http://www.odyssei.com Nigeria, Articles - lately on the site en-us Mon, 28 Aug 2006 18:42:52 +0200 Mon, 28 Aug 2006 18:42:52 +0200 pet@odyssei.com (Piotr Jaworski) pjm@odyssei.com (Pawel Jaworski) http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6372.html I can’t really describe what it is like to fly over the Sahara at 39,000 feet in a 747 jet. It is like empty space, yet I know I have never been there, or at least physically laid eyes upon it while floating freely in stupor—and I know most others hav [...] http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6372.html http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6371.html Africa began with no call, no sign, no indication. The gate for boarding at Heathrow International Airport opened and that was the start. All rows, all seats, all passengers crowded like a Haitian voting-poll, but eventually formed into two snaking lines [...] http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6371.html http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6370.html Sweating, our backs glued to cloth, necks rubbed red, and strands of hair plastered to our foreheads. Albeit, with the fortune of the group, the late afternoon’s sun sunk nearer its horizon, shading the courtyard of the National Museum in Lagos. We were [...] http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6370.html http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6369.html We were in West Africa, and we came to see Africa. We wanted the realness of it all. We came to bring awareness to ourselves, to the real African experience among real people and real conditions of an underdeveloped society, of the life preconceived withi [...] http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6369.html http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6368.html The crowds continued to thicken on the day of our arrival in Oporoza. We felt welcomed, and may I add slightly overwhelmed. The festivals were abundant and the attention we were receiving was immense. We were Kings and Queens, white stones among a shore o [...] http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6368.html http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6367.html Rain, thunder, and lightning showered our Thanksgiving feast, blessing the coming together of Nigerians and Americans within the Delta. [...] http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6367.html http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6366.html An idea, the design, research on the Peace Pole Project, a new design--and then the chainsaw; a three and a half foot blade warped in a tooth of knawing metal. We were supposed to have had the materials, and the paints, but there were none. So we improvis [...] http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6366.html http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6365.html Leaving Oporoza with the impact of our week-long visit beginning to take effect.Today, second Peace Pole in the morning after a hot sweat throughout the night. Peace Pole panels for Mandagho, and then breakfast and photos, before more WAWA (West Africa Wi [...] http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6365.html http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6364.html Warri to Lagos, passing chaos alongside the road. Through the marks of civilization, wooden frames empty, others filled with various dallies of cheap Chinese junk, together sheltered with the tatters of canvas stretched overhead. They're empty, so emp [...] http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/6364.html http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/4999.html On 8th April we set off from Cotonou in Benin to Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. We had arranged to rejoin the overland tour in Kano in northern Nigeria. After considering our schedule carefully we decided that we would fly from Lagos up to Kano since the [...] http://www.odyssei.com/travel-article/4999.html