Our story
Fifteen years on the same long road
We started with a borrowed bus and a teacher who wanted his colleagues to see the country they taught about. We still plan every trip like a lesson: clear, kind and well timed.
The timeline
From 2011 to now
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2011
A borrowed bus and nine friends
Kelechi Onwudiwe, then a geography teacher in Yaba, took nine colleagues to Yankari over Easter in a borrowed school bus. They came back sunburnt and asking when the next one was.
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2013
The first office, above a printing shop
Two rooms on Herbert Macaulay Way, one phone line, a wall map with pins. Kelechi left teaching. Funmi Bakare joined to run bookings and still does.
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2015
Obudu joins the line
We added the plateau after a guest asked for somewhere cool for her parents. It is now our second busiest trip.
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2018
Our own vehicles
Three long-wheelbase vehicles with raised roofs, first aid kits and satellite messengers. Every driver is trained in first aid and defensive driving.
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2020
A quiet year, used well
With no travel, we walked every trail again, rebuilt our lodge checklist and started paying our guides a retainer through the off season.
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2023
Gashaka Gumti and the long walks
Our first nine-day expedition, built with rangers from the park and a lot of patience.
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Today
1,240 trips and counting
A team of fourteen in Yaba and in the field, six partner lodges and a guest book that runs to four volumes.
Four rules
What we hold to
Safety before the sighting
No animal is worth a risk. Guides follow park rules, keep distance and turn back when the road or the weather says so.
Parks are not zoos
We pay park fees in full, use park rangers, keep groups small and never feed, bait or chase wildlife.
Local hands, local money
Lodges are family run. Guides are from the area. About 60% of what you pay stays within 50 km of the park.
Honest about the season
If the rains have closed a road or the falls are low, we tell you and suggest another date, before you pay.
Team
The people you will meet
Fourteen people in the office and the field. These six are the ones you will speak to most.
- Kelechi OnwudiweFounder and head planner
Still leads two trips a season, usually Gashaka.
- Funmi BakareBookings and payments
Knows the seat count of every departure by heart.
- Musa AbubakarLead guide, north
Seventeen years in Yankari; can name a bird by its call.
- Ebere NwachukwuLead guide, south and east
Grew up below the plateau; runs the Obudu and Cross River trips.
- Tolu AdeyemiGroups and schools
Plans trips for up to 60 people with one spreadsheet and a calm voice.
- Ibrahim DanjumaFleet and safety
Checks every vehicle before every departure, and every first aid kit.
Paperwork
Licences and cover
- Registration
- Registered tour operator, Lagos State (example details for this demo)
- Insurance
- Public liability and passenger cover with an invented insurer, Crestline Mutual
- Park permits
- Annual operator permits for each park we visit, renewed every January
- First aid
- Every guide and driver holds a current first aid certificate
Travel with the people in this story
Ask for Musa, Ebere or Kelechi by name. We will try to put you on their departure.