Lokoja

Lokoja stands where the Benue joins the Niger, the country's two great rivers meeting in a wide expanse of water, and the confluence is visible from Mount Patti, a flat-topped hill of around four hundred metres above the town reached by a road to the summit. The colour difference between the two rivers, the Niger paler and the Benue darker with sediment, can be made out from above in the right season. Lokoja was the first administrative capital of the colonial Niger territories, and traces of that period survive: Lugard House on the hill, the colonial cemetery, an old iron church and the confluence monument by the water.

History

The first settlers are believed to have been Nupe groups from Gbara near Bida, who lived on Mount Patti. The present town was established in 1857 by the British explorer William Balfour Baikie at the site of a model farm from the failed Niger expedition of 1841, and the township ordinance of 1917 listed it as a second-class township (Wikipedia, Lokoja).

What's there

• The confluence - the Niger and Benue meeting below the town.
• Mount Patti - the flat-topped hill and its summit viewpoint.
• Lugard House - the colonial administrative residence on the hill.
• The old cemetery and church - the nineteenth-century remains in town.

When to go

November to March in the dry season, when the colour difference between the rivers is clearest and the roads passable. Harmattan haze in December and January can obscure the view. Mornings are clearest.

Things to know

The colour contrast is subtle and often not visible at all. The road up Mount Patti is rough in places. Colonial-era buildings are in poor repair with limited access. Lokoja is hot and has few visitor facilities.

Nearby

Abuja lies north; Okene is southwest.

Key facts