Ajala Olabisi (w3428)
Hits: 12
- Description: Olabisi Ajala was a Nigerian journalist, travel writer, actor and adventurer. After studying pre-medicine at the University of Chicago and embarking on a 2,280-mile bicycle tour from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1952 - during which he lectured on Africa in traditional Nigerian dress - he was deported from the United States to the United Kingdom, where he conceived his world tour. On 27 April 1957, aged 26, he departed London on a Vespa scooter on a journey he named "This Safari", intending to cover 40 countries. Over six years he visited 87 countries across Asia, Africa, Oceania and Europe, meeting world leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Nikita Khrushchev, the Shah of Iran, Golda Meir and Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. His most dramatic moment came at the Mandelbaum Gate between Jordan and Israel, where Jordanian guards fired at him as he accelerated through the crossing, a bullet bursting his rear tyre. He financed the journey by selling travel writing to newspapers and magazines across West Africa. He returned to Nigeria, where he became a celebrated socialite and was immortalised in the 1972 album Board Members by jùjú musician Ebenezer Obey - the chorus "Ajala travel all over the world" made his name synonymous with wanderlust in Nigerian culture. Despite his fame, he died in poverty in Lagos on 2 February 1999. His memoir An African Abroad was published in 1963 and republished in 2022
- Alias-Pseudonimo-Pseudonyme: Ajala the Traveller, Travel Ajala
- Nationality-Nazionalità-Nationalité: Nigeria
- Birth/death-Nascita/morte-Naissance/mort: 1934-1999
- Means of transport-Mezzo di trasporto-Moyen de transport: Vespa
- Geographical description-Riferimento geografico-Référence géographique: Around the World, Giro del mondo, Tour du monde
- Internet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olabisi_Ajala
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q96187854
- Additional references-Riferimenti complementari-Références complémentaires: Ajala, Olabisi. An African Abroad. London: Jarrolds, 1963.
| Precursori, Forerunners, Précurseurs |
|---|
|
|
| Viaggi stravaganti, Weird travels, Voyages insolites |
|---|
|
|
| Globetrotter contemporanei, Contemporary globetrotters, Globetrotteurs contemporains |
|---|
|
|
| Personaggi fittizi, Fictional character, Personnages de fiction |
|---|
|
|
About us
Museum of Travel and Tourism is a virtual museum dedicated to travel and tourism, founded in 2016. It began as a research platform focused on the biographies of women and men travelers from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and has gradually expanded to include contemporary journeys.
Impressum
Copyright 2016-2026 Museum of Travel and Tourism (MTT)
Source citation "Museum of Travel and Tourism, museumoftravel.org"
Info Developed by www.rhpositive.net. Icons Font Awesome. Translations Openai ChatGPT. Images Midjourney and ChatGPT, unless otherwise specified