http://blogs.bootsnall.com/nigerriverproject 4 countries, 3 months, 2 guys, 1 canoe... Mon, 03 Mar 2008 22:50:08 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en With our plans to get to the Delta thwarted by circumstances, my ambitions for a grand climax to the trip - the Niger, source to sea - fall flat. Not to be entirely defeated, however, we come up with a plan B - not quite the exclamation mark at the ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/nigerriverproject/endings.html After Lokoja, we get as close as we're going to get to the mouth of the Niger, a town at the very northernmost tip of Delta State called Asaba. Here there's another monument to Richard Lander, but it's unimpressive to say the least. After Asaba we make our final long road ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/nigerriverproject/metropolis.html Before the River Niger ends its long journey to the Atlantic, it splits up and runs like spreading veins through a vast swampy delta. Having followed the river all the way from its first foray into the world in Guinea, it's in the Delta at one of the river's many ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/nigerriverproject/oil-on-troubled-waters.html Another hot, sweaty ride from Jebba brings us to about 300km south to Lokoja. Like Jebba, Lokoja isn't much of a place, bigger, but just as decrepit. However, its location on the confluence of the Niger and Benue, one of the larger Niger tributaries, means it has a history that ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/nigerriverproject/capital-of-nigeria.html The Journey from Hell Part 2 brings us to the town of Jebba. Frankly, there's very little reason to come to Jebba. It's a small industrial town on the banks of the Niger, with a now closed paper mill and a hydro-electric dam that seems to do very little to ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/nigerriverproject/echoes-from-the-past.html We get to the bus station around 0930 and identify the beaten up vehicle going to Lagos. We wait for the two remaining passengers to turn up. This takes two hours. Meanwhile we shelter from the sun on a bench owned by a general store shack and watch juggernauts and goats ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/nigerriverproject/journey-from-hell-part-2-into-the-fire.html Between the border and Kano can't be more than 150km, but on the way we pass through at least 25 roadblocks. It's not just the police manning these; the army, immigration and various other enforcement agencies are out in force seeing what bribes - or 'dash' as its known in ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/nigerriverproject/dash.html Kano bursts on to the scene. After the laid-back and sleepy air of Niger, it's rather a shock to the system. Kano is about Nigeria's third largest city, but given Nigeria boasts the second biggest city in the world - Lagos - Kano is still a giant in its own right, ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/nigerriverproject/kano.html Zinder is our last stop in French-speaking West Africa. Next up is Kano, the principal city in northern Nigeria - where, apart from the hundred-plus local languages, English is the main tongue. I have mixed feelings about going to Nigeria. Part of me is full of trepidation at the prospect of ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/nigerriverproject/into-nigeria.html After bidding farewells to our Estonian friends, Dan and I head east towards a place called Zinder, Niger's second city. This is a slight deviation away from the river, but Zinder has an interesting history, and it makes a handy base for our crossing into Nigeria, the next and final ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/nigerriverproject/zinder.html