Lekki Conservation Centre: Urban Jungle, Thrilling Experience

Lekki Conservation Centre is home to the longest canopy walk in Africa, tree house, nature station, fish ponds, games and other relaxation facilities.

Lekki Conservation Centre (LCC), an urban jungle in the heart of Lagos, is a centre of excellence in environmental research and education reserved as a sanctuary for the rich flora and fauna of the Lekki Peninsula. This 78-­hectare facility is the only one of its kind in Lagos State.

LCC is a tourist haven that welcomes people from all walks of life in their thousands daily. Foreign Ambassadors, top government officials, corporate organisations visit the place for team bonding. Schools pupils and undergraduates visit the place for environmental education.

LCC has grown into one of Africa’s most diverse urban nature parks. Located along the Lekki-Epe expressway, LCC is the only vibrant protected area and one of the few reputable tourists’ destinations in Lagos. For 30years, the center has cater for over 2 million tourists, LCC has become a strong advocacy tool used in promoting forest regeneration, environmental literacy and campaigns.

LCC was established by NCF to focus on four thematic areas which includes conservation, environmental education, research and ecotourism. LCC has evolved from core conservation into an emerging ecotourism destination making it to be tagged as Pearl of Ecotourism in Nigeria.

The ecotourism potential of LCC was acknowledged during the Nigeria Tourism Award where the centre was awarded the best Tourism Site in Nigeria for 2019. It is worthy of note that the number of tourists visiting the centre was significant during 2019, where we recorded over 95,000 tourists.  In other to engage our tourists effectively, the Centre has developed Information Education and Communication (IEC) materials focusing on different species that are found within the reserve. Although these materials are part environmental education tools it has become useful for nature interpretation and ecotourism at the Centre.

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As a Resource Centre, LCC is a model for promotion of environmental education and public awareness/understanding of the natural world due to the rapidly increasing threats to the natural environment, the need to stem the alarming loss of the natural environment and the attendant potentially drastic consequences for the planet as well as the concerns for the future conduct, welfare, happiness and survival of mankind on earth.

The centre serves as a research hub for students across the country. The students visiting the center are being educated on environmental issues such as plastics waste, climate change and emerging issues within environmental education space. The center has continued to play host to beauty pageants, musical video shootings, movie scenes, reality shows etc among which are Miss Earth beauty pageant; Agatha Amata at 20; among others.

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LCC has a Rotunda, a hall that can sit 150 people for meeting. The nature reserve is a savannah that reptiles, Mona monkeys and different species of birds, species of plants and insects are found. Because of its swampy nature, there is a wooden board walkway through which tourists and researchers make their way into the forest reserve. LCC has the longest Canopy Walkway in Africa. Inside the reserve is a Family Park designed for picnics and relaxation. The Park has 4 Gazebos; each named after a wild animal found in the area. It has other smaller huts for relaxation. It has diverse floor games, fish ponds and jungle gym facilities.

It is the only vibrant protected area in Lagos State and one of the very few vibrant tourist destinations of repute in Lagos and has thus been recognized as one of the notable Sites/Monuments of special interest and exceptional relevance by the Lagos State Government under the LISTED SITES for the preservation, protection and restoration of historical properties and cultural heritage in Lagos State and for connected purposes.

As part of the pollution management and environmental health project sponsored by the World Bank and Lagos State Government, LCC was chosen as air quality control centre for the project. This is a confirmation of the ecosystem services provided by LCC in building resilience for a mega-city like Lagos.

LCC also has an “Orchids Garden”. The garden feature species such as Angraecum pyriforme, Bulbophyllum filiforme, Bulbophyllum nigericum, Bulbophyllum porphyrostachys, Habenaria nigrescens, Liparis goodyeroides and Polystachya cooperi. The garden serves as collection centre, environmental education, nature conservation and eco-tourism.

Lekki Conservation Centre

As the World Tourism Day is being commemorated globally today, NCF invites everyone to have a thrilling experience, an exhilarating memorable lifetime in Lekki Conservation Centre.

LCC was established by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF) in 1992. The project is being funded by Chevron Nigeria Ltd. NCF is Nigeria’s foremost Non-Governmental Organization dedicated to nature conservation and biodiversity management.