THE reclaimed Bar Beach that has been transformed into the emerging Eko Atlantic City, Lagos used to be the most popular leisure hangout for Lagos fun seekers during the festive and holiday periods.
However, in the absence of Bar Beach, in Victoria Island, Lagosians, indefatigable while in search of fun, have decided to move further. They still throng beaches or what is left of them on the island to catch fun.
Last week’s Easter holiday was not exception. After many years that one last visited the Lekki Beach, the beach’s Easter fiesta offered an opportunity to revisit and see how it was faring.
The number of people at the beach was lower than what it used to be in the past when the beach was in its full glory. The crowd is gone. But some die-hard beach lovers still made their way to the beach.
Nigerian music boomed from the loud speaker in the lounge. There was a children dance competition. The way the children were digging it out was as if there was a million dollar prize money at stake.
While the children were on stage, the adults were also having good times all around. Some were having family picnics.
The first thing one noticed was the rows rock barriers laid from the beach to about 50 metres into the ocean. It served as a cushion to take the strength out of the buffeting ocean waves. Outside the environmental usefulness of the rock breakers, the rocks offer vantage point to view the ocean. It is just like the Durban beach where a concrete walkway that stretches deep into the Atlantic Ocean is built.
Many visitors to the Lekki Beach, rather than stay at the beach, prefer to walk on the rocks and watch the high ocean current push waves upon waves to the shore. Occasional the current was too strong, splashing water through the rocks and the walkway where people were standing. It was fun and no one seemed to mind the cool splash.
There is just one major lounge in the whole of the beach. It is a wooden fabrication with green murals on the wall. The lounge is a storey building with bar on the ground floor at the top where people can sit and enjoy the beach ambience. Not having so many beach lounges may be due to low patronage of the beach. There were other places with simply small canopies and chairs where visitors could rent, sit and relax.
The strong ocean wave has eaten up a large chunk of the beach front, forcing people to shift back into the land. Despite the ravish of the ocean, people were still having fun. The most popular being deeping oneself in the ocean water, allowing the strong current to splash one with white foam of the ocean water.
Along West Africa’s coast, Lagos has one of the stretch of beach front. Benin beaches have little or no white sand. Most of the beach fronts in Cotonou are simply made up of red austere ground. You get succour in places like Wyda in Casa del Papa and Togo. In Ghana, it is a mixture of sand and bare ground beach.
Gambia boasts of lush beaches, hence it is dubbed the Smiling Coast. However, there is a stretch of white sandy beach not as long as Lagos. That is why it is rather disheartening watching this gift of nature to Lagos being gradually washed away.
Some of the fun seekers expressed unhappiness over the state of the beach and called on the government to intervene and save the beach.
Demola Akande said he stays in the United State, and having returned during the Easter period, decided to hang out at Lekki Beach.
” Men, things have really changed here. This place and Alpha Beach used to be my hang-outs when I was still in Nigeria. I have pleasant memories of the place.
” That is why on my return home, I decided to come here and have a good time. The vibe here is not as high as it used to be. The government should save these beaches”, Akande said.
Another visitor, Mrs. Victoria Ameh, was thankful to God there is still a place to stay.
She said: “Obviously the beach has deteriorated. I know that. But I wanted my children to have a beach experience during this Easter. You can see my youngest daughter participating in the dance competition on stage.
“She is having fun. We can’t do that at home. That is why I decided to bring them here. I want the government to salvage the beach before it becomes late. There are not so many places around that we can take our children to at a time like this.”
One of the owners of the canopies and chairs that people rent complained about low patronage.
He said: “People no dey come like before. Some them self, when they come, dem go sit for those rocks. If na before, this place for don full pass the way it is now.”
Despite, the shortcomings, the visitors who had to cough up N1000 each to enter the beach area still said they had a good time.
However, noticeably is the lack of life guards at the beach front area to control people from swimming too close to the ocean water.
In addition, despite the ocean current being high with huge tide crashing on the beach, there was no flag whatsoever to indicate danger or areas to be avoided. The absence of some of these in the past has led to avoidable drowning in the ocean.
The trip to the ocean, despite the negative environmental impact, is still fun.
the entrance of the complex is a huge metal gate. A visitor is expected to obtain a ticket before going in. Inside the sprawling complex, at the foot of the rock, is a modern leisure centre with halls, eateries and other relaxation spots. The place has been developed to an aesthetic masterpiece. At the foot of the rock is a fountain gushing out water.