My first visit to Badagry was when I was in the final year at the University. As a Hospitality and Tourism student, we were supposed to go on a tour every session but I guess they postponed all the tours till the final year, because it was a grand tour.
I wasn't able to suck in the environment very well as our movements were restricted at the time, but I made up my mind there and then to come back so I would again enjoy the scenes and the histories behind this spectacular place.
It was on October 1st 2020, Nigeria’s Independence Day. So, we (I and my favourite travel buddy, you'll get to see him) decided to go see what real slavery actually looked like back then. This is to enable us appreciate the freedom we are currently enjoying. It was just a coincidence that we chose the Independence Day but it was indeed a perfect time.
We set out around 9:45am, took a bike to a wooden bridge that links my area with Igando Road then got a bus going to Iyana Oba, and we alighted at First Gate bus stop.
As we are alighting from the bus, we were already hearing Conductors bellowing Badagry! Badagry!!, so we entered one of the Sienna buses on ground. It was 2 people per seat. So, we seated quite comfortably.
The fare was N1,000 per person. At around 10:30am, we started our journey from First Gate and we got to Badagry around 12:00noon.
Oh! and to give you a heads up, Badagry road is so bad! No exaggerations here, it's not somewhere you'd drive your beautiful car through.
We stopped at the Badagry Park, then took a bike to Chief Mobee Royal Palace. Apparently, the place is well known as the name wasn't strange to them, the bike fare was N200 for two persons.
Just as we were getting down from the bike, a man approached us, he introduced himself as Tópé Mobee- son of the soil and a Tour Guide. A very helpful and patient guy I must say.
Mr Tope told us there are 5 major places to visit in Badagry which include:
1.The Brazillian Baracoon
The first place we visited was the Brazil Baracoon. This place is used as a holding room to keep about 1,600 captives until the time the masters would arrive. I could not do the mental calculation because I couldn’t begin to imagine what they went through. If you're the teary type, I bet you'd shed tears for them.
2. Slave Relics
The second place we visited was the Slave Relics where the real chains used on the captives are preserved. We even saw canons used as ammunition to catch people as slaves back then. those chains are so heavy, just imagine one person dragging this kind of chain and still expected to function very well 😎 You will be asked if you would love to try it on, I didn't try it but my partner did and he could not even hold it for 2 seconds *teary*
3.The First Storey Building in Nigeria
This building was built by Reverend Henry Townsend a missionary of the church missionary society in 1845 and It is still standing strong and tall till date.
In the same compound was a Well labelled “Miracle Well” which has been in existence since 1842. We were made to understand that the well remains the only well in that area that has colourless, odourless and tasteless water, as all other wells in the area has been polluted by the lagoon.
The well is being referred to as miracle well because some tourists have come to the site, get some water from the well with faith and it worked for predicaments/infirmities. If you have faith, you can as well try it.
4. Badagry Heritage Museum
The fourth place we visited was the Badagry Heritage Museum which is actually not far from the first storey building. we strolled down to the museum. The first thing that caught my attention was the gigantic statue of a man and a woman with broken chains on their hands. This depicts freedom. In this Museum you get to know more about the slave trade and Badagry. This museum started functioning as a museum on August 2002
5.Slave Port
Our fifth point of call was the Slave port. Slave port is a river bank with a large expanse of land. Slave port is where the captives are being taken on a 3 minutes boat ride to the point of no return island. On our way to the river bank, Mr Tope asked if we would love to see the Cemetery of the Firsts, we were told that is where the Missionaries are buried. And so we did, the place is so serene and well kept but I didn't take a picture
At the bank was a big boat that we were told can carry up to 40 adults or 50 children at a go. Meanwhile, there were other small boats that can carry about 14 persons at once.
We opted to go on the smaller boat, as the big boat seemed slower. The small boat ride was about 3 minutes cruise, it was that fast! Cost per person was N1000 to and fro, but if going in groups, the price could be negotiated
We got to the other side and we had to walk for like 10 minutes on a beachy soil.
Another interesting thing was a Well along the way to the Point of No Return called "Original Spot Slaves Spirit Attenuation Well"
Picture credit: Google
History has it that the captured people were made to drink from the well and immediately they did, they become weak and forget their past. No one knows whether the liquid was alcohol or amnesia-induced drugs.
It was said that when on the voyage, the captives sometimes fight and overpower the masters, therefore, in the bid to forestall this, they had to render them powerless.
And what was the exchange for slaves? (promise me not to get angry)- Mirror, Schnapp hot drinks, Umbrella, Ceramic plate and so on...
6.The Point of No Return/Gberefu Island/Coconut Beach
Picture credit:Google
My Travel partner 😍
This is the spot where the captives are taken away never to set foot on their homeland again.
It is now a beautiful beach with palm trees scattered beautifully across the site. There is an effort by the government to build a tunnel where you could have a little understanding of the agony suffered by the captured black people back then.
Other Places Of Attractions In Badagry
Agia monuments, the first primary school in Nigeria, early missionary cemetery badagry., Vlekete slave market, Lord Lugard resident.
Beaches in Badagry
Sultan Beach and Ar-Hakab Beach
How To Get There
Depending on where you are coming from. If you are coming from abroad to the Point of No Return, you need to get a flight to Muritala International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos. If you coming from outside Lagos, then you need to either board a bus or flight to Lagos. When you get to Badagry roundabout, you turn left into Joseph Dosu Way. Drive down to the end of the road then turn left at the Fisherman’s Statue Roundabout. Then Locate Mobee Street. From Mobee Street, take a boat ride from the Badagry Slave Port to Gberefu Island Jetty. Then from Gberefu Island, you do the twenty to thirty minutes hike to the Point of No Return
Recommendation
With the vast tourism potentials in Badagry, it is quite unfortunate that government is not doing much to optimise these potentials. One wonders when the Nigerian government would begin to tap into tourism as a source of income.
To show seriousness in harnessing the potentials of this tourist site, government should start by rehabilitating or reconstructing the road connecting Badagry.
Would you love to visit and experience Badagry?
We can take you to Badagry to experience first-hand the Badagry experience. This tour package features an all-in-one Badagry experience. You will get to learn more about the slave trade business and get to see relics from the slave trade era.
This Badagry slave trade tour features:
i. Visit the Badagry Slave Museum
ii. Vlekete slave market In Badagry
iii. Agia Tree Monument (The Spot where Christianity was first preached in Nigeria)
iv. Visit the Mobee Slave Relic Museum
v. Seriki Abass Slave Barracoon (The Slave Prison)
vi. The Badagry Slave Port
vii. The Point of No Return
viii. The first Storey Building in Nigeria
ix. The first administrative block in Nigeria,
x. The Miracle well that has been in existence since 1842
BOOK BADAGRY TOUR HERE
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TOURERS NG organizes private/ group tours to tourist destinations in Nigeria/ Africa as a whole. You can also book a private/ group tour with TOURERS NG@tourersng
