Federal Capital Territory: Discover nature and culture

In the Federal Capital Territory, nature and culture enthusiasts can find different places to explore. Millennium Park has greenhouses for butterflies and tropical birds; the FCT Arts and Crafts Village is dedicated to art and handicrafts. These highlights offer a starting point for planning your trip if you are weighing up nature-watching and cultural interests.

Parks, handicrafts and getting your bearings

The greenhouses at Millennium Park offer a clearly defined nature theme: butterflies and tropical birds. If you are interested in these groups of animals, you can make the park a focus of your plans and consider it separately from the region’s cultural attractions.

The FCT Arts and Crafts Village is a small village dedicated to showcasing, selling and exhibiting art and handicrafts. It therefore focuses on different aspects of handicrafts, from display to sale. If you plan to visit, check the current opening hours in advance.

The National Children’s Park and Zoo is a reasonable distance from Aso Rock. According to the FCT Administration, Area1 Parks and Recreation is also a tourist attraction in the Federal Capital Territory. Both are additional points to consider when choosing attractions and finding your bearings as you plan your trip.

Consider whether nature-watching, art and handicrafts, or visiting the named attractions are especially important to your stay, and choose your hotel location based on your personal plans.

Nigeria: other landscapes and cultural heritage

Looking at Nigeria as a whole takes you beyond the local destinations of the Federal Capital Territory. Nigeria’s climatic differences are accompanied by a north–south gradient of different habitats and ecosystems. Sukur is another example of Nigeria’s cultural and landscape diversity.

Sukur is an ancient settlement with a history of iron smelting, flourishing trade and strong political institutions dating back to the 16th century. Its landscape includes terraced fields, dry-stone buildings and paved stone paths. Many disused iron-smelting shaft furnaces have been preserved. They were operated with bellows and were usually located near their owners’ homes.

The Hidi of Sukur is the political and spiritual leader of the community. His palace is a dry-stone structure surrounded by numerous shrines, including some made of ceramics. Traditional terrace farming and the associated ritual systems continue, according to UNESCO’s description. Regularly held festivals and ceremonies are considered signs of cultural continuity.

Two other examples from Nigeria reflect different periods and cultural traditions. The annual procession festival at the Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove lasts twelve days in July and August. It renews the bond between the goddess and the people of the city and helps preserve living Yoruba cultural traditions. The Sango Festival of Oyo marks the start of the Yoruba Traditional New Year in August and is a celebration of ancestral worship held in Sango, near the ancient Koso Temple. At the start of the festival, on the eve of the Yoruba New Year, followers and worshippers of Sango share and eat roasted new yams and palm oil.

Discover more destinations: Abuja, Rivers, Ebonyi, Plateau, Bauchi, Akwa Ibom, Kaduna and Gombe.

Go to the main travel overview: Nigeria.