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The Story of Ajala the Traveller, Africa's Most Legendary Traveller

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very Nigerian man at heart and a proud African in soul, Ajala shattered all records of travel,

| Teni Asake iyabo Banky W Steff nnpp ribadu #sabinus Abba kyari #LondonToLagos |

voyaging into lands that no black person had ever seen not to talk of setting their feet there. Ajala had the world in his pockets and the world bowed at his guts. From the physical boundaries of nations to the piercing demarcations of racism, Ajala tore through them all.

Born Moshood Adisa Olabisi Ajala in Ghana to an African Muslim father with four wives, Ajala grew up in a large family. He was one out of 25 children. In his own words in his legendary book, An African Abroad, he said:
‘I was born in Ghana, of Nigerian parents,

and brought up in Nigeria, where I had my schooling at the Baptist Academy, Lagos, and Ibadan Boys’ High School. At the age of eighteen I went to America to further my studies. My father, a traditionalist who belongs to the old school…’
Ajala’s initial goal was to study

medicine and as a matter of fact, he was the first black student to be pledged by the Delta Upsilon Pi ‘fratority’, a co-educational Greek-letter organization at De Paul University in Chicago in January 1952 where he was a pre-medical student. He was so active that he was

made the feature editor of the campus newspaper, the De Paulian. Ajala said at that time that once he became a medical doctor he was going to return to Africa to in his words ‘wage war on voodoo and other superstitions.’ He said he was proud of his 24 siblings, one of whom was a

student in England. He never fulfilled his dream of becoming a medical doctor as he stumbled on something far more enchanting.

On April 27, 1957, in London, a 26 years old student of psychology, Mashood Olabisi Ajala embarked on a trip across 40 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa on his Vespa scooter wearing his full conspicuous agbada regalia with a cap to match. As a pre-medical student, Olabisi has

previously undertaken a similar jaunt four years ago in the USA pedalling from Chicago to Los Angeles on a bicycle covering 3,800 miles in 35 days over ten cities. His journey which he nicknamed “This Safari” will cover 30,000 miles across 40 countries in nine months and

return to London afterwards

How did his journey go?

In his book “An African Abroad”, Olabisi narrated his encounter with the then president of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser:

“Every day at 6 am for the next two weeks, I was waiting directly in front of his presidential palace

hoping he would come out. On the 13th day of my hitherto unpromising efforts, around 5 pm President Naseer emerged from the interior of his residence heading for his car.”

In his agbada, the heavily bearded Olabisi screamed as loud as he could and caught the attention of the

president. He was heartily welcomed in by the president.

Olabisi was very relentless and radical in his approach to travelling and this brought him fame and also trouble. In an interview, he was quoted saying -The world should send Doctors to Africa, missionaries to Chicago,

Ajala said. The gangsters here need converting much more than we do.

He also met with other great world leaders among them is the then Shah of Iran