The entire day is devoted to the main carnival event or cultural festival. Morning briefing from your guide on the competing carnival bands and their themes. Take up grandstand seats for the main parade — six hours of elaborate costumed masquerades, live music, acrobatics, and community pride on a scale unmatched anywhere in Africa. Evening free for dining and nightlife in Calabar's lively Marina district.

Depart early for the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary sector of Cross River National Park (approx. 1.5 hrs). Spend the morning on a guided forest walk through primary lowland rainforest with one of West Africa's most species-rich understories. Look and listen for drill monkeys, grey-cheeked mangabeys, red-eared guenons, and forest elephants (sign and tracks). After a packed lunch in the forest, return to Calabar for the evening culinary session with a local family — learning to prepare editan, afang, and ofe akwu (palm nut soup) from scratch.

A final morning guided walk along the Calabar Slave Route — retracing the path from holding houses to the waterside from which enslaved Nigerians were shipped across the Atlantic. A sober but essential historical experience. Time for souvenir shopping at the Watt Market before transfer to the airport for your return flight to Lagos.