In 1963 the University of Ibadan in Nigeria advertised in the UK press and elsewhere for someone to take charge of its small but expanding Zoo. At that time the Zoo formed part of the University’s Department of Zoology which had been established around 1948 along with the University itself. Over time, a small collection of wild animals native to Nigeria had been acquired for teaching and research purposes and this had necessitated the construction of a few basic buildings in which to house them; these buildings were located on a separate area close to the Zoology Department.
Eventually, it was decided that members of the public should be allowed access to the area where the animals were kept and so the Zoo was born. Indeed, the Zoo became so popular that the Head of the Zoology Department at that time, Professor Niels Bolwig, persuaded the University that, if the animal collection was to realise its potential as a zoo, it was necessary to appoint someone full time to run and develop it. Hence the advertisement for such a person in 1963.
I decided to apply, was interviewed in London, and received an old fashioned telegram hand-delivered to my home a few days later offering me the job.
I arrived in Nigeria in September, 1963, together with my wife and two small daughters. I was to stay there for 16 years – until 1979. At that time of newly-independent Nigeria, the University of Ibadan was highly regarded internationally and was financed and supported by the Federal Government of Nigeria. It had a senior academic, technical and administrative staff of Nigerians and many other nationalities from around the world.
At first the University was not quite sure what title to give me, bearing in mind that a zoo administered as part of a university was unusual. However, I was soon designated Zoo Curator. As time went by I increased and diversified the animal collection and designed, and project-managed the construction of, new and more modern zoo exhibits. These included an exhibit for gorillas and chimpanzees with water-moat enclosure boundaries, a reptile house and a pygmy hippo exhibit. At one stage I also had my own regular television programme for children on Western Nigeria Television when ‘Uncle Bob’ introduced his young viewers to an assortment of interesting species. As a result, zoo visitor numbers increased dramatically and the University governing authorities decided eventually that the time had come for what had become known as the Zoological Garden to be separated formally from the Zoology Department and made a separate Public Service Unit. I was made Director of the Zoological Garden which was given autonomy, under a newly appointed Zoo Management Committee, within the Faculty of Science of the University.
I believe the Zoological Garden provided many Nigerians with new animal and natural world-related experiences and an opportunity to see wild animals in a rather new light. Zoo visitors could observe the animals in safety and at leisure and could see, perhaps for the first time, that these animals were interesting in their own right. During holiday periods such as Christmas the Zoo teemed with visitors, fascinated by the gorillas interacting with their keepers or chamaeleons capturing grasshoppers with their long tongues. When I left Nigeria in 1979 the Zoo was receiving almost a quarter of a million visitors each year, consisting almost entirely of Nigerians from all walks of life.
My 16 years in Nigeria included events and developments such as a military coup, the Biafran war, the development of the oil industry and the unfortunate decline of order and stability throughout the country. However, throughout all this the Zoological Garden flourished and the different Nigerian communities and cultures remained essentially optimistic and irrepressibly vibrant. My experiences there have left a huge and indelible impression on me and indeed on the way I have lived my life. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world…
