Best time to go to Nigeria

Base all your perceptions on headlines. Nigeria has a long, complex and fascinating history, and has produced authors, poets, Nobel prizewinners and musicians. Read Achebe’s Things Fall Apart for insights into Igbo village life, Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun to learn about the human costs of the Biafra War, and watch Finding Fela! for a portrait of the hugely influential musician, human rights activist and speaker, Fela Kuti. We always encourage our travellers to immerse themselves in local culture where possible – but we make exceptions to this when this involves endangered species and poaching. Some souvenirs may be made of feathers, bone or tropical hardwoods. Bushmeat is widely available in Nigeria, and often involves creatures which have been illegally hunted. Some parts of western Nigeria also adhere to Voodoo, with its associated fetish markets. These involve parts of animals such as gorillas, chimps and pangolins; as a tourist, please don’t fuel the trade that is threatening so many species with extinction. Visit the northeast. The threat of terrorist attacks and kidnappings is very real here, and the FCO advises against all travel. Expect luxury outside of the cities. Nigeria is not a tourist destination – that is part of its appeal. Accommodation will be clean and comfortable, with local staff.

“Nigeria is a vibrant, chaotic but fun country to travel through, but it can be very daunting for the independent traveller as its infrastructure creaks under the weight of poor roads and little maintenance. There is no tourist infrastructure here to speak of. While in Lagos and Abuja you’ll find international standard hotels, they are focused on the business market, and once you venture out into smaller towns it can be a little more challenging for independent travellers to find the necessary information needed to plan a trip. It’s certainly not impossible, but you need a lot of time, and even more patience, to travel around Nigeria on your own.”

“Nigeria’s definitely not the obvious choice for a holiday... However it’s an utterly fascinating place to travel through. Wherever you are there is always something to see that provokes questions – what is this, why is this happening, etc, and it’s really interesting to see a different side of West Africa.”

“Nigeria is busy, modern, urbanised and in many places overcrowded, but if you have the Africa bug and want to see a different side of the continent, then it has a lot to offer. It is not a tranquil place, and after numerous roadblocks your patience with local authorities might be wearing thin, but taking it all in good humour and seeing the absurd and funny side of things is definitely the way to make the most out of your time here. Nigeria has few tourist sites; it is first and foremost about the people and the experiences you have.”

“Two favourite places: the tribal villages of the Kamberi people west of Kontagora, who are largely living very traditional lives in the bush, and the Idanre Hills, home to a hidden, and now abandoned village, on a lush verdant plateau that it a peaceful world away from the town below.”