Exploring Calabar in Cross River State, Nigeria wasn’t exactly on my agenda for the year 2019. For me it was just an opportunity, so I took advantage of it. My excitement isn’t far-fetched, I love to explore and see new places.  Calabar is a place with historical symbolism which I have longed to visit. I finally met the Calabarians, experienced their food and their culture.

There are lots of places to be visited in Cross River State which includes; Tinapa, Marina Resort, Obudu Resort, e.tc.

Calabar is located in Cross River State, Nigeria. It is a very beautiful and well organised city with beautiful vegetation. I found these vegetation thrilling because of my love for nature.

How to get there
If you are planning to visit Calabar, you either go by air or with a very comfortable car or bus. From Lagos it is about 13 hours and from Abuja it is about 12 hours by road.




Transportation within Calabar
Transportation within the city of Calabar is really cheap. There is also Bolt (formerly Taxify) in Calabar which is really affordable.

Food
When it comes to food varieties the calabarians are good. The major soup I tasted were White soup, fisherman soup, Afang soup and Bole (with fish/chicken). These meals made my stay in Calabar really colourful lol.





Let’s dive right into the top places to be visited in Calabar;

The Slave Museum
This is located at Marina Resort. We paid an entrance fee at the main gate of  N100 and then at the museum we paid a sum between N200 - N500 it depends on the day and the number of people I guess. Sadly I couldn’t take pictures or record because it was prohibited. The artistic representation of the slave trade activities (the dummies) were so unique. The voice overs used in the museum was so real that we could literally almost have a feel of what the slaves went through. We also had a knowledgeable tour guard who did justice to the slave trade experience. Visiting the museum brought sad memories of the dark phase but in all it was a worthwhile experience.
I would highly recommend this museum to anyone visiting Calabar.









Marina Water Boat Ride/Visit to Twin Island
We left for the boat ride in the morning at about 10:00AM. I went in a group but if you want to go on your own, you would have to pay a sum of N1,500. We took a ride to the twin island. The ride was not as terrifying as I imagined because it was actually my first boat ride, it was really fun. The twin island is the place Mary Slessor took the twins to prevent them from being killed. She took the kings twin to that island, they were named Duke and Henshaw (people with these names till today are from royal homes). One thing I found uninteresting about this island was that Mary Slessor’s house was renovated. I would have love to see and feel what her hut was like.  The tour guard claimed that the hut became so dilapidated that it had to be renovated. If you wonder if people live on that island, YES but a few people. I vlogged about the whole experience here.




Finger Park
It’s a place for fun and recreational activities. It is just a sculpture of two wrist on the floor.




Foot Park
It is also a place for organising fun activities. It is just two sculptural feet together.




There are other places you can add to your visit list which includes; Tinapa and Obudu (not in Calabar though) resort. You can also plan to visit during the Calabar Carnival in December, it is an awesome experience, though I didn’t experience it.

I hope you found this post interesting and insightful. Don’t hesitate to drop your comments in the comment section I would love to know your thoughts.

Let me also know if Calabar is a place you would love to visit.

Thanks