Lekki Conservation Centre

Why it matters: this 78-hectare wetland reserve is run by the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, the country’s leading environmental nonprofit, which has protected it from Lekki’s relentless construction boom since 1990 – your entry fee funds conservation work across Nigeria. The star attraction is the 401-metre canopy walkway, the longest in Africa, swaying 22 feet above swamp forest where mona monkeys crash through the branches. Boardwalk trails wind past crocodile ponds and a giant tortoise enclosure. Come on a weekday morning: the canopy walk queue gets long on weekends, and the birdlife is best early.