Inspiring Travel Writing from Pelu Awofeso
Pelu wrote his first published travel article in 1999, but started out professionally in 2001 with a local publication called 'The Standard'. Currently, he is the travel correspondent for the international news magazine Africa Today, which has its West Africa bureau in Lagos, Nigeria.
Pelu prefers to write about mainly cultural matters: festivals, coronations, palaces, indigenous crafts and the everyday lifestyle of villagers. He is also an expert on retreats and hideaways.
His first guidebook, A Place Called Peace, is about the Nigerian city of Jos (in the middle-belt region). His second book, Nigerian Festivals: The Famous and the not so Famous is published in September 2005.
Pelu prefers to write about mainly cultural matters: festivals, coronations, palaces, indigenous crafts and the everyday lifestyle of villagers. He is also an expert on retreats and hideaways.
His first guidebook, A Place Called Peace, is about the Nigerian city of Jos (in the middle-belt region). His second book, Nigerian Festivals: The Famous and the not so Famous is published in September 2005.
Articles by Pelu Awofeso
-
A visit to Kano
|
Pelu Awofeso
|
Nigeria
I have been asking myself a couple of questions lately. Two of the lot: How do I capture the defining details of a historical city that I have in the past only read about in disinterested bits and pieces and only quite recently began to admire, when...
-
The winners of Ota
|
Pelu Awofeso
|
Nigeria
Every ‘blessed’ Sunday morning, some 50,000 very expectant souls ride an average 80 minutes to the immense Faith Tabernacle in Ota town (Southwest Nigeria) to experience three hours of spirit-lifting, morale-boosting worship. They’...
-
A Tale of Four Cities
|
Pelu Awofeso
|
Nigeria
What’s a night in Nigeria like? Barbaric? Boisterous? Don’t look to the Consulates for an answer. Chances are — like the British Consulate has done of late — that they will come up with a Caveat: “Don’t even think...
-
Horses' Day
|
Pelu Awofeso
|
Nigeria
I half expected all else happening in Kano but sneezing within my first hour there. Well, really, our every step kicked up some dust. And, so did the speeding wheels. It was just 10 in the morning, yet the sun shone intensely. The 13-hour overnight...
-
A Christian in Gusau
|
Pelu Awofeso
|
Nigeria
You would think I had just said that I was going to hang myself. “Well, just be careful,” he cautioned. “The place is volatile and I am forever scared of those people.” Ironically, my friend is a Muslim but the southwestern...
-
Bronzecasting in Benin
|
Pelu Awofeso
|
Benin
|
Benin Region
|
Benin City
“Let’s go. Let’s go. We’re casting,” Nosa says, grabbing three bronze works from the top of a log. He has just started to explain an important aspect of the art of bronze casting, a craft the 56-year-old has been...
-
To Jos and Back Again
|
Pelu Awofeso
|
Nigeria
I have felt like getting on the open road again. The last time I had a similar urge was in 2000. Working then as the tourism officer for a private company, which then had won a contract to construct a beachside resort, I got bored by the routine....
-
A Museum and a Compound
|
Pelu Awofeso
|
Nigeria
Fishes and fishermen aren’t the only amazing sights in Argungu, Kebbi State, northwest of Nigeria. Most visitors to the town, which recently hosted its famous fishing festival, spend time watching the wonderful watersports and other contests...
-
Egungun Festival
|
Pelu Awofeso
|
Nigeria
|
Osun
|
Iragbiji
It can be a bit unsettling arriving in a small town at 11 p.m. and finding that every one of the residents is already indoors. Except for some sheep and goats curled up by the roadside, and two night guards carrying locally made guns. There is no...
-
Building Abuja
|
Pelu Awofeso
|
Nigeria
Abuja—Nigeria’s must-see federal capital city since 1993—is undergoing a dramatic and much-anticipated makeover. The Federal Capital Development Agency, which administers the city on behalf of the Presidency, is carrying out far-...