Lekki Conservation Centre (LCC) is a 78-hectare Natural Resource Conservation Center in Lekki, Lagos State, Nigeria. It is situated on the Lekki Peninsula in Lagos, following Chevron, before the second toll gate, and close to the Lekki lagoon.

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation established it with the aim of conserving the natural and unique biodiversity of the coastal regions of the southwest part of Nigeria and minimizing resource and environmental waste.

It is one of Africa’s most prominent and diverse urban natural reserve parks, harboring the longest canopy walkway in Africa and a lucrative tourist center for foreigners visiting Nigeria.

History

The LCC was established by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, NCF, as a reserved shelter for the rich wildlife and ecosystem of the Lekki Peninsula.

Chevron Corporation built it from 1987 to 1990. In 1987, before the start of the Conservation Project, three potential sites were considered for the location of the conservation center. The NCF technical team did the survey in partnership with the defunct Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperative. Upon completing this survey, Lekki was chosen to be the demonstration site for the project, and Chevron was contacted to begin construction. The center’s location in Lekki inspired the name of the conservation center, ‘Lekki Conservation Center.’

Being a Nature Resource Centre, the Lekki Conservation Centre is a model for promoting environmental studies and public consciousness and comprehension of the natural world. Because of the rapidly increasing danger to the natural ecosystem, the LCC fills the necessity to curb the increasing loss of the natural environment and the associated possible drastic repercussion for the world.

Remarkable facts about the Lekki conservation center

The canopy walk is larger than 3 and a half football fields.

The trail canopy walk was built in 1992 to increase tourist attraction to the facility.

There are six towers each over 22 feet tall on the canopy walkway. A system of suspended (and swinging) walkways connects them, providing a unique (if a little terrifying) 360-degree panorama of this region of the world from above the treetops. The treetop stroll sets the record for the longest on the African continent at 1,315 feet or more than three and a half football fields.

There are side attractions along the canopy walk.

The mangrove contour that surrounds the nature reserve’s huge resources is seen from the canopy path. Other side attractions along the boardwalk are the tree house, bird hide, and swamp outlook.

There is a tree house and a bird hide.

The tree house is a twenty-one-meter-high tree platform from which one can see the picnic area, reserve, visitor’s center, and children’s playground from above.

The bird hide contains a variety of bird species, some of which are extinct, which makes this a popular site for children during school trips.

There is an Auditorium and Library within the facility.

A library is present, and an auditorium for lectures, conferences, and seminars is housed in a cone-shaped building. At first glance, the oval hall is surrounded by rare collections of visually stunning images of threatened animal and plant species.

There is an abundance of plant and animal life in the center, including extinct species.

A variety of plant life, including secondary forest, swamp forest, and savanna grassland, may be found throughout the nature reserve. Several animal species, reptiles, and birdlife are also observed.

The facility acts as preservation for amphibians, Bush deer, crocodiles, mona monkeys, squirrels, snakes, monitor lizards, duikers, giant rats, and pigs species that are endangered or extinct.

Mona monkeys and other monkey species live in the trees, but bushbucks, maxwell’s duikers, giant rats, hogs, mongooses, chameleons, squirrels, and an astounding array of wildlife live in the open grasslands.

Lekki conservation center has many accolades.

Lekki Conservation Centre is one of the best urban parks for quelling tourists’ naturalist curiosity because it is the centerpiece project of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation for the preservation of the unique biodiversity, natural, scenic, scientific, and recreational values of the coastal surroundings of the southwestern part of Nigeria.

The Lagos State Government has acknowledged it as one of the exceptional sites and monuments of special interest and distinguished relevance under the listed sites for the preservation, protection, and restoration of historic properties and cultural heritage in Lagos State, as well as for related goals.

The conservation center has received numerous compliments for being a model for protecting the environment and a gem for ecotourism.

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