You’ve seen Under the Tuscan Sun, right? You know, the one where a North American woman finds herself visiting Tuscany and decides to buy a property, then the hilarity of house fixing in a foreign land ensues. Yeah, that’s me right now, but in Lagos, Nigeria.
A few of the beautiful pieces of art and artifacts we have added to our Ibezimako Villa so far. Many were found at the Lekki Arts & Crafts Market, but we also found lots of goodies from artisans at Eleko beach and from our travels in Tanzania.
Oh, holly jolly, we ended 2023 with a family holiday. At the end of December, we left our place in Lagos to visit Chuck’s childhood home and celebrate the season with the fam. We spent eight days at the family compound in Okpofe busily entertaining family from all over the community… and beyond. And when … [Read more]
After the subtle hues and dusty drives of the Serengeti, we made our way over the Indian Ocean to visit Tanzania’s island paradise. Zanzibar island, just a few miles off the coast of the mainland, is part of Tanzania. It became one country in 1964. The mainland was originally named Tanganyika and when they united … [Read more]
“Tanzania is not a real place.” I uttered this pretty much every day, to every person, on every post, when we visited there in fall 2022. And a year later I am finally putting my thoughts down here and I’m now wondering, “was it all a dream? It was real, right?” Actually, it was both. From … [Read more]
After an epic first two days on safari, we bid farewell to Steven, our ranger in Lake Manyara, and hello to our Ngorongoro ranger, Joseph. He drove us through Tanzania for an hour or so until we reached the crater viewpoint… Yeah, breathtaking. Ngorongoro Crater Lodge We then drove along the crater’s rim until we … [Read more]
After a couple days exploring Lake Manyara, it was off to the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge for a couple of nights staying on the top rim of the world’s largest inactive, unbroken and unfilled volcanic caldera. Yes, I needed Google to get that description. But before setting off to safari down in the crater, our ranger … [Read more]
Take a ride on the wild side. Our first day of an eight-day safari had us vibrating with anticipation. Or was that the first stop, Lake Manyara National Park, where it seems to house all the ecosystems: lake, marshlands, saline flats, grassy plains, lush forests, rocky escarpments. All brimming with wildlife. Weeeeeee! Let’s do this! … [Read more]
It’s coming up on a year since Chuck and I went on safari in Tanzania… and I kinda forgot to write about it. Whoops. But if you’ve met up with me in the last year, I probably waxed poetic to you already about it, so please, feel free to continue on to another more interesting … [Read more]
After exploring the history, the beach, the jungle and the village, the last bits of our Nigerian adventure I want to highlight is the large city of Lagos itself. The bad (traffic), the bold (flavours) and the beautiful (fabrics, Victoria Island). So, without further adieu… The traffic It’s insane. I.N.S.A.N.E. I can’t think of any … [Read more]
Cheers to village living! After a short flight from Lagos to Owerri, Chuck and I were greeted at the airport to be escorted to his home village of Okpofe in Imo State. For the next six days, we stayed in his family’s compound, which was a surprising delight. Like cabin life, but in extreme heat … [Read more]
Look up, way up, that’s where you’ll find us walking over the jungle canopy. In November 2021, my partner Chuck and I spent a morning at the Lekki Conservation Centre where they have seven suspension bridges that make up “The Longest Canopy Walkway in Africa.” SEVEN! I gotta tell you, suspension bridges don’t usually freak me out, … [Read more]
On a balmy Wednesday morning in November 2021, while staying in Victoria Island, Lagos, we visited the Nigerian National Museum. The museum was rich with artifacts from the three main tribes of Nigeria: Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo (my partner Chuck’s people). We saw a variety of masquerade outfits, the types of huts by tribe and … [Read more]
The Lion is my latest watercolour painting and I’m really happy with how it turned out. It didn’t take a long time to complete, but I did have a few hairy moments (no pun intended) while working on it — the eyes and nose are usually a make or break for animal artwork (at least for me). … [Read more]
