Fortune decided to dash me a smile when I stumbled upon the Jollof festival on twitter. This was after I narrowly missed the last edition of the Eat.Drink.Lagos.
This tweet was all I needed to make up my mind for the festival.
Life Hack: If you aren’t following/befriending the right set of people on all social media platforms, you might as well be missing out from the many good things life has to offer.
Getting There
Getting to Jaekel House (home to the Nigeria Railway Museum), Ebute- Meta wasn’t at all difficult since we rode in Dami’s car and it was just approximately a 25min. drive from Iwaya. The organizers also did well by fixing road signs at the most visible spots to help guests out.
My Entourage
Dami and Dami
Dami caught me while checking out the page on my computer so he insisted we go together and before I could say “it’s not free”, he dialed Dami’s number and that was how we became a trio.
Though, it’d be a little cheaper (@ #800) to buy tickets before the day of the festival than at the entrance (@ #1,000) but since we weren’t really sure about our schedule for the weekend, we opted for the latter.
Registration
It was a seamless exercise as there were options of cash and card payments littered at the entrance where the registration desks were manned by myriads of beautiful girls and sturdy security men.
On completing our registration, we were handed entry tickets which included tickets to free Jollof and Guinness stout. Maximum respect to Flutterwave (the official payment partner of the day) as they were on standby to deal with any payment hassle.
The Setting
Parking
Though there were 3 major parking points which were not too close to the venue, the organizers ensured the availability of ‘keke napeps’ to convey people who can’t stroll down (I doubt if anyone used them though).
Parking was well-coordinated as some young boys from the neighborhood (who must have been hired for the task) were smart enough to spot potential attendees, directed their cars and ensured they are well parked. And for those who don’t want to park at all, Taxify (the riding partner of the day), provided some help by giving New and existing riders #2,000 off with the code JOLLOF.
Atmosphere
Unlike the perception of a few that the railway compound is a messed up area, this is about the finest places to organize an event this theme as the aroma of the spices collaborated well with that of the rusty Iron and ancient buildings.
Food and Drinks
“You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food.”
-Paul Prudhomme
Side Attractions
Games
Ambassadors
I spotted these beautiful girls and requested that I took a picture of them because I was really interested in the inscriptions on their tees and they gladly agreed.
Jollof Festival Sponsors
- Maggi: ensured everyone got a free plate of Jollof from their Jollof bar.
- Guiness: gave everyone free bottle of Guiness Africa special
The festival started by 12pm and ended by 7pm but we left earlier after being convinced we’ve done all that there is to be done.
I will sure be on the lookout for when the next edition will be staged as there are many things I forgot to do.
If you read till this poin, it means you probably liked what i’m doing. Please do just one more thing for me. Vote for Nomadic Negro at the ongoing 2017 Travel Blog awards as this will really mean a lot to me.
Suggested read: compilation of funny tweets about Jollof
An interesting read!
Thanks Yeesh. You’ve read and commented on almost all my posts. I really appreciate you.