Lagos Safari

So, much to the disappointment of everyone I've ever tried to convince to come visit me in Africa, Nigeria is not really renowned as a safari destination. Its booming population eliminated most all wild large animals long ago, and its poorly developed tourist industry has done little to make up for it, aside from a few reservations sites mostly known for skiddish antelope and skinny elephants. However, that does not mean my life is deprived of wildlife!

First off, Lagos is literally crawling with lizards, especially this orange variety. They can be found sunbathing between rain showers and bob their heads and bodies up in down in general humping like motions. These guys are pretty big, say like ten inches long or so, but their smaller cousins (unfortunately too tiny and quick for me to photograph this week) often venture indoors and are often seen crawling along your walls and windows, especially in the bathroom. If I name those ones and pretend they are pets, they no longer freak me out. Wish I could say the same for the two mice living in my room, also unpictured.


Next off, another favorite household invader. Nothing unusual here, but this motherf*cker was so big and beautiful that I couldn't help but snap him postmortem a few months ago. Mmm!


Believe it or not, I also have some freshwater intruders lately, in a sense. I rent a room in a compound immediately adjacent to a huge swamp, and with the rainy season in fully swing, the floods have been out of control. The management thankfully moved me up from the ground floor (just after I'd got it all fixed up and everything!), but the first floor of this new building is the worst of them all. It's been at least a foot underwater for months, and there are actual little minnow like fish swimming there around all the time. Let's not think about what all this means for the foundations of the building.


There are of course much more interesting animals around outside of my immediate residence as well. One favorite though odd encounter was at the Lagos Carnival, held at the old cement stadium where they announced Nigerian independence 50 years ago. At the end of the day, they set off a bunch of fireworks to this super somber orchestral soundtrack, as all of the bats flew out of the rafters into a stormy gray sky. A strange end to an otherwise super festive celebration, but a cool one nonetheless. Those black specks are the bats, which, unlike James, I tend to find creepy in even the best of circumstances.

And finally, the pups! Of course Lagos has it's own sizeable stray dog population, though I am happy to say they are not nearly as aggressive or intimidating as Susan's adversaries in Bolivia. In fact, I kind of love these dogs and fantasize about bringing one back with me someday to the US. Most of them resemble the African basenji, which was brought over to the US from Congo and is now a recognized AKC breed. I'm just obsessed with their big ears.


These guys are so friendly that just yesterday, I saw a few rummaging a beachside trash pit with a wild monkey! They seem to get along well with all of the goats and chickens that wander around most neighborhoods too, which means the right one could most definitely be best friends with my own Maddy, right?

And last but not least, I could not do justice to my Lagos canine life without reference to my dear friend Friday, German short hair pointer and regular excuse for me to come back to expatland whenever his owners are traveling, or even when they're not.


If only I could get Maddy in a box and ship her over here too. Just a couple months until our own reunion anyway. Crazy!