#27: I’m Planning a Marathon Trip Around Nigeria this Year—Tourbuddy

Welcome to yet another edition of Comfy Conversations!

Today, we have something special for you, a deviation from regular programming. If you love travels and tales of adventure, you can skip this intro and dive right in!

In conversation with Tourbuddy, today, we get a peek into the art of tourguiding in Nigeria.

Comfy: How did you venture into tourguiding?

Tourbuddy: I have always been an outdoorsy person but growing up, my sisters did not allow me to go out a lot, so by the time I left home for uni, it became easier. I just liked exploring the outdoors.

As a matter of fact, I tried to leave Enugu because I have been in Enugu all my life, born and bred. So, I wanted to leave Enugu because I was tired. I tried to get into universities outside of Enugu but that didn’t work. So, I decided, that if Enugu wanted me here, I would see to the ends of Enugu. That was the major push that now led me to try to discover places because Enugu didn't allow me to go. I just got into exploring outdoors, and then people started asking me where they could go to, places they could do certain things.

It was then that I realized that this was a bigger task than what I initially thought, so I decided to birth a business out of it.

Comfy: How long have you been on this track?

Tourbuddy: As a tour guide, maybe a little over six years. 2017 or 2018.

But in the early stages, I was working in social media marketing, and I was just being a tour guide on the side. In 2019, I got into it full-time and employed all of my social marketing skills into it fully.

Comfy: What has the experience been like so far?

Tourbuddy: It has been a mix of things. I would not say good, and neither would I say bad. It has just been fair. Previously, it was just for fun, until it became a business that started to pay me and then I focused on it completely.

On the other hand, there are a handful of downsides. There have been a lot of insecurity concerns in recent times, so every time I have to head out with people as their guide, I am quite literally on the edge, I am always cautious. If I am alone, I don’t care much. But when I am with people, I am even just praying that things go as they should and everyone comes back in peace. Because if anything goes wrong, it is on me as their tour guide. It is not so easy with the security concerns.?

But every other thing; the fun, meeting with new people—I really enjoy the fact that I get to meet with different people on every trip—and getting the feedback that they love the experience, makes up the good part of tourguiding.

In fact, there was a review I read just this morning of one of my tours to Obudu in 2022. Considering that we have not seen or spoken since that time, she still remembers and she had a swell time. That for me is one of the huge highlights; seeing people happy and enjoying where I take them.

Comfy: Aside from the security concerns, what other challenges exist in your line of work?

Tourbuddy: I would say another great concern is poor, or no, infrastructure when it comes to tourism. We don’t care so much about tourism in this part of the country and it is sad. If you go to some tourist spots in some other parts of the country, there is a sense of regulation. You know you are to pay a certain amount to gain access and/or enjoy certain benefits. But in Enugu state, for instance, you have to negotiate for a price before you access many of these places. There is no standard price and it kind of makes it hard to do business, because you can’t give your client a definite price.

There was a place I recommended to some clients once when I was out of town. I? reached out later on to find out how the trip went, only to discover that they couldn’t see the place because they didn’t like how the people in charge were coming at them, they felt somewhat unsafe, so they decided to leave.

They charge exorbitant prices that oftentimes are not even recorded. This lack of standard prices makes it hard to successfully budget for some trips. The absence of a maintenance culture is also a problem.

Back to lack of infrastructure, some of these destinations are in remote places, and there are no good access roads leading to them. I went to visit one place with a friend, and we had to take a 2-hour bike ride to get to the place. Oh, there was no internet too, so just imagine, if anything goes wrong, you’re on your own.

It is a really crazy thing, and I hope that the present government puts an eye on developing tourism in Nigeria. It can actually give a good boost to our GDP.

So, insecurity, infrastructure, internet connectivity, and sometimes the cost of traveling. I had a tourist who visited from Kaduna once complain about how tricycles can charge like 4000 for a trip that would cost her like 200 if she was in Kaduna. I feel like transportation is grossly overpriced in the East.

But other than all these, it is a beautiful experience.

Comfy: How many states have you been to in Nigeria?

Tourbuddy: I have been to 27. 27 of 36 and more recently I have been thinking of visiting every state again. All in one trip.

Comfy: Ohh, that sounds like a feat! How long do you think it would take?

Tourbuddy: Maybe a month, or two. I intend to spend about 2 or 3 days in each state.

Tourbuddy’s story is only just starting, over the next few weeks, we glean more insights about travel and relish the experience of traveling through his eyes. This would be a great time to share this newsletter with a friend and subscribe if you haven’t.

Do you want to feature in an upcoming edition? Send us a DM right away, we would love to hear and document your renting or travel story!

Till next time,

Stay Comfy.