Lagos

[PARAMOUNT]

Stay far far away from Lagos!!!!!
But if you have to go the Sheraton is the on place, but the food is extremely expensive, so is the beer. DON'T LEAVE the hotel!!!!
Basically aviod the place if you can, trust me I've been there and experience all the political BS first hand.

 

[JohnnyP]

Lagos is where airplanes go to die.

I thought that was the Dem. Repub. of the Congo, where airplanes go to crash and die?

Good luck to african aviation.

 

[AKAAB]

Travel in large groups when you can. If you are by yourself or only a crew of two, then don't leave the motel after dark. During the day, go to the Lagos Yacht Club www.lagosyachtclub.org.uk/ for a nice place to sit and sip Gin and Tonics. As I recall, the food was acceptable. It's a bit of a drive from the airport area, but worth it to be in the expatriate community. The safest place to be is Victoria Island.

If you get stopped by the local police looking for bribes don't panic and just stay in the car and let your driver deal with them. If they come to your window, stare them down with a pissed look and they'll assume you've been in town awhile and will leave you alone. Nigerians like to say no a lot. Be persistent and don't ever give in - no matter what and they'll eventually smile and agree with you.

Dash - that's what they call the small bribes that get you through the day. Don't over-dash or they'll start taking you to the cleaners, but a little Naira here and there makes life tolerable. I have about 6000 Naira if you want it...

Coco's Bar - careful, Pilgrim. It's outdoors on the river and the local beer is pretty cheap, but the moment you sit down you will be surrounded by at least 10 Nigerian girls looking for a boyfriend. They are not shy and will steal your lighter or try to get you to buy them cigarettes instead of a drink (to resell). Best to stay away unless you want to go on a safari of a different kind. Pretty sad state of affairs...

 

[AKAAB]

Oh, yeah - I forgot to mention that a Nigerian claimed some sort of copyright infringement on the person running the operation I was contracting with and had our plane seized. We had to sit in High Court (they wear powdered wigs and all) to fight the impounding, but eventually had to file an appeal to get our plane released back to us. It took a "private meeting" between Tunji Braithwaite (formerly ran for president of Nigeria) and the judge to get us cleared.

Also, forget what you read in your Jepps about entry requirements. They will take your passport if you aren't careful. When you get it back your visa won't be what they promised and you will essentially be illegal to be in their country. A day or two later an Immigration "official" will show up to check your paperwork. It cost a buddy of mine a 60,000 Naira bribe to get out of jail.

Gotta love Nigeria! No 419!

PS - You might want to check out pprune.org for better intelligence on Nigeria, but report back to us!