Nigeria's history is littered with tin-pot dictators, massacres, bloody civil wars, human rights abuses, and horrific famines. Today's, the country is saddled with a soaring crime rate, massive unemployment, overpopulation; and it's still recovering from a military government run on bribery and corruption.

But the very thing that has made Nigeria so ornery and difficult to unite into a single peaceful republic is also its attraction. There are over 250 different peoples, languages, histories, and religions all rubbing shoulder to shoulder in this hectic, colourful, sometimes cockeyed republic. It is also the place to go if you're into music. Nigeria is constantly pounding to the rhythms of traditional African juju music, Afrobeat and reggae. It's not the most pleasant or relaxing place to visit, but if you're looking for a challenge it's the place to be.

The main of Nigeria is Lagos and is accessed by its International airport (Murtala Mohammed). Taxis to the city are also available. The national carrier, Nigerian Airways, offers flights to a number of European destinies but it can be a bumpy ride.

Air travel within Nigeria is always a bit of a gamble, mainly because scheduled departure times appear to be entirely hypothetical and boarding involves an elbows-first, musical-chairs scramble for a seat on an aircraft that will always be over booked. The good news is that internal flights are incredibly cheap. Domestic flights do not leave from Murtala Mohammed airport but from the older airport 10km away. Private airlines are a viable alternative and are usually more organised and reliable than Nigerian Airways and offer relatively cheap fares.

Travelling by bus is the safest and most comfortable way to travel and lines connect all the main cities. Bus offices tend to cluster in the same area of the city. Bush taxis are the fastest and most comfortable way to get around but they’re also the most dangerous. Nigerian drivers have little respect for speed limits and accidents are often fatal. There are trains running in Nigeria but they’re not very comfortable and, as if to compensate for the bush taxis, travel at a snail’s pace.

Lagos is a sprawling, steamy, overpopulated city with bumper-to-bumper traffic, an international reputation for crime, a corrupt and top-heavy bureaucracy, a creaking infrastructure and a highly visible poverty factor. Add kamikaze drivers and gun-toting law enforcers to the mix and you have a city where just about anything can, and does, happen.

However if you use a little bit of street savvy Lagos can offer you a number of unique experiences. It has more nightclubs and live music than just about any other West African city and is chiefly known for its music. The late Fela Kuti came from an outer suburb of Lagos. Sunny Ade, king of juju music, still calls it home, as does the Afro-reggae specialist Sonny Okosun. Sunny Ade’s club Ariya Night Club is in Yaba and is worth a visit as is the open-air Jazz 38 where, if you’ve had the foresight to bring your own musical instrument with you, you might score an invitation to jam with the band.

The National Museum, on Lagos Island, is worth a visit for its impressive bronze sculptures and ivory carvings from Benin and for its masks and terracotta antiquities from Jos. From ancient relics to modern ruins, the other note-worthy exhibition is the bullet-riddled car in which Murtala Mohammed, a former head of state, was assassinated.

The heart of Lagos is Lagos Island where all the major banks, department stores, restaurants and black marketeers are to be found. Most of the embassies and big houses are on Victoria and Ikoyi Islands. The three islands together make up most of downtown Lagos. A strong word of warning: Lagos is one of the most crime-ridden cities in the world, so you need to be switched on at all times. Never walk around alone and always take a taxi at night.

At nearly 1000 years old, the mud-walled Muslim city of Kano is the oldest city in West Africa and sits on the edge of the Sahel. Although it’s a bustling hive of commercial activity it’s still more bearable than Lagos. Its main attraction is the Old City where, despite the walls of the city having all but disintegrated, the gates have remained intact. The main gate, the Kofar Mata Gate, leads to the Emir’s palace and the Central Mosque. The mosque is closed to non-Islamic visitors but is worth seeing from the outside especially during the 12.30pm Friday prayer time, when it attracts up to 50,000 worshippers.

Next to the mosque is the huge mud-walled Emir’s palace, an outstanding example of Hausa architecture, but don’t expect to get in without a personal invitation. Next to the palace is the Gidan Makama Museum, built in the 15th century and now completely restored and well worth the visit. The Kofar Mata indigo-dye pits, the oldest in Africa, are in Kanos and supposedly still operational but business looks as if it’s dying off. The ancient Kurmi Market is a rambling maze of alleyways and stinking lanes but bargains can be found here if you take your time and have a good look around.

Yankari National Park, 225km (139mi) east of Jos, has West Africa’s best nature reserve and holds the only remnant of wildlife left in Nigeria. Seeing animals here is a bit of a hit-and-miss affair but if you’re in luck you may come across elephant, waterbuck, hippo, crocodile and the occasional lion. The other feature of interest in the park is the thermal Wikki Warm Spring.

The best months to visit are January and February. If going through the park in a noisy wildlife-viewing truck is not your thing, you can arrange for one of the guides to take you on a walking tour.

Tag: Nigeria