It’s one thing to apply to host a Meetup, it’s another thing to have your Meetup approved, it’s yet another to have your fellow Local Guides accept to attend your Meetup. Thank you;
- The Google Team who approved the Meetup
- Sanya, Olumide, Dennis, Joseph, Ibrahim, Damilare, Ogechi and Amaka who attended and made this one of the best day-vacation I ever had!
M.E.L.T. (Map Edit La Campagne Tropicana)
The Google Local Guides community is a Melting Pot. Two of the prevalent cultures of this Melting Pot are; Travel and Environmental Preservation. To explore these cultures, we traveled over 4 hours from our different homes to the La Campagne Tropicana Beach, Forest and River Resort, Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.
On this Fun adventure, we;
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Edited the Google Map on the Ibeju-Lekki Corridor
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Took a tour of the 60-acre Beach, Forest and River Resort
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Engaged in some water sports and other activities
Now, this is the summary of the Meetup but if you want gist; the thrills, the runs, the spots, the bars, the adventure, then, read further; it’s a movie, so be ready…
La Campagne Tropicana Beach, Forest and River Resort
- Meeting: We met at The Place Restaurant, Admiraly, Lekki Phase 1. From where, you get stunning views of the Lekki Phase 1 Peninsula. From here, we left on a convoy to La Campagne Tropicana, Ibeju-Lekki.
- Attendees
- Mr. Sanya Odare @SanyaOdare
- Mr. Joseph Shodunke @JoeSho
- Ogechi Elugwara @Ogebaby
- Grace NdidiAmaka Okofu @Chefamaka1
- Mr. Olumide Daniel @Olumide1
- Ibrahim Afolayan @Hebra
- Mr. Dennis Etiwe @DennisWise
- Mr. Olalekan Damilare @Lekzy
- Stopover at Novare Mall: We made a short stop over at the Novare Mall, Sangotedo, Lekki, to get some things at Shoprite. Also, to take Photos for Maps, noticing the Accessible Parking Space at the Mall.
We had a very smooth journey.
- Arrival at LA Campagne Tropicana Resort: We arrived at the premises and made our way to the Reception area where we paid our entry fee of five thousand naira (₦5,000) each.
From there, we were introduced to the driver who would drop off in the Resort, but we turned down the offer and chose to walk into the Resort.
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Tour Guide: We had only walked but a few steps in, when we met our amazing Tour Guide; Motunrayo. There you are thinking; “how does a Resort have a Tour Guide?” Well, for A Resort that is 60-acres big and rich in African history and culture and has a Beach, River and Forest, a Tour Guide is needed.
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The LA Campagne Greeting: She greeted us in the Traditional way; the female workers on La Campagne Resort greet. The gesture is of her two hands; right crossing over the left and bunching together in a clap-fist sort-of-way, which she moves from her abdomen (showing the movement from the bottom of her heart) towards you while curtsying which you had to accept. A gesture which essentially means**; “I welcome you from the depth of my heart, with no guile to our Resort, please accept my warm welcome**”.
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THE PHOTO WALK/MAP EDIT/TOUR (Two hours!)
Luckily for me, while searching through Maps today, I realized that A LOCAL Guide had completely ‘mapped’ [LA Campagne Tropicana Resort](http://Ilerigi%20(Luxurious lodging village) Unnamed Road https://maps.app.goo.gl/bsLiFSk5D8jhZMNJA).
