Nigeria tourist information with details about
travel to and around the country. Where to stay and what to see is made easier with
insider tips and hand-selected Nigeria links, by dedicated editors and visitors to
TravelNotes.org - The Online Guide to Travel.
Countries neighbouring Nigeria are: Benin,
Niger, Chad and Cameroon.
Weather in Nigeria
View a graphical weather forecast for the week ahead in places around
Nigeria.
Abeokuta
Weather, Ibadan Weather, Lagos
Weather, Mushin
Weather.
Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, and takes its name
from that of its major river, the Niger.
Nigeria was once a number of ethnically based kingdoms and rival
Yoruba states until the British brought them under its control, in the early 1900s.
The country became independent on October 1, 1960, but tension among
its ethnic groups soon followed.
The Yoruba were mainly in the south-west, the Ibo in the south-east,
and the Hausa and Fulani in the north.
When Nigeria came under military control, in 1966, the mainly
Christian Ibo people tried to separate from Nigeria.
After suffering a massacre at the hands of the mainly Islamic Hausa
and Fulani people, who dominated the government, the Ibo formed the Republic of Biafra
(1967-1970).
This sparked off a civil war, and an estimated million people died in
Biafra; from starvation, caused by food shortages.
Nigeria by Road
Nigeria's excellent network of roads include motorways linking Lagos
to Ibadan and Benin City.
Nigeria by Rail
Like many European countries, railways in Nigeria have declined in
importance because of competition from the expanding road system.
Nigeria by Air
Security at Lagos airport has not always been considered at its best
in recent years.
Airlines and Airports:
International airports serve Lagos on the coast and Kano in the north, while smaller
airfields provide services to other major cities. Nigeria Airways is the state-owned
airline.
Bellview Airlines:
Flies from Lagos to Abuja, Amsterdam, Banjul, Bombay, Freetown, Kano, Nairobi and Port
Harcourt.
Ritetime Aviation and Travel
Services:
Under the contract with Ritetime Aviation, World Airways operate weekly flights to Lagos
from New York, Atlanta and Houston.
The Niger river enters Nigeria at the north-western border with Niger and Benin, and empties into the
Atlantic Ocean in the south; forming the largest delta in Africa.
In this area you can find mangrove forests, lagoons, and swamps; and
of course crocodiles and snakes.
In the Northeast, the rivers drain into Lake Chad.
Large African mammals have mostly disappeared from Nigeria, as a
result of man's heavy presence in the country.
Abuja, in the centre of Nigeria, replaced Lagos - the largest city
- as the national capital in December 1991; after 15 years of planning and construction.
Planners sought to create a national city in an ethnically neutral
area, where none of Nigeria's social and religious groups would be dominant.
Lagos is built on several islands and parts of the mainland, on
the Bight of Benin.
It is still considered the cultural and commercial capital of Nigeria,
and at times it seems as though the whole country is in the streets.
The old city is on western Lagos island.
The main ethnic group of Lagos are the Yoruba people, and it was on
this old Yoruba settlement that early Portuguese traders bestowed the name of one of their
home ports.
Landing in
Lagos:
Lagos might not be the ideal starting point for a trip to West Africa, but at least the
Nigerians speak English, and to travel West from here gives you the beaches of Gambia to relax on at the end of it all.
Motherland Nigeria:
This is the mother of Nigerian websites. Packed to the brims with useful information on
Nigeria, with links out of the site to help you further. If you've still got a question,
try the questions and answers
section.
Nigeria.com:
Nigerian community portal with the latest news headlines, discussions, chat, alumni,
business pages, classifieds, naira rates, jobs and more.
Nigeria World:
Latest news headlines from Nigeria and a message-board frequented by the eCommunity of
Nigerians world-wide.
The official language of Nigeria is English.
Hausa is the most widely spoken of the African languages, mainly in
the north; followed by Yoruba, Ibo, Kanuri, and Tiv.
Nigeria has a rich cultural tradition.
Terracotta sculptures and Benin bronze work from the region are famous
throughout the world.
Traditional storytelling has also influenced the modern written work
of Amos
Tutuola, Wole
Soyinka, Chinua
Achebe, and Ben
Okri.
This
House Has Fallen:
To understand Africa, you have to understand Nigeria, and few Americans understand Nigeria
better than Karl Maier; presenting you with a bracing, disturbing, evocative report on the
state of Africa's most populous, potentially richest, and most dangerously dysfunctional
nation.
Nigerian Museums
The Nigerian government has tried to stop the sale and shipment of
major Nigerian works of art out of the country, and has requested the return of art taken
out during the colonial era.
This gives the visitor to Nigeria a culturally rich choice of museums
to visit in many towns outside of Lagos: Benin City, Ibadan, Ife, Ilorin, Jos, and Kaduna.
Book Nigeria hotels online to save yourself time and money.
Hotels
in Nigeria:
Find hotels in Nigeria with special online rates.
Books
on Nigeria Travel:
Browse Amazon's best-selling list of books on travel in Nigeria.
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