Calabar & the Niger Delta

The Kingdom of Benin, ruled by the Edo from what is now Benin City, grew into a powerful state and reached its height under Oba Ewuare in the 15th century, when the city was enclosed by great earthen walls and moats. Its guilds of brass-casters produced the plaques and heads now known as the Benin Bronzes. In 1897 a British punitive expedition burned the city and carried many works to Europe, and some have recently begun to return.

Along the coast, city-states such as Bonny, Brass, Opobo and the Efik settlements at Calabar grew rich as middlemen in the Atlantic slave trade and then in palm oil, which gave the delta its old name, the Oil Rivers. Jaja of Opobo, a former slave who became a powerful king, was exiled by the British in 1887. Calabar became an early seat of British rule, and the Scottish missionary Mary Slessor spent decades among its peoples.

Oil was struck at Oloibiri in 1956, and the delta became the source of most of Nigeria's export earnings. The region was fought over in the Biafran war, and in the decades since, anger over pollution and poverty has produced protest and conflict. Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Ogoni writer and activist, was executed by the military government in 1995, and from the mid-2000s militant groups attacked pipelines and kidnapped oil workers until a federal amnesty in 2009 brought a partial calm. In the far east, Nigeria handed the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon by 2008, following a 2002 ruling of the International Court of Justice.

The South-South is one of Nigeria's most diverse zones. The Edo keep the traditions of the Benin kingdom, and the Oba remains a revered figure; the Ijaw are a major people of the delta; the Urhobo, Isoko and Itsekiri live around Warri; the Ogoni and Ikwerre around Port Harcourt; and the Ibibio, Annang and Efik in Akwa Ibom and Cross River. English and Pidgin link them all, and Pidgin is especially strong in Warri and Port Harcourt. The region is mainly Christian.

Calabar has a distinctive culture shaped by the Efik trading houses and the Ekpe, or leopard society, whose masqueraders appear at festivals. The Calabar Carnival each December brings costumed bands through the streets, and the Christmas festival is a major tourist event. In Benin City, the Igue festival honours the Oba at the end of the year, and the Igun street guild still casts bronze by the lost-wax method.

Water shapes delta life: canoe regattas, fishing festivals and masquerades on the rivers. The Efik and Ibibio are known for the fattening room, a traditional seclusion that prepared young women for marriage, and bead-making and body adornment are prized among the Edo. Warri is known across Nigeria for its distinctive Pidgin.

Port Harcourt is the largest city, with a few million people in its wider area; Benin City is another major city; Warri, Uyo, Calabar, Asaba and Yenagoa are the other main centres. Much of the rural population lives in small riverine settlements.

Oil and gas dominate the economy: the pipelines, terminals and flow stations of the multinational and Nigerian oil companies, the liquefied natural gas plant at Bonny, and the service industries around them. Yet many delta communities remain poor, and oil spills, gas flaring and illegal refining have polluted farmland and waterways. Fishing, palm oil, cassava and rubber support rural families, and Calabar and Uyo depend heavily on government and services.

In the cities, life follows the rhythms of offices, markets and church, with generators humming and traffic heavy. In the creeks, travel is by boat, and schools and clinics are scarce. Unemployment among young men, oil theft, and cult gang violence are persistent concerns, and many families look for work in Lagos or abroad.

The South-South is known for its soups. Afang soup, an Efik and Ibibio classic, combines shredded wild afang leaves with waterleaf, palm oil, meat and periwinkles; edikang ikong is a rich soup of fluted-pumpkin leaves and waterleaf. Ekpang nkukwo is grated cocoyam wrapped in cocoyam leaves and cooked in a spicy palm-oil broth.

In Delta State, banga soup is made from palm-fruit pulp and spices and eaten with starch, a smooth cassava swallow coloured with palm oil, a pairing that originated with the Urhobo. Owo soup, made with palm oil and potash, is common among the Urhobo, Isoko and Itsekiri, and Edo cooks prepare a dark "black soup" from blended leafy herbs. Pepper soup is made with fresh fish, prawns and periwinkles from the creeks, and in Port Harcourt bole — roasted plantain served with grilled fish and pepper sauce — is sold at roadside grills.

Palm wine is tapped throughout the region, and ogogoro, a strong spirit distilled from palm sap, is traditional in the delta.

Calabar is the easiest city to explore: the old colonial residence housing the National Museum, the Slave History Museum on the waterfront marina, Mary Slessor's grave, the Drill Ranch sanctuary for primates, and Duke Town and Creek Town along the river. In December the carnival turns the city into a party.

Inland in Cross River State, the Obudu Mountain Resort sits on a plateau near the Cameroon border, with a cable car, walking trails and cool air. Cross River National Park protects some of the largest remaining rainforest in Nigeria in its Oban and Okwangwo divisions, where the rare Cross River gorilla survives in small numbers, and the Kwa Falls and the Afi Mountain area, with its canopy walkway, lie close by.

Benin City's royal court is the heart of the Edo tradition, with the Oba's palace, the National Museum's collection of bronzes and the bronze-casters of Igun Street, plus the remains of the ancient moat. Port Harcourt is a working oil city with markets and waterfront views, and it is the jumping-off point for the delta creeks, a maze of rivers, mangroves and fishing villages stretching past Bonny to the Atlantic. Oloibiri, where oil was first struck, is in Bayelsa, and the beaches at Ibeno in Akwa Ibom face the Gulf of Guinea.