The Perfectly Planned Road Trip to Calabar

by Ohotuowo Ogbeche (Nigeria)

I didn't expect to find Nigeria

In 2016 a couple of friends invited me for a road trip to Calabar, Nigeria, to witness the famous Calabar Carnival, I couldn’t say no. It was my first road trip and I was excited about the experience. I asked questions: how are we getting there? Akin’s car. Where are we staying? Akin has arranged a house. How much money should I bring? 20,000naira (about $66.7 then). Ken assured me that everything has been planned. So I didn’t worry, and with excitement, I packed carefully - picking outfits for 10 days and matching them to the places we planned to visit: museum, boat ride, something sexy for the carnival days. The distance from Osun State to Calabar is 16 hours so we had to set out before dawn to arrive in one day. Four of us – Ken, Akin, Tosan and I set out at about 10 am. We started with music; loud, slow, soft- we couldn’t agree on a playlist. On the way, we borrowed Tosan’s NYSC cap and placed it on the dashboard of the car. That year Tosan was doing his national service and Tosan like other corps members (as they are called) was issued with a military-like uniform. His military–looking cap on the dashboard prevented policemen manning the numerous checkpoints from asking us for bribes. After about 8 hours of driving through the forests and scattered hills of Ondo State and the traffic in Edo State, we arrived in Delta State where we stopped to eat rice and stew. When we got to Enugu by 9 pm it was pitch black: no moon and not a single twinkling star. In Enugu we ate a tasty garri and egusi. When it was time to get a hotel, Tosan who didn’t want to spend any money on a hotel room, called an acquaintance who kept taking us to different places looking for cheap hotels/lodges. It took a very long time to get a room that cost 6000 naira. The hotel did not have a generator. When the electricity went out in the middle of the night, the heat and the mosquitoes ruined my sleep. My first road trip was steadily going downhill but I told myself things were going to get better once we got to the house in Calabar. The next morning, we stumbled, quite unexpectedly, on a Christmas park in Imo State. It was beautiful and very peaceful. The Christmas tree was the biggest I had ever seen and Santa looked perfect. I took a lot of pictures and rode the swing with two reindeer until it was time to leave. We got lost in Uyo/Akwa Ibom but a kind policeman drew a map for us. Nigerian policemen have a reputation for being unkind so I was surprised to find policemen in these areas genuinely happy to help us. At about 1 pm that day, we found Calabar. It turned out, however, that Akin had only a foggy clue on where exactly we were going to sleep. After some rambling, Akin called a friend who took us to a hostel a cool two-hour drive away. The hostel had a curfew by 8 pm and we had to sleep on floor mattresses! After three unbearable days, another friend took us to another house. This house has no curfew but it was dirty, messy and disorganized. I hated having to go back there all the days we stayed there. I tried to enjoy Calabar. We went to the Historic Calabar Museum where we saw artefacts from the slave trade; a prison built in the 19th century; boat rides in the famous Calabar Marina; the resort city of Tinapa with its beautiful artworks; and the famous carnival, with participants from other African countries and a team from Brazil. It was an enjoyable experience. Admittedly, the overall impression I had from the trip is a little bit underwhelming. What fun I could have had was almost snuffed out by a lack of proper planning and bad accommodation. Although I didn’t expect my first road trip to turn out this way, I know I’ll attend the Calabar Carnival again this time with a perfect plan.