Badagry

Took an trip yesterday out of town to the historic village of Badagry. Historic for being "founded" by the Portuguese around 1425 AC and then later being a hub of European activity including the slave trade. It's hard to say "founded" when what actually happened was that some locals were living there, presumably happy, and some white guys in ships showed up and moved in. Maybe should say the Portuguese "moved in" in 1425.

What a nice little town. Clean and tidy with friendly citizens, we were glad to be out of the chaos that is Lagos. A modest but well kept museum with a knowledgeable guide introduced us to the history of the area. The museum building was built in 1863 with iron columns imported from Liverpool.

Other points of interest included the site of the slave market, which featured a shady bench where I could relax with some locals. A memorial to the first Christian missionaries, a huge Obama campaign poster, the first two story building in the country and the trail taken by the slaves from the market out to the coast to be loaded onto ships bound for the New World. We walked that trail, after a boat ride from town, then across a sandy island. That is really spooky, I was imagining how it must have felt to be a young African, plucked from the bush, in chains, seeing the ocean for the first time and being jammed into a square rigger.

We had had a pleasant lunch under the trees in a park alongside the lagoon before that hike and could have sat there all afternoon on our return, but time was pressing and we needed to get back on the road. Four hours from there back to home. Pretty reasonable at that time of day for the 50km for us old hands, a bit much for our fresh fish.

In a related mind boggling development, Marion Jackson, former member of the Jackson Five and brother to Michael recently visited Badagry and is proposing a multi-billion dollar plan for a resort/slavery theme part/Jackson 5 museum complex. It's all true, our guide insisted that he had met Mr. Jackson just a few days before.

"Mommy! Can we ride the slave ship again? Brother kept pulling at my shackles and I didn't get any gruel!"

Hopefully, this idea will fade away as with other recent grand plans for the area and leave this peaceful backwater as it is.