Operation Nigeria: 2008

INTRODUCTION:
We heard many foreboding words before embarking on our trip to Nigeria. Its government is regarded as one of the most corrupt in the world. Kidnappings, robberies, car-jackings civil-unrest, and a wide variety of scams are all supposedly common occurrences. Basic infrastructure is often lacking; power and water are unreliable, and there is no organized system for disposing of refuse. One fellow entomologist simply asked, “Why on earth, do you want to go to Nigeria?!?”

Like many assertions plucked from the noise of rumours and hearsay, there are elements of truth to these things. However, they do not represent the "Truth" about Nigeria. To know the "Truth," one would need to spend a substantial amount of time in this culturally complex country, and given the brevity of our stay, we certainly cannot claim to be experts. However, we did make some observations. First of all, we found the many “dangers” of Nigeria to be vastly overstated. Most of the actual danger is confined to the Niger Delta region. We did not go there, and we never felt particularly unsafe. There is a problem with refuse disposal, but in our experience this is mostly confined to the big cities. The smaller villages and towns are quite clean. The power, unfortunately, is very unreliable, and this apparently has its roots in government corruption. Those who can afford it compensate by owning gas-powered generators.

 
To be sure, Nigeria has problems, but it is also a country with huge potential and some truly wonderful people. This human element, so frequently omitted from descriptions of Nigeria, makes it an engaging and safe place to visit. Our hosts made certain that we were safe, comfortable, and had access to the best collecting opportunities during our short stay. We don’t recommend naively wandering into the country looking for fun, but if you are open-minded, adventurous, and have contacts in the country to get you oriented, it is a great place to visit and collect. To Amos, Joshua, Adisa, Funzo, Kenny, Sunday, the staff of Royal River Suites, the King of Idanre and many many others, we offer our sincerest thanks. (Yes, we met the King of Idanre; see the photos below for more information.)

Planning for this trip started when John had the good fortune to meet Amos Akingbohungbe while serving as ESA governing board liaison to the Committee on the Common Names of Insects. Amos is a professor in the Department of Crop Sciences at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile Ife, Nigeria. Discussions with Professor Akingbohungbe culminated in an invitation for UCR faculty and students to visit Nigeria and collect insects in the spectacular hills surrounding the town of Idanre. We quickly recognized this as an opportunity not to be missed, both for collecting in the afrotropics, and also to meet and establish working relationships with Nigerian colleagues. With collecting gear in tow, John, his student Jason Mottern, and Assistant Professor Christiane Weirauch (resident heteropterist in the UCR Department of Entomology) boarded an airplane for Nigeria following the International Congress of Entomology in Durban, South Africa. What follows is a pictorial tour of our adventure. We will add pictures and information as time permits, and as we process the many specimens collected during the trip. You can click on the thumbnails for larger images, many of which contain short informational blurbs.
 

THE PLACE: IDANRE HILLS
The town of Idanre is nestled among magnificent rock outcrops in south-central Nigeria. The town is a composite of three tribes who once lived in separate villages in the hills. They left the hills in the 1920s and 1930s to facilitate trade and at the urging of white missionaries. Nigeria is currently in the process of renovating these ancient villages in an effort to gain World Heritage status. The climate is tropical, and the area is dominated by secondary forest. There is also mature tropical forest and succulent scrub on the tops of the rocks. We sincerely hope this images do justice to this beautiful place.

THE PEOPLE:
These are photos of John, Christiane, Jason, and some of the many Nigerians they met during the trip. There are more pictures of people in the "Collecting" section.

COLLECTING: 
We collected in two main habitat types while in Nigeria: secondary forest and mature forest. There were also insects unique to the succulent scrub on the tops of the rocks. We were able to collect using sweep nets, beating sheets, malaise traps, yellow pan traps, and a fluorescent UV light supplied by Christiane. As expected, the weather was warm and extremely humid. It rained nearly every day, but usually just for a brief period. We were only rained out one day, which we used to look for alternate collecting sites and get our localities in order.

THE WILDLIFE:
Here are some photos of the non-human plants and animals we encountered on our trip. Of course, the really interesting insects are too small to photograph with a regular camera. We will be adding extended-focus images as we process our collections.