Nigeria, the land of plenty

Apapa room service Apapa is hosting the container port of Lagos. Actually there is now a second one on Tincan Island. Many people fear the area. This is where thousands of trucks are coming to load or unload goods in the container port. Some say it is infested with robbers and criminals especially in the areas where trucks are lining up, motionless in the wait to proceed to the port. Thankfully the queue of trucks, which is several kilometers long is limited to a single lane of the two that the road has. This means that other vehicles can pass on the other lane. Police is enforcing the separation but sometimes the weather decides to change the course of things. The area of the port entrance is potholed "very well" and when the potholes are full of rain water navigation becomes much slower. Everyone painfully horns its way through the single free lane. One can stay for hours thus becoming an easy prey for robbers who can simply break a window and steal whatever they ca...

waiting for passengers Back to the mainland to have a feel of Surulere and Ebute Metta's streets. The place is pretty much a market where everything can be found or close to it. As a result, traffic is bad even on a Saturday afternoon and pedestrians have to fight their way through tiny street sides. Yellow is the color of local transportation from mid-sized buses to three wheels called kekemarua after the name of a governor who brought them to Lagos. driving lessons with old Kaefer On the mainland driving lessons are given in old Volkswagen Käfer. They are ancient and sure enough once you can drive them and park with them you are an accomplished car driver! one stop shopping: food, music, clothes and money a quiet side street where "nothing pass God" ladies' corner: beauty parlour and wine food market in evening light All markets can be spotted at the colorful sun umbrellas which protect as much from the sun as from the rai...

to and from the city in the air One advantage of elevated highways is that they leave some ground space available for other use. They can be build without too much disruption done to the environment they traverse or so it appears when one look at the aerial lanes carrying flows of vehicles to and away from the islands of Lagos.  soon in your garden a railway The covered space below the concrete highway body is actually put to good use for parking, markets protected from the rain and the sun, taxis... got it covered This is where one gets a feeling of being in a really large city like Lagos, Cairo or Tokyo. Driving on the upper ones is like flying on a carpet, if traffic allows, and provides a more global point of view to understand the structure of the city. il faut trouver la voie which floor please? looking for a book on the way home goats for sale hit the ball or hit the road

training for the best Saturday afternoon is a good time to explore some parts of the Mainland as traffic is much lighter than during the week. A perfect occasion to see what people do away from the rich islands of Ikoyi, Lekki and Victoria Island. Well, kids play football, markets are packed and full of buzz like any other day, hawkers are also on the street. For some office people it is time for shopping. MACK moving containers in town Yaba's streets are divided in horizontal layers: ground floor is for shops and markets, pedestrians carrying all sorts of things, cars and even lorries. Then from the 1st floor onwards, habitations, offices, clothes drying opportunities, balconies and air-conditionners. keeping an eye on them Market streets are full of people and merchandise, usually grouped by theme, the area of generators, padlocks, etc... Abiola Bookshop trumpeted there are a few bookshops too. walking to seize a new opportunity everyd...

Lagos Island on the harbour: open with Heineken As in all cities located by the sea, the harbour plays an important part in its activity. Lagos is no exception. It actually has quite a large expanse in the lagoon to host container ships and oil tankers, some of them parked directly next wooden huts spreading on the shore like a dense brown low height vegetation. Sea, ship and clouds The presence of open sky full of clouds, the sheer size of the boats and the expanse of water makes the place a exciting one for dreamers among others. That does not come from its beauty, but rather from its size which makes one feels like a tiny ant in this industrial environment. the container dock Containers are laid on the water side like a colourful wall barring the view of what is happening behind.  a wall of containers Boats are also works of art of their own, each one with a particular shape designed to perform a specific function. Their decoration ...