A Walk on the Wild Side

Photo courtesy of PTP Productions

Aaah, there she is, my love and she stands several feet tall.

When I first returned to Nigeria with my Western World mindset and my faint memory of Nigeria from the late nineties, when a friend of mine told me he was going jogging I thought he was out of his mind. Jogging in Nigeria? We don't jog on the street, we hardly have sidewalks! He laughed and said, when you come here I'll show you what I mean. And did he ever.

The Lekki-Ikoyi Link bridge (The Connector Bridge) is this wonderful brainwave from the Lagos government that cuts across the waterway connecting Ikoyi to the Lekki corridor from where you can get to the Lekki-Epe area real quick. This is one the best things to happen to Lagos state, in my own opinion. Apart from the convenience of cutting off all the Victoria Island traffic, it's just an amazing well-maintained, secure and well-lit bridge. The bridge itself looks awesome (for lack of a better word). My regards to the engineering design team and whatever local government that keeps it secure with mobile policemen watching it 24/7, and clean (it is swept every morning) and of course, very well-lit, power fluctuations notwithstanding. I've found myself running very early in the morning or late at night feeling very safe in my environment.  Not sure there's any part of Lagos where you can feel this safe.

The climb to the crest of the bridge

The first morning he woke me up at 5am to accompany him jogging on this Connector Bridge I thought surely there's no one else out there. Does he want the bridge all to himself? In fact, there were tons of people, experienced and non-experienced joggers alike. 

Since I hadn't exercised in, well, let's just say forever, on that first day, people were just speeding past me. Of course, there were the occasional girlfriends on a catch-up-with-gossip walk, toasters (suitors) in cars that stop to ask you for your number, the sporty hunk that makes you have to look twice and almost miss your steps, and of course, the Usain Bolt wannabes that run past you with such bvigor glistening from sweat. However, on that first day, I was too stunned by the serene view from the bridge to move that fast. That early in the day, it's so calming walking above the water, you feel so refreshed. The view itself is amazing. You see fishermen with their canoes trying to hurl in early morning catch; you see some men with canoes hopefully not disposing of some bodies (a la every Mobster movie I've ever seen), and then you see lights from the buildings on the Ikoyi end of the bridge. Then there's the moon with its reflection dancing on the water, so bright you can almost touch it as you slowly walk up to the bridge's crest. As the sun comes up you watch the sun rise over the water, this is by far my favorite part of the early morning walk. Watching the sun slowly emerge from the buildings and rise over the water is just a sublime euphoric way to start the day. With time, I've found myself doing sun salutations much to the chagrin of the cars in traffic rushing off to work. It's such a release I tend to miss it when I can't do it for about 2 -3 days.

The dancing lights on the horizon

I asked my friend once if he's ever stopped to just take in this view, any of it - the sunrise, the dancing lights, the waves on the water and the occasional jetty that speeds past. He replied simply No. Because that's not what the jog is about, it's about adrenaline, fat burning and exercise and once he gets that he's done - no time for thinking or looking around.

I see. Lagosians can be very wound up, traffic, heat, hustle for money to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world...it takes a lot of conviction to commit to a city like Lagos. We have all this beauty around us but we never harness or embrace any of it. There's so much water but we never let it ease away all our anger and frustration from the intensity of the hustle. We're always on our way to some hustle or the other, no time for anything else that is not financially motivated. Nature becomes an afterthought, that thing we've been blessed with, that we travel to other countries to experience when it's right here in front of us, just a Connector Bridge away.

If you by chance see some girl doing asanas (sun salutations) on the bridge as you're stuck in traffic trying to make your way in early morning traffic no less to a job you probably hate, know that it is me. Days are long, rough and very balmy in Lagos with many hellacious, often uncomfortable, very frustrating moments along the way, if I stop to breathe and inhale nature's splendor that I'm amazed actually exists in my country, no mind me. I need it to help me get by. And also, please don't stop to toast anyone, or ask for their number. That is really not the proper venue for that!

Have you ever walked on the The Connector Bridge? Tell me what do you like most about it?