The National Conservation Foundation (NCF) Biodiversity Park at the Lekki Conservation Centre has a new addition. Added to the nature park is what is reputed to be the longest canopy walkway in Africa and a family fun park at the degraded portion of the complex.
The aim is to use this new addition to increase the number of visitors to the park without having any negative impact on what exist there. Visiting the park has always been fun and the new addition is a further incentive to go back there. The biodiversity park is a jungle. It has tall trees covering the floor of the park. The floor is perpetually shaded from the sun with pockets of sunlight piercing through the leaves to cast bright flash here and there.
Once out of the administration building of the centre, the only noise is that of animals, most especially, the monkeys. Inside the park, the monkeys are most audacious. They hold no fear of human beings. Sometimes, it seems the animals actually expect humans to stand by the corner while they pass. The monkeys are daring that they even make noise to attract attention if they feel the visitors do not know they are there.
The addition of the canopy walkway has really added to the allure of the place. It is also good that the metal pillars of the walkway were built with little disturbance of the flora of the park. The aerial foot bridge is 401 metres long and 22.5 metres high.
According to the builders, it is not recommended for persons below the age of 14 years.
Even for adults, it is very challenging. It takes a lot of courage to go on it. For those afraid of heights, they should not bother.
The reward for those who go on it is a spectacular view of the park.
On the top of the canopy walkway, there were some strong-willed monkeys, despite the fact that they saw this writer and one or two persons coming. At a stage, one was considering going back to avoid collision with a troop of monkeys.
The monkeys were so indignant at the intrusion on their privacy that they refused to move, even when this writer decided to stay near them and took pictures. They watched lazily. They had no fear.
The other addition to the complex is a Family Fun Park that has fish pond with exotic fishes, sections for family games, barbecue section, gazebos, jungle gyms and many others. At the Family Fun Park, there are so much to do and every member of the family from the youngest to the oldest would have something to engage his attention.
Speaking during the opening ceremony, the Lagos State Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola said the project was one of the efforts of his administration to develop the tourism asset of the state. He also highlighted on the need for man to protect the environment as seen in the NCF.
Mr. Disun Holloway, the Lagos State Commissioner for Tourism and Inter-governmental Relations, talked about the project.
“ It contributes to tourism; it contributes to local economy; that is what tourism is all about. It is to regenerate or revitalise persons working in local environment. For example, take souvenir making. When tourism goes to the market, they will buy souvenirs,”Holloway said.
Chief Philip Asiodu, the President of the foundation’s Board of Trustees, gave insight into why the NCF gave a nod to the additions .
“ It is something we have done not easily because the primary purpose here is bio-diversity. There were some degraded parts. When the Lagos State government came with the proposal that would include a picnic park for families, we supported it. We would make sure that the activities do not damage the primary purpose of bio-diversity.
“ So, with good planning, this has been done. We have 30 acres here . This is were you can barbecue. There are two ponds , one for Tilapia, one for exotic fish. You can come here with your family. You can play games. If you are adventurous enough, you go on the canopy walkway. And here I see many people, having amused themselves enough, they now want to see what is a nature park. They will see what we intended to do, to preserve what is left of the coastal zone flora and fauna.
“This place has been farmed before. You know if you farm and leave it for long, nature re-establishes itself. So, we think that this will increase positive publicity for this place Many people will come here and because of that, many more will now go into the bio-diversity reserve and see what is there,”Chief Asiodu said.
He said the NCF board would make sure that the new additions did not affect the park negatively: “ We will make sure that none of the exotic animals brought into the family park goes into the biodiversity park. We bring them, quarantine them for sometime and then we keep them confined. Also, this is the only place that we have allowed exotic fish to come. We are not going to allow exotic animals in the park,”he said.
Mr. Desmond Majekodunmi, an environmentalist and a board member of the foundation also added his voice.
He said: “It is absolutely fantastic. As the governor said, nature doesn’t need humanity, nature doesn’t need mankind. If mankind left the planet tomorrow, nature would thrive. Nature doesn’t need mankind at all. But guess what? Mankind in totality, for everything he needs for survival, needs nature. So for us to be protecting something we totally need, to my limited intelligence, makes a lot of sense. So, it is absolutely fantastic that we have done some additional things that would help in the support and protection of this wonderful complex.”
He said the additions would make positive impact in the park.
“It will help us to generate funds because maintaining this place is actually very expensive and we can’t be relying on corporate donors all the time. So, this will actually help us to bring the much needed funds.
“People will come in. It will become a popular tourist site. Of course, we will charge a small fee. People will come in, they will relax here. It will definitely bring the much needed money. It also gives us an awareness tool because a lot of the problems that are associated with the degradation of nature is actually out of lack of knowledge and ignorance.
“Since time gone by, nature has always given us its tremendous abundance. We have always had so much of it that it does not really make any sense when you are telling people you can’t keep on destroying nature.
“ Yes, nature has its abundance, but with massive population growth and development of new technology which are causing even more and more problems, we are actually reaping very negative impact. So, it gives us a great opportunity to create awareness among guests that come, telling that this is a nature park, and we need to preserve and look after our natural resources.
“The founder of the NCF, the late Chief S.L.Edu saw a place where animals would be preserved just like in other countries, people would come relax within nature. That was the main thing. Do you know this place was Igbo Efon? That was a forest of the buffaloes?
“For a place to be named after a certain animal means that there must have been a lot of them here. But nobody below the age of 40 has ever seen a buffalo here. It has gone into extinction.
“So, part of the thinking was that let’s have a park where animals would be preserved and protected. Later on, as the science became more developed, we started seeing the negative impact of humanity on nature. It became a resource centre for imparting that knowledge of the necessity to protect the environment,”Majekodunmi said.
For those who may not have visited the NCF park in recent time, it is high time they paid a return visit. Much has changed for the better there.
