Nigeria Art and Culture::::the Old Oyo National Park

As a Nigerian, i think its fit that i try to showcase my country in all its glory .

Old Oyo National Park, the park which was named after the Old Oyo – the political capital of the Oyo Empire between the 16th and 18th centuries, spans a remarkable 2,512 sq km (970 sq mi), most of which fall in Oyo State, some extends to Kwara State. The park, which is made up of two previous native administrative forest reserves – the Upper Ogun (1936) and Oyo-lle (1941) Forest Reserves, are unique ecosystem and historical relics converted to game reserves in 1952 and finally upgraded to the present status of a National Park.

Situated just about 51 km north of Ibadan city, and it harbours Nile crocodile, rock python and land tortoise. The top attractions of the park which are of historical and archaeological value, are situated at the northern end of the park and these include the relics of the old city walls of Oyo Ile, the great Agbaku cave which has evidence of stone age, the “kosomonu” hill, the old Akesan Market, Alaafin’s Palaces with crucibles of pottery used some centuries ago.

The rest of the park is a wild life park covering many hectares of land and a camp site for tourists. Wild life encountered includes elephant, buffalo, antelope and baboons. Visitors can also check out the wildlife museum at Akoto base camp or try the lake cruising on Ikere Gorge Lake, mountaineering, sport fishing etc.

The park has total land mass of 2,512km2 and is located in southwestern part of Nigeria at latitude 8° 15’ and 9° 00’N and longitude 3° 35’ and 4° 42’E. The location has inevitably placed the park at a vantage position of abundance land area as well as diverse wildlife and cultural/historical settings. The administrative office is located in Oyo Isokun area along Oyo-lseyin road, where necessary information and booking could be made. The landscaping and organized space within the large yard has made the facility very endearing to the public.

The park has four types of vegetation which are dense woodland and forests outliers in the southeast part; mixed open savanna woodland in the central part, outcrop vegetation in the northeast and riparian grassland and fringing woodland occupying the forest plains and valleys along the Ogun River.

 

Outcrops of granite characterize the Northeastern zone of the park especially at Oyo-lle. The central part of the park has isolated hills and ridges of numerous rock outcrops. The extreme northern part on its own has caves as well as rock shelters dominating the axis.

The drainage system is also interesting as the park is well drained by rivers Ogun, Owu, Owe and their tributaries in the central and southern parts, while river Tessi drains the northeastern part of the park.

Fauna Fauna are found more abundantly in the southern part of the park which includes lion, western kob, roan antelope, western hartebeest, Grimm’s duiker, oribi, crested porcupine, anubis baboon, patas monkey, tantalus monkey, buffalo, red river hog, gaboon viper, spotted hyena, nile crocodile, rock python, land tortoise, waterbuck, bushbuck, warthog, guinea fowl, hammer kop, African fish eagle, bush fowl, Senegal parrot, grey heron, grey hornbill, white-headed plover, yellow mantled whydah etc.

There are more than 30 bird species recorded in the park. Some of the well known ones are Guinea Fowl, Hammer Kops, White headed Plover, African fish eagle (Cucumber vociferous), Yellow mantled Whydah (Euplectes spp), Bush fowl (Francolinus bicalcaratus), Senegal Fire-finch (Lagonostica senegalus), Grey Hornbill (Tockus nasitus) Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) Bannerman’s Weaver (Ploceus bannermani) crossley’s Ground. Thrush (Zoothera crossleyi).

Dont worry soon and very soon we shall be showcasing all about Nigeria and all our parks and we will do well to link the various travel agencies so you can spend your holidays here heheh maybe you will get to finally meet me one on one lol

Press for the week: jesscastellote Personal blog on Nigerian Art

This week as usual we pay respect to some serious bloggers who go through lengths to give us the best in what they do ; this week our man is jess castellote from http://jesscastellote.wordpress.com/  This guy has done soo much to publicize Nigerian Art and his post on Kelani ABASS artwork last year is awesome triggering our award for post of the week. And then, unexpectedly, Kelani Abass and Omenka Gallery give us the exhibition “Man and Machine”.
It has been only four years since Kelani graduated at Yabatech as the best painting student, but in this short period of time he has moved from a conventional, stereotypical mode of representation, to an intimate, highly personal body of work. He seems to have left behind the market scenes, the skilful depiction of motor parks and road sides, and delved into the creation of an imaginary world where man and machine take the whole space. He has moved from merely re-presenting the surrounding environment, and particularly people, to enquire about issues, both personal and societal. That is why a purely formal analysis of his new works would be insufficient. Looking exclusively at their formal properties would not be enough. These works can be “read” at different levels. The influences are still discernible. The way he works the textures and the materiality of his canvasses brings to mind some of abstract works of Kolade Oshinowo, his teacher at Yabatech. The freedom with which he approaches them echoes the ways proposed by Mike Omoighe.
These works go beyond the easy realism. They are more in line with neo-expressionist experiments. There is in them a mixture of abstract backgrounds with superimposed figurative elements and applied objects. The play between real and drawn mechanical elements is particularly successful. And this makes me think of the way aesthetic and non-aesthetic (or should I say, visual and non-visual) properties interplay in the best samples of traditional and contemporary art. These works are beautiful to the eyes, but there is more than what the eyes see.

There is something only the mind can apprehend, and it is this “something” that puts these works above the usual stuff.There is restrain and these works and there is “soul”. They radiate warmth that is not only the result of the subdued and earthy ochres and greys. This is a personal story, and the canvasses abound in subtle personal references, like the insertion of a small photographic plate in which Kelani’s father appears. But he also transcends the personal and the intimate; the numerous references to political and societal leaders also show an artist going beyond “his” art. This is uncommon and this is encouraging. It seems, there is life after the market places, the motor parks and the other “genres” so sought after by tourists and nouveau rich.  As a strong lover for grunge artworks and considering this work is from a Nigerian MEhnnnnn i rate this 10/10 and i hope we get to see more from this young man. thanks Jess Castellote, thanks Kelani Abass!!!!