Nigeria Blog 1: Not just any lagoon

The Lagos Lagoon is not just home to one of the largest and most congestion Ocean Ports in the world. It is also the home to a prestigious Yacht Club, the world’s largest group of freshwater fishermen, the longest bridge in Africa and an unregulated but effective water transport system.
6 355 km² in surface area – it is not only an effective source of food and income, but an important source of sand and housing. The most interesting part of this lagoon is the floating village of Makako. Makako is a registered area of Lagos that consists of reclaimed land, constructed by locals digging up sand from the bed of the lagoon to extend the mainland further. To avoid flooding, each house is built on wooden stilts with empty plastic barrels beneath the house to enable floating in rainy seasons.
Although an incredibly sad sight and something that the Nigerian Government is eager to change, you have to admire that ingenuity of design as well as the way that the people of Makako created a community in order to survive.