celebrated every seven years, is subject to the pronouncement of the chief priest, and involves canoe rides, a boat regatta and a fishing contest. During the festival, visitors are able to purchase fish of various sizes caught in the lake and sold at cheap prices.

 According to oral tradition, Lake Efi was discovered by a man named Ukiriki, a celebrated son of Kalama community during one of his hunting expeditions. As he was admiring the beauty of the vast lake, another man from a neighbouring community, Gbarain clan, also emerged on the scene and there was an argument as to the ownership of the lake. They finally agreed that the first person to kindle a fire at the lakeside would be the owner. The man from the Gbarain clan ran to his nearby village to seek for firewood while Ukiriki knowing well that before he would get to his own village, the Gbarain man would have already set the fire. So, Ukiriki thought of gathering dried leaves and grasses he could find by the lake, and shot his dane gun and kindled fire at the heap of the dried leaves and grasses he gathered. Prior to the return of the Gbarain man, there was already a huge fire burning, so he accepted defeat of the Lake to Ukiriki. At that time, various communities that now constitute Sabagreia were scattered at Dapou, along the Igbedi Creek, which leads to Amassoma. It was after this episode that the people of Kalama decided to come out of Dapou, along Igbedi Creek and founded a new settlement on the east of River Nun called “Bolouseibokorogha-ama”, which means ‘a town where no evil/wicked people would settle’. This name eventually metamorphosed into Sabageria by the colonial traders who could not pronounce the original name.

 Sabageria and Lake Efi are inseparable Siamese twins because you cannot talk of one without the other. The founding and establishment of Sabageria derives from the discovery of Lake Efi. According to one of the Sabageria elders, “the determination of the times of the fishing festivals is subjected to the dictates of the oracles of Efi and other deities.”

 The festival he said was usually celebrated annually before it was jettisoned at a time in preference for longer intervals of nine, seven and five years due to the huge financial implications. As Christianity began taking its root deeper into the socio-cultural life of the people, the owners of Lake Efi renounced idolatry and handed the Lake to God Almighty. “The Lake and its resources are no longer idolized as in the past”.

 During the Lake Efi fishing festivals, participants and visitors from all neighbouring clans in the state as well as those in Rivers and Delta states, usually begins with several cultural activities and climax on the third day. The fishermen and women camp by the lake shores all through the three days. The last festival in 2013 was the first time it was conducted with new modifications and alterations to reflect the rededication of the festival to Almighty God. For instance, the first catch of the festival which was formerly presented to the chief priest of Efi is now presented to the special guests of honour.

 The 2017 edition, which took place from May 27-30, last year, was well attended, drawing dignitaries and tourists from far and wide. The governor of Bayelsa State represented by the Commissioner for Tourism Development, Mrs. Irene Ebiere-Musah, formally declared the three-day event open. She stated that the state government was fully aware of the economic importance of Lake Efi fishing festival, assuring that the government was poised to provide all that is necessary to make the festival draw tourists from all over the world.