Western Africa’s most definitive country is a heady mix of cultures, religions, people and places that never fails to astound the first time visitor. For some years Nigeria has been identified as one of the hegemonic powers in the region, and today, its bubbling, ever-expanding industrial cityscapes stand as testimony to the nation’s unrivalled economic power. What’s more it’s one of the few African states where visitors can see the intermingling of Christian and Islamic cultures, though these are still divided by a stark geographical line that runs from east to west.
Of the metropolitan centres, it’s Lagos that takes the prize here. While not the country’s capital (an honour that’s left to the centrally-located Abuja), it’s the largest city in all of Africa, and comes with all the bustling markets and traffic-laden motorways, not to mention a buzzing cultural energy.
For a great many visitors, the Gashaka-Gumti National Park is the goal though. Sprawled over more than 6,500 square kilometres of the borderland fringes in the south, it’s home to some of the most fascinating primate colonies in Africa and boasts a number of other bucket-list safari beasts to boot.