Lekki Conservation Centre: mona monkeys and swamp-forest birds in Lagos
Mona monkey, Maxwell's duiker, bushbuck, Nile monitor, crocodiles; herons, kingfishers, hornbills, weavers. Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.
Best time: 15 Nov – 31 Mar (November to March). Where: Lekki Conservation Centre – boardwalk and canopy walkway (Nigeria). Time of day: 08:30 opening to about 10:30 before the school groups and the heat.
- Partly on your own
- Entry fee
- Binoculars helpful
- Sound 2/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
Peak: 15 Nov – 31 Mar. Mid November to March: dry-season mornings; the centre opens at 08:30 so the chorus is already past its peak, and the point is the monkeys and the swamp birds
Active from 1 Jan to 31 Dec (all year) in a typical year.
Time of day
08:30 opening to about 10:30 before the school groups and the heat; monkeys are most active in the first hour
- Opening hour: 08:30 → 10:30
What will you hear?
Mona monkeys' calls and crashes in the swamp forest, weavers and kingfishers along the boardwalk, and the Lekki–Epe expressway as a constant bed. A place to test rigs and get a first Nigerian forest recording, not a wilderness.
Binoculars?
Binoculars helpful. Mona monkeys and kingfishers beside the boardwalk; binoculars for birds from the canopy walkway.
Where to go
- Lekki Conservation Centre – boardwalk and canopy walkway — 78 ha NCF reserve on the Lekki–Epe expressway; the longest canopy walkway in Africa runs over the swamp forest. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Any Lekki–Epe expressway bus or taxi to the centre gate; pay entry at the gate and walk the boardwalk alone. Opening hours 08:30–16:30, so no dawn or night access.
Cost: Entry fee plus a separate canopy-walkway ticket; check current prices.
Free or no-guide alternative: No free way in; the nearest free alternative in Lagos for herons, terns and lagoon birds is the public shore of the Lagos Lagoon (e.g. the Lekki lagoon-side jetties), which is a different spectacle.
Field-recording notes
Open 08:30–16:30 daily, entry fee at the gate, no guide needed for the boardwalk; the canopy walkway has its own ticket and sways with every visitor. Weekends are crowded; weekday mornings at opening are the only quiet slot. Traffic from the expressway is unavoidable, lowest on the far (lagoon) side of the boardwalk.
Sources
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More: all spectacles in Nigeria · dawn choruses · Nigeria in January · Nigeria in February · Nigeria in March · November · Nigeria in December