Calabar

Nigeria's cleanest tourist city, with the Calabar Carnival in December, a slave history museum and a drill monkey sanctuary, plus access to the Cross River rainforest.

Calabar is the capital of Cross River State in southeastern Nigeria, lying between the Calabar and Great Kwa rivers about 60 km from where they meet the Atlantic. It was once the Efik trading kingdom of "Old Calabar", famed in the 18th and 19th centuries for the palm oil and slave trades, and later became the capital of the British Niger Coast Protectorate, leaving colonial landmarks such as the Old Residency and mission churches. Today Calabar is known for being clean, safe and laid-back, and is regarded as Nigeria's tourism city.

Climate: tropical monsoon, hot and humid year-round. The November–March dry season is the best time to visit, and December is the liveliest month of the year, when the month-long Calabar Carnival, billed as "Africa's biggest street party", takes over the city. The April–October rainy season brings frequent rain and poor road conditions to the rainforest outside town.

Areas to explore: the riverside old town is the historic core, where the Slave History Museum in the Marina Resort, the Old Residency National Museum on the hill, Duke Town Church and Watt Market can all be seen in a day. North of the city are the Drill Ranch and Tinapa Resort, and day trips can be made to Kwa Falls and the Oban Division of Cross River National Park. The Afi Mountain and Obudu Mountain Resort further north are farther away and require an overnight stay.

Getting there: Margaret Ekpo International Airport has flights to Lagos and Abuja (about 1–1.5 hours) and sits right next to the city. Get around town by taxi or auto-rickshaw (keke).

Recommended stay: 2–3 days, or longer during the carnival. Note: accommodation is scarce during the festive season, so book ahead; local Efik dishes such as afang soup and seafood pepper soup are famous and well worth trying; hire a licensed guide for rainforest trips.

Top sights

• Slave History Museum – Housed on the site of a former slave-trading wharf, this museum tells the story of the transatlantic slave trade from a West African perspe…
• Drill Ranch Calabar (Pandrillus) – A rescue centre for the critically endangered drill monkey and chimpanzee, where you can learn about West African primate conservation up c…
• Calabar Carnival – Said to be "Africa's biggest street party", this festival fills the city with parades, concerts and costumed processions throughout Decembe…
• Marina Resort Calabar – A riverside leisure area on the Calabar River with a sightseeing cable car, boat landing and restaurants, with the Slave Trade Museum on th…
• Old Residency (National Museum Calabar) – A colonial governor's residence assembled in 1884 from prefabricated parts shipped from Britain, now a national museum showing Calabar's co…
• Duke Town Church & Mary Slessor's Grave – A church established in 1846 by a Scottish mission, with the grave of the famous missionary Mary Slessor in the nearby cemetery
• Watt Market – Calabar's old market, opened in 1901, where you can buy the leafy greens, spices and dried seafood used in Efik cooking
• Kwa Falls – A waterfall where the Kwa River plunges through a rainforest gorge, with a deep pool for swimming, and Calabar's most popular day trip
• Cross River National Park – Oban Division – One of Africa's oldest rainforests, home to mandrills, chimpanzees and many bird species, and accessible for hiking from Calabar
• Tinapa Resort – A large commercial and leisure complex north of the city with a water park and film studio, now partly idle

Where to eat

• Native Delicacies Restaurant – A popular local eatery on Murtala Mohammed Highway, serving edikang ikong, afang and pepper soup.

Itineraries

• Calabar, Kwa Falls & Oban Rainforest – Explore Calabar's slave trade history and drill monkey conservation, then venture into Kwa Falls and the Oban rainfores…