a night out

As I was requested: a Saturday in Abuja. This time as a photo journal!

afternoon
We hang around in the Millennium park with our new Nigerian friends, who I had met in the climate change meetup event. We talk a lot about Nigeria and the Nigerians’ reputation abroad. Here’s a message to the Europeans from these young Nigerians: come to see Nigeria for yourself, rather than just judging the whole country from the distance!

at Millennium park. I got credits for wearing an African dress.

early evening
We hop on a taxi for the 2nd Abuja suya festival. A huge field has been converted to an open-air restaurant, with small booths selling food and drinks. The popular Nigerian music is played in the background.

Some more friends join us

A Nigerian journalist insists on taking a picture of us, the only foreigners around, for his story on the event. I’m never really happy for being noticed because of being from abroad, but I guess it’s just impossible to blend in.

Posing for a journalist

around 22:00
Karl’s work friends had invited him for a Cameroonian party, and we decide to take our changes of crashing it. The event, advertised as a crazy party, turns out to be more of a peaceful dinner.

at the Cameroonian party

to Cameroon!

chilling out just outside the party venue

A Cameroonian wants to take a picture of us. Just before taking the picture below he wants to put his arm around Anna, and accidentally spills my drink. “You should not take drinks outside”, he tells me, turns around, and says nothing more to me. Was he in a bad mood (did not seem like, anyway we were at a party?), should we not have taken drinks outside (come on, this is Nigeria, why not?), or are men just never wrong in Cameroon (because it’s the women who are wrong)?

it's nice to meet you too

after midnight
We feel a need for a bit more exciting party, and head to a party by a friend from the US embassy. It is a chilled out party as well, but with a lot of people we know, so it is fun to catch up with them. The picture looks a bit uneventful, but this is how middle aged diplomats like to host their parties.

party by the pool

around 2:30
Time to go for the clubs!
We decide to split up: I’d go to see what was going on in our usual night club Eden with my new business men friends, and Anna to the Basement with an embassy crowd.

We drive to Eden in Asokoro, but to our suprise, the place is closed! As my new friends describe Basement as “an instant attack of your wannabe husbands”, we go to Soho instead.

around 4
When the party slows down in Basement, Anna and our Nigerian friend Akins join us!

with Akins & Anna

I really like the weekends in Abuja!