Point of New Discoveries

I came to know Badagry as one of the former largest slave port town along the Atlantic coast at the edge of Lagos sharing a border with Seme, a town in Benin Republic. On all my previous visits to the town, I have been constantly more interested in historical facts during the period of slave trade in the town than on other cultural elements.

I promised to discover something memorable and fun the next time I visited. With the hope of a new beach experience to this beautiful town of glistening sun, fresh sea and pure white sand that smiles to every visitor on arrival.

I journeyed with Ray, a friend of mine from India who was just new in town. Inevitably, one treasure I wanted Ray to see was the popular place known as ‘point of no return’, with its tranquil environs and rustling waves awaiting those with the spirit of adventure.

It all started by passing over a lake, getting on a bike and walking through thick sand shoeless, these were part of the severities of gaining access from the mainland of Lagos to this point. At this point, two grand pillars painted with Nigerian colours are symbolic of the ‘point of no return’, where European ship docked for slaves to be transported across the Atlantic to Europe and the Americas.

My intention was to discover something special about Badagry and the idea of making Ray have a lifetime experience happened right on the path leading to the beach at the Attenuation Well, where slaves were coerced to ritually drink to make them forget their homes before embarking on a ship.

The beach itself is incorruptible and beautiful with its Palmae-lined pattern. We decided to rest at the Well on our way back from the ‘‘point of no return’’ and have a drink to satisfy our taste after the long hectic trek.

Ray having earlier requested to have a taste of a traditional Nigerian drink, spotted an old man making his way on a bicycle with some milky like liquid substance in a plastic container, drew my attention to him asking what he was carrying, at once I beckoned on the man to come after recognising he was a Palmy vendor.

Ray gulped down one small calabash of the fresh Palmy and immediately requested for more. After sometime, we felt like we were drunk from drinking water from the Attenuation Well, not able to remember our way home. ‘‘Perhaps the spirit of those that departed from this ‘point of no return’ have returned’’ Ray said facetiously.


*Palmy is a general byname for palm wine in Nigeria