The Whispering Palms

With Prof. Femi Pearse

Once upon a time family holidays were spent abroad. Then one particular year, the year 2011 to be precise, the funds were low and so travelling out of the country would have been a stupid venture. I got wiser and more creative and concluded that Nigeria was a tourist nation after all. That began my search for a good holiday location not far from Lagos state which led me to the Whispering Palm Resort.

Back in the Eastern part of Nigeria, we had heard of this paradise which could compete with the best resorts in the world. I knew without a doubt that I had found a holiday spot and so I invited a friend and her family to make the adventure even more interesting.

I was further impressed by the fact that there was a liaison office in Lagos where we could go to for enquiries and to make our reservations. As soon we confirmed our trip we became really excited and couldn’t wait for the D day. I remember the day we set out on that journey; my boys and I all had manicure and pedicure just to get ourselves in that holiday mood. Lol! I even had matching Ankara made into casual clothes for us. (how I miss those days)

With my Sienna packed full with seven children and two adults (Onyinye and I) we set out on our adventure. My friend Onyinye is a dare devil, we were going all the way to Badagry on our own; a place we had never been to yet she was not set till about 6pm. She insisted that it was still safe to travel and so she got behind the wheels and we took off.

We factored in the traffic and concluded that we would get to our destination in two hours at the most. God looked down on His two silly daughters and the children that He blessed us with and kept us safe. At 9pm we were in Badagry stopping at different points to ask for directions.

It opened my eyes to how far from civilisation we were as a nation; a year before then I had been on a road trip with my family in the US travelling with just a GPS as our guide. Worse still, everywhere was pitch dark and we could even see the very bad roads clearly. We decided to be stopping at shops just to be sure that we were engaging harmless people who wouldn’t mislead us. After our last stop we drove quite a distance without seeing a house or a human being.

At some point, we stopped in the middle of nowhere. We were not sure whether to continue on the journey or not; going could be going further into the Badagry community where we did not know anyone and neither Onyinye nor I could engage the locals in their language. We put a call through to the hotel but we couldn’t say where exactly we were. Eventually we decided to keep going and voila! A light at the end of the tunnel literally, we saw another light that was not our car head lamps.

We were warmly received like we had come back home and that was a big relief. I was immediately disappointed because the picture I had in mind was quite different from what was before me. Anyway, we were given two big rooms with a connecting door and so that night, our holiday started with the children who chatted almost all through the night. My friend and I also did a lot of catching and by the time we fell asleep we all slept like babies.

The following day we woke up to the calming sound of whispers made by the palms which surround the resort; it was so soothing. We had all sorts of activities lined up for us, we swam, played games, played local instruments and danced to our own melodies; we jumped on the trampoline, visited the resort’s zoo and of course ate a lot of food. It was also an opportunity to show my boys how athletic their mother was as I took them on cat wheels and back falls.

Yes that's me

We were so happy that we were no longer bothered about the flaws of the resort. We had met and greeted Prof. Femi Pearse the day before; he introduced himself to us and was visibly so happy to have us in his place. He was so warm and tolerant even though we did not kneel to greet him in a respectful Yoruba manner which is appropriate to a person of his age and status. We did not know any better, now I will even lie down to greet.  He spent some time with us and gave us more information about the resort and its history.  

The third day, we told the management that we wanted to see the town of Badagry and they surprised us with a free bus ride to and fro the town and informed us that Prof. authorised it.

We visited the first story building in Nigeria and other slave museums; I noticed that a lot of the locals turned their homes into tourist attraction centres.

My adventurous spirit left me when we got to a place and we were told that we would have to get on a boat if we wanted to see the point of no return. The name said it all, people who went there never returned so why would I go there? I chickened out and got the entire party to pass on that. The children were not too happy but then what do they know? 

We visited the famous Badagry market and priced a few fairly used items, they must have thought that we were real tourists because the prices we heard did not match the stories we had heard of how cheap things were over there.

On our way back, we noticed the same tree at the point where we stopped to call the hotel the night that we arrived. We remembered the tree because we were opposite it and used it as a landmark as we tried to describe where we were.

Lo and behold, the other side where we parked that night was actually a cemetery and we had no clue. I immediately imagined a horror movie but when I looked at Onyinye we burst out laughing and thanked God that we were not haunted by ghosts.

On the fourth day, we rented bicycles and rode round the facility. The freedom the space presented was mind blowing.  We went on a boat ride but not before the staff of the resort jumped into the water to prove to us that the part of the water mapped out for the boat ride had been sand filled to a safe level. I also asked what the inscription “Imoja” meant and when I was told mermaid, I stayed very far away from that part of the water. Taking precaution in Nigeria is a way of life.

We met Prof. again and informed him that we would leave the next day then he surprised us with a disco night. He planned a farewell party for us complete with good music, food, drinks and parting gifts. More so, he joined us at the party with his sister where we danced our hearts out, Prof was about 74 years old then yet so full of life. 

This is actually a tribute to a man who had a vision and did something about it, it may not have been the best it could have been which is understandable due to the Nigerian factor but he still did it and brought so much joy to a lot of families.

Prof was kind and exhibited love and happiness; with our short encounter with him he made an unforgettable impression in our lives. He was very warm and ensured that we were very comfortable in his facility.

While we were there we wondered why he was still in charge of the resort at that age and why none of his children had taken the resort to a whole new level. I truly pray that the Whispering Palm will not be left to rot away. It is a beautiful place that the government should be interested in because it is capable of becoming a world class facility.

We saw that every essence of a resort was encompassed in the resort; it was obvious to us that Prof had put in his very best but could do no more for good reasons. He even discussed his new projects in the resort with us and the passion in his voice was infectious. 

To those who have a stake or an interest in the Whispering Palms Resort, please keep Prof’s dream so that he keeps smiling in the great beyond.

We left Whispering Palms after five days, on our way we stopped at the famous Badagry beach and picked shells for some time before we set out on our trip back to Lagos. Till date, it is still one of my most memorable holidays. It was educating, entertaining, adventurous and filled with so much love and laughter. 

I will never forget Prof. Femi Pearse, keep resting sir.

More pictures.