Week 1 Wrap-up

Well week 1 is a wrap and has been an interesting experience. Most of the info I have shared so far has been cultural / travel experiences so figured I should share a little about the work side we can to do. Tim and I are working with an organization called TEMPO in Calabar. TEMPO - Tourist and Employment Opportunity - is intended to create the foundation for positioning Cross River State as a domestic business and leisure travel destination. Relative to much of Nigeria, Cross River has the most potential to be a travel locale based on the destinations in the area (Afi Mountain, Odubu Ranch, Agbokim Water Falls, and Tinapa Resort to name a few), the existing infrastructure in place (hotels and restaurants), and relative safety of the area. Henry and Abi from our larger team are working with Tinapa Resort to build the capabilities of this specific site. Tinapa has a hotel, movie studio (Nollywood), water park and free trade zone in a pretty park setting that is struggling to get momentum.

The goal of the TEMPO Project is to identify the needs in Cross River State to improve tourism products and services and provide business development services through technical assistance and a grant program. The TEMPO team and the project partners will:

• Conduct market demand research and inventories of tourism assets
• Propose industry standards for the tourism trade
• Provide training activity in those industry standards -- ie. help the food wait staff improve the service quality. The level of service here is terrible
• Implement a pilot promotion to support tourism product development that is targeted for next February
• Lay the foundation for a sustainable, independent Destination Management Organization (DMO)

Specifically the activities are working on are to create and contract a website to support the pilot promotion, to assist with a financial model to differentiate the temporary TEMPO program and long-term DMO, and lead workshop on tourism (specifically travel packaging) business model(s) and IT connections.

Here is a look at our work location. A bit crowded at the moment with several visitors and grantees in the space, but very functional. On the outside we have a nice view of the river which is just down the bluff.

Okay, that is the work side. On the other side of the experience, we visited the grocery store for the first time. Supermarket has no concept here as the power isn't consistent enough for proper refrigeration. You go to the grocery store for dry and packaged goods and a street-side stand for anything fresh - mostly fruit. I picked up a case of pineapple-orange juice, water, coffee, and cashew nuts. They serve the coffee here very, very weak (looks like tea) so I picked up some extra to give it a little boost. Unfortunately coffee isn't a common practice here so instant is the only option. The cashew nuts are salted, but a little bland. They are also the only bland food I have found so far -- everything seems to come with Nigerian pepper or chili pepper.

A couple glimpses in Calabar life:


Traffic light


View from the Hotel


Market

I need to grab a picture of a Nigerian road checkpoint. The traffic patrol position themselves at speed bumps looking for cars that are overloaded with people. If you don't stop for your ticket, the patrol is holding a homemade 2x4 loaded with nails to swing at your tickets.

The two mottos that we were told before and upon arrival seem to be holding true:
1) NEIN - Nothing is Easy In Nigeria
2) Everything works out

The second seems to take care of the first.

We have a packed weekend so I hope to have a good report on Monday.