Page 26 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 3

Lagos Island.

ALOK IKOM STONE MONOLITHS TINAPA BUSINESS AND LEISURE RESORT, CALABAR
The monoliths carry evidence of advanced pre-colonial Situated by the Calabar River, Tinapa is a business and leisure resort
civilizations and still remain mysterious to many. conceptualised to be an integrated business resort. It is a four phased
Akwasnshi/Atal as the monolith is called among the Ejagham development promoted by the Government of Cross River State, under a
people of the Cross River State is distributed among over” Private Public Partnership (PPP), and very close to Calabar Free Trade Zone.
thirty communities. In Etinan and Nabrokpa communities, the
stones are located in an area of uncultivated forest outside the Tinapa Business & Leisure Resort is the realisation of an exciting dream – the
villages. The majority of the stones are carved in hard, medium- first integrated business and leisure resort in Nigeria.
textured basaltic rock, a few are carved in sandstone and shelly
limestone. The geometric images on the monoliths suggest
that their makers possessed more than a basic knowledge
of mathematics, not only because they are geometric, but
also because of the obvious implication that there were
computations and numbers on the layout of the stones.