So, let’s go;
We began our walk from the;
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Anago Way/Drive: Anago as we came to learn from ‘Tunrayo; our Tour guide, also means; Yoruba. On this drive, there are many Chalets, the most outstanding of which was the Amosan Chalet, a chalet built exclusively out of Clay. The name;’ Amosan’ , a Yoruba word, itself means; "The Clay is good/worthy’. The Chalet merges Nigerian Traditional Architecture of houses built exclusively out of Clay with Modern amenities; complete with its own Indoor pool, a bike and other fitness facilities, it is the chalet for a complete family getaway. We took our turns at taking lovely pictures inside the Chalet, as 'Tunrayo enthusiastically showed us round. We went by the other chalets along the way and made our way to "Ilerimi"
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Ilerimi: Aptly named, Ilerimi is the ‘House-on-the-water’ which is the direct translation from Yoruba. I love water! And it won’t be difficult for you to guess that this was my favorite chalet of all. Located on the serene Oso river of the Resort. You get to listen and to watch birds chirping, Monkeys swaying across the branches, watch the amazing flora and fauna around the mangrove forest close to the chalet, and take in the view from the balcony of those who have come to participate in Water Sports on the Resort. Amaka and Ogechi could not get enough of taking pictures on the Hammock! I could not get enough of the beautiful sun as I made faces and poses as Tunrayo shot away! I got to realize why she was a Guide at LA Campagne, she doubled as an Amazing Photographer too, getting all the right angles!!! We rocked Ilerimi! Here is our video Testimony;https://youtu.be/MJnlgzKtkQo
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Founder’s Camp/Snake Tree: From Ilerimi, Tunrayo decided to lead us through the Snaking Trees of the Snake Tree Arena, as she urged us on with words like; “Don’t be afraid”, to the Founder’s Camp where the Visioneer; Otunba Dr. Olawanle Akinboboye, conceived the idea of building Africa through tourism. The camp has a camp tent, a Kayak, Mangrove Forest. It’s a place for the avid nature lover and the literary genius or whoever is trying to conceive an idea-in-solitude. I loved sitting on a branch of the the Snake tree
. It was reminiscent of being on a ‘swing tree’, I loved it, Dennis was kind enough to take beautiful shots of me. Of course, we were curious to know why there were instructions around the camp not to feed the Monkeys. To which, Tunrayo avidly replied; “it is to ensure that the Monkeys remain properly behaved, so, people don’t come to the Resort and they begin to steal from them or drag their food with them”. This site and the Resort was also the location for the Gulder Ultimate Search (Celebrity Showdown) in 2010. -
The Beach Front: Oh my! What a stunning view! It was my third time at the Resort, with the most recent being in March, 2020! Yet, I was stunned! It’s almost like; LA Campagne seeks to reinvent itself every single time! We passed by the Gym, the longest pool in Africa, the several bars and joints, The grill where a whole Goat was simmering over the Grill! Amaka and I ran into Nigerian acclaimed Female-Talking-Drummer; 'Ara’ (Thunder) who is nothing like her ‘stage persona’ (you can find a video of her teaching President Macron of France to play the Talking drum and gifting him one on Youtube; here). We pleaded Tunrayo to allow us stop here but she insisted she had to show us round
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Molue Bar: We made our next stop at the Molue Bar
. If you were at our TINY-CO Meetup, you would have heard Zino talk about how Vehicles of Transportation in Nigeria had ‘cool nicknames’. We were amazed to find the Molue (long, ‘not-luxurious’, the most chaotic vehicle of transportation in Lagos, whose use is now severely limited) as a bar in La Campagne! What was more?! There was a Sound System playing back the regular shenanigans we would hear on the Molue bus 
how cute?! We were giddy with joy as we took turns at the stationary steering wheel and pretended to drive the bus, to where? Maybe to Connect Live 2021 
Find a video representation below, only the Lagosians (residents of Lagos state, Nigeria) here can relate . “Ti o ba ni change e maa Wole o, Ojuelegba…” 
https://youtu.be/j8AWU962XIg -
KSA (King Sunny Ade) International Stage: From the Molue Bar, Tunrayo led us to a stage named after a Nigerian musician; one of the Legends of African Music, Pioneer of Afrobeats amd two-time Grammy Awards Nominee; King Sunny Ade. We stopped by one of the empty Canoes by the Beach and Shot away! Before making our way to the Stage where MUSICAL legends have performed. As there was no show ongoing, we made to entertain ourselves
. The genre of the song I was singing is Afro Juju and is by Sir Shina Peters. From there, Tunrayo proceeded to show us the chalets at the Beach front, if you look at the Map of La Campagne, you can easily figure out which one we went next, if you guessed; Ilerigi, then you are very correct!https://youtu.be/m3NLVR6xqgw -
Ilerigi (Obalerigi): Well, Local Guides are like birds because we are super-fly and all that! Nothing inhibits our creativity and greatness and well-oh-well, we are everywhere! We went to the House-on-the-Tree! Ilerigi. Complete with its own private pool and ample view of the Beach, it is the perfect spot for the Beach lover.https://youtu.be/innSB7SpFIo
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African Market: What a name and what a colorfully branded market. We gasped in awe as we saw the branded sheds of so many African countries represented as colorful stalls in this market, but no activity was ongoing at the time.
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Kodi Executive Chalets: From there, we made a stop at Kodi, the cylindrical storey building built of bricks, and even took some cool Photos inside.
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The Bonfire site: where the bonfire is held every Friday night. I stood there and imagined people chanting the songs associated with Bonfires in Nigeria. "otitikokotiko, e ya eh! O titi koko tiko o, E ya eh! Jesus na my only juju, eh ya eh! Ottiti koko tiko o, e ya eh!" The sweat, the energy, the passion with which the drummers beat the drums, with which the singers rendered the songs called; Gyration songs. "Everybody gyrate ooo". As my people are prone to saying in Nigerian Pidgin English; “na who go, go know, who no go, no go know”! I haven’t been at a Bonfire night in 10 years!
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Yoru’bar: when you talk about Yoruba, there is Yoruba people, Yoruba language, Yoruba Customs and tradition, let’s not go to Yoruba sauciness, Pettiness, extravagance and drama
I am Yoruba, so I know. So, what would probably be in or be a Yoru’bar? Well, it’s a special bar for the lover of African music, Arts, Food and culture! This bar/restaurant is only operated on request. Here, you order special Yoruba food like; Amala, Iyan (Pounded Yam), etc. along with traditional soup. What is special about this bar? The Food is prepared right in front of you! There is a raised podium, Almost a storey high, circular in nature. So, literally, it was like; staring up at a Television in a bar, while your food is prepared below, right in front of you. Also, this raised podium is located in the Centre of the bar, so, everyone is able to catch a glimpse; where people perform while you watch them prepare your food and cook your soup. What is more? The food is prepared with local cookware and served with traditional/local tableware and the drink which is; Palmwine, is poured out of a Gourd into a Calabash! Oooh, Love is sweet o, when money enter love is sweeter. -
Obieze/Laba: Obieze is from an Igbo word this time means “Chief’s/King’s living room”, the Igbos here will proffer a better translation. I hope you know we speak over 520 languages in Nigeria. We had begun to take photos when one of the chalet attendants stepped out to inform us, there was a Guest, we took photos and then rushed out! What an accommodation fitting for a King with its luxurious furnishing and exquisite sculpture and Artwork. Laba which means Butterfly in Yoruba is closely like the Obieze but has some distinguishing features.
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The longest Pool: After an almost 2-hour walk and lectures that seemed to last forever, entertaining as they were, Tunrayo led us to where the longest pool in Africa was and where we could go ahead to engage in all the all the other activities
- Mr. Sanya chose to take a dive in the Pool
- Ibrahim and Damilare decided to go Horse riding
- Joseph and Ogechi decided to go Kayaking
- I won’t tell you what the rest of us were up to
After a while, Mr. Dennis brought out our Local Guides Placards and we decided to take a shot for you all.
What’s life without food? Our food was catered to by the Amazing Chef Amaka. We had Prawns, Crabs, pastries, Rice and drinks to go with.
- We did not have to give the 'Clean the World’ Lecture here, as it is evident from the photos, La Campagne is as clean as you could get.
- Welcome to Connect: Ogechi heard about Connect for the first time at this Meetup. I explained to her how different Connect was from Google Maps and guided her on how to create a post on Connect which she successfully made and posted, you can find it here.
- Departure: We left the Resort at few minutes past 5p.m. What threatened to take all of our food from our system?! Lagos traffic! We were all stuck in traffic for 3 hours!!! We arrived at our different homes very late but could not stop talking about LA Campagne for weeks after.
It was a successful Meetup and we are grateful to the Google Local Guides Team for the opportunity to meet.
The water obeyed your command. Thank you for being an integral part from start to finish 
I am glad my intention was fulfilled to ensure everyone who visits the post can visit the Resort through our experiences.
