Mungo Park House
Reason To Recommend Place
A tour of Asaba's historic and cultural gems will be greatly incomplete without a stop here to see the second half of the power-house that created what later became Nigeria.
Nice Things About Place
The Mungo Park House with its elegant pose tells the story of the inter-play between Western influences and African culture including the multiple tales of the numerous conflicts, particularly that of trade and investment in pre-colonial era. On first sight, it appears to be a repository of age long secrets of a glorious past, reminiscent of the dramatic foray of the colonial overlords over the continent bringing culture, trade and a conflict into the African continent, with Asaba as one of the veritable meeting points of the foreigners and the continent.
Notable As
first headquarters of the Royal Niger Company and Nigeria’s first political headquarters in 1900
What To Bring
["A camera to capture and appreciate significant historic events"]
Ways Of Travel
By car and motorbike
Reason For Loving Place
Although built primarily for palm kernel business, it became the seat of the Southern Nigeria government. It has been used over the years by various governments - Western and local. It was used as an Orphanage, Women Development Centre, Water Board and now a monument for keeping relics and articrafts of the decades past. The sophistication of this pre-fabricated storey building lies in the fact that the materials consisted mainly of well-processed wood. The materials were cut to sizes and treated in Europe, and imported just to be coupled together in the country to form the weather-beaten structure. The house was erected with stout and cooked wooden palm carefully arranged vertically and horizontally, with the staircase using nuts and bolts to join the wooden palm together.
