Nigeria Photograph #9

When I landed in Abuja it was around 8:10pm.  There 2 things that instantly let you know you are in Nigeria upon exiting the plane.  I’m not sure exactly which one hits you first, but they do hit you.

I’ll just say that the first is the HEAT!  I’m not sure if they just don’t have the AC on in the area where the arrivals are.  I’m not sure if there are just too many people in the area and there’s no ventilation.  I’m not sure what it is but if you travel to Nigeria just be prepared for the heat wave that hits you when you get off the plane.

The second thing is the SMELL!  I’m still not exactly sure where the smell comes from either but it’s there, and it takes a little getting used to.  I remember the same thing when I traveled to Trinidad, theres a distinct smell to that country (like a salty sand smell) because they are surrounded by the sea.  Well in Nigeria there’s a smell too, and it’s in all your clothes and luggage when you come back too.

So I get off the plane, I get hit by the heat and the smell, I’m walking down the corridors and the escalators trying to make my way to customs.  I get down to the lower level and there are lines of hundreds of people getting their passports stamped and trying to get to their luggage.  Of course someone has to come up to me while I’m holding my camera and say ‘Do not take any pictures, or we will seize the camera.’  I laughed out loud, and said ‘No that’s not going to happen.’  He repeated himself a few times as Nigerians usually do.  But I thought to myself if they try to take this T2i from me there will be a fight in the airport, and I will be sitting in jail trying to make a phone call to the US Embassy to tell someone to come get me out!

So I finally got through customs, got my passport stamped, picked up my luggage off the carousel and made it outside to my awaiting uncles.

That night we went to pickup the cake for my cousin’s wedding which was happening back in my mom’s hometown.  We stayed in Abuja at an ‘uncle’s’ house for the night.  He stays in a pretty good neighborhood, they say he was the land commissioner or something like that.  When they designated Abuja as the new capital he was partitioning the land and delegating which politician would get what, and how the zoning and roads would be organized.

The view from my bedroom

Other houses on the Street

Yeaaaa, we got palm trees in Nigeria too, we fancy!!

That morning when I woke up, my uncles and I hopped on the road headed towards the village.  As I was riding through the streets of Abuja I couldn’t help but be amazed yet again about how Western media outlets portray Africa as a whole including my beautiful country of Nigeria.  The prim and proper streets and surroundings of Abuja were a far cry from the naked people in mud huts they always show on TV.  This is one of the reasons I knew it was a must that I come back with these photos and tell my story of Nigeria.

Largest Catholic church in Abuja…I think*

Taxis and private cars, waiting for someone to give a ride to.

License plate of my home state.

And with that we were on our way to the village……

To see more photos from my trip to Nigeria, don’t forget to enter your email address, in the right hand column and hit the subscribe button so you don’t miss any of my updates.

-Adetiba ‘Super-Director’

Advertisement

~ by ADETIBA on January 5, 2011.