Two blogs in one week I hear you gasp. Shocking I know but today didn’t take half as long as expected and besides staring at the walls of my hotel, I’m out of things to do.

Anyway, here I am, in what could well be the most intimidating, challenging country on the trip, Nigeria. There are a lot of horror stories thrown around about the place. West Africa in general is not what one would consider a relaxing place to travel through, nor does it contain the political and social stability or personal safety that is all but guaranteed with trips through Europe. But Nigeria… Nigeria has a reputation for turning up that challenge up to eleven. You’ll hear innumerable reports of difficult, obtuse and confronting police officers, occupying road block after road block and perpetuating any reason to extract bribes before you are finally let on your way. You will also likely read of all the dangers of Nigeria, the traffic, kidnappings, robbery and piracy. But, in this initial snippet of the country I have experienced thus far, has any of this proven to be the case?

Simply put, not at all. The border from Benin was easy, perhaps the easiest I’ve crossed so far (south of Mauritania that is). The police and customs checkpoints, whilst they are almost constant in the first few miles of the country and densely positioned still in the more built up areas, have been utterly pleasant so far. The traffic too, has been the standard fare of terrible, but not abnormal for west Africa. A mini bus did drive into me earlier, but only because he wanted to be in the space I was occupying. Silly me.

This does not make for dramatic reading. Telling you that the police, rather than being corrupt villains whom I have had to battle against constantly, have actually been absolutely lovely (literally all of the them have been great so far), does not compel notions of some kind of heroic struggle. The only kind of struggle that has ensued is getting them to concede that we have finally taken enough selfies, shared enough laughs, handshakes, fist bumps and bullshit conversations in which I pretend to like football so that I can finally go. Go that is until the next checkpoint where the process is usually repeated. Truly though, I hope this continues and I do not share the negative experiences of those who forewarned me of this country.

Let’s skip back a little however. As you budding geographers will have noticed, I last updated from Togo and am now sat in south west Nigeria - a country is missing.  

Benin. Getting in was somewhat of a faff. Quite unexpectedly so in fact. Like with Togo I decided to purchase a laissez passer rather than use my Carnet else I would run out of pages before South Africa. Just like with Togo, getting the temporary import permit was a ball ache and took two hours alone. I also arrived with the issue that my visa (which I had arranged weeks prior as it was needed for the complex Nigerian visa process) had not started yet. I didn’t really expect to be half way along in only a month and so, begrudgingly, had to fork out another fifty dollars for a visa at the border. Faff, and like with most things relating to travelling west Africa overland – expensive. One hundred dollars for two days in the place. I made it in though and went along the coast the Cotonou, found a place to stay for the night and decided that would be my home for the next 36 or so hours. I realise that the tiny snippets of countries I am seeing, especially as I am largely sticking to the main routes in the south, does not yield a profound understanding of state nor peoples, so take this next part with a pinch of salt. Benin (Cotonou more specifically) whilst it definitely does not feel European, certainly feels a cut above the general level usually found in these parts.

There are numerous excellent restaurants, supermarkets and wonderful examples of architecture across the city. I don’t profess to know the reasons how Benin achieves this whilst other countries struggle to provide their people with paved roads or running water (even in capital cities), but it’s nice observe it. If you want to experience west Africa but want a gentle introduction, Benin is your place. Or Ghana, that was lovely too.

Anyway this is all rather directionless and quite rambling, so I will sign off. Tomorrow I head further into Nigeria and soon I need to decide whether to take the totally unscheduled ferry into Cameroon, or attempt the tricky (and potentially quite dangerous) overland crossing to Banyo. The border area of Cameroon is apparently quite hot with unfavourable rebel insurgent types and the road is described as very tricky even in the dry season, never mind in the middle of the rainy one. That’s a problem for future Nye though, for now I’m off to eat some cereal and get some sleep ready for an early start tomorrow.