My Abuja Nightmare!

A day trip to Abuja for the National award ceremony turned out to be a nightmare. The ceremony went well even though it was extremely long; it was presided over by the President of The Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan, GCFR. We had lunch and headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Lagos. The 17:25 Virgin Nigeria (renamed Air Nigeria) flight at the international terminal was cancelled with no apology or explanantion. We rushed to the local airport to try and find another flight to Lagos.

The next avaibale flight was Dana Air, I tried to get on that flight but it was fully booked. I was promised by a random person who knew my father ( I know! I know! Don't say it!) that he could definitely get me on an Aero Contractors flight to Lagos. He introduced me to the Aero Station Master who confirmed that he could get me a seat on one of their two flights to Lagos that evening. The airport terminal was getting busier and busier by the minute and people started shouting and fighting to check-in and buy tickets. When I realised that so many tickets had been sold in front of me, I spoke to the Station Master again but all of a sudden he seemed very aloof and unhelpful. By this time I had received a call from the Virgin Nigeria check-in staff, who confirmed that he had a seat for me on the 19:25 flight, which I would lose if I didnt show up anytime soon. He eventually had to release the seat to another passenger and I was still trying to get on the next Aero flight! Why didn't I just take that flight??!??

Eventually, I was issued a boarding pass at 21:00 to get the last Aero flight to Lagos. I dashed across the tarmac, climbed the stairs to board the flight, and was told at the door of the plane by the flight attendant that "there were no more seats". The Station Master boarded the flight and checked the plane and came back to confirm the same thing! In fact, at this point the pilot in the cockpit saw me standing by the door through his window and asked me "Do you want to get on this flight?" of which I answered "Yes!" The crew went back to see if there was anyway of getting me a seat on the flight but came back empty-handed! bummer! I was then asked to disembark. I was practically in tears! Why would an airline issue a boarding pass without verifying if there was actually space on the flight?? only in Nigeria!

I demanded for a refund on my ticket before eventually leaving the airport at 21:30. I had spent 5 hours at the airport to no avail! A frustrating and tiring experience. I ended up spending the night in Abuja with no change of clothes!

I had to get to the airport at 6am the next day to get any available flight back to Lagos, which turned out to be the 8am Virgin Nigeria flight.

Sometimes when things like this happen, one often wishes there was an underlining meaning to the whole experience, I am yet to find out what it is........ I have also been told this is normal occurence in Abuja from Wednesdays to Fridays.... why didn't someone tell me this before I got there??!??

All because my flight got cancelled... my Abuja nightmare.......

Lagos - Abuja - Nassarawa - Jos - Bauchi - Yankari

An adventurous trip over the Easter holiday. Flew from Lagos to Abuja and then did a road trip from Abuja through Nassarawa, Jos Plateau to Bauchi! It took roughly 7 hours on the way there and 6 hours on the way back. I really didn't think it would take that long :-( The point

of the whole trip was really to go to Yankari but more importantly to get to know Nigeria a bit better......

The accomodation

was basic and nice (especially the huts) but nothing to write home about. The resort staff were very friendly and the safari was worth it!

The wildlife population consists of antelopes, baboons, birds, racoons, and elephants (even though I didn't see any elephants). The safari makes you feel like one with nature, and was definitely a worthwhile experience. There is also a stop at the Marshal caves during the safari which are man-made and natural caves.

I learnt a lot on this trip. Life can be soo simple but yet we complicate it. The highlights were: the scenery, mud huts, simple life, community/family life, many villages, space, fresh air, the drive, the good roads

(mostly), cactus', burnt huts in Jos after the sectarian violence, the police road blocks, friendly people, political atmosphere, safari etc.

Also, visited the Silverbird Entertainment Centre in Abuja, pretty impressive! Very similar to the malls in Dubai. Now, I wish they would upgrade the Silverbird Galleria Lagos.......

Yankari Website: http://www.yankarigamereserve.com/home.htm

Around Nigeria in 5 days!

Quick business trip around Nigeria!

Enugu/Onitsha
My first time in this part of the country, I really didn't know what to expect. I arrived at Enugu airport - a very run down and badly maintained airport with some unrealistc vision and mission statements in the airport - long way off. Anyway, I had to catch a random taxi from the airport (very dangerous I've since been told) to travel to Onitsha in Anambra state on the Enugu/Onitsha expressway (bad state) which took about 1.5hrs. This trip really felt like an adventure indeed it was. There was really nothing to see on the way to and fro ontisha, just lush greenery, and Onithsa itself was very disappointing, a market town which is overly crowded and dirty.

Abuja
My next stop was Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. I really love Abuja and I've been here several times, and could quite easily live here. It's beautiful, clean, organised, remarkably different from Lagos!

Port Harcourt
This was my first time in PH, and I have say I was extremely disappointed! This is the Niger delta where the nation's oil is produced! I was expecting a far more developed city then Lagos or at least on par, but it was even worse. It was sad to see that none of the money generated in that area has been used in the region, there was absolutley no infrastructure or developments. There is also still an issue with the kidnapping of expat oil workers and even local Nigerians by the militants for huge ransoms. I stayed at the Novotel hotel (not the original hotel I was booked into but I shan't go into that..), and the security there was amazing. They had gigantic fences, with 2 massive gates and barbed wire all around the property. I soon realised when I got inside that the whole hotel was full of expats properly foreign oil workers! why would one risk their life?? They must be paying them lots and lots of money in my conlcusion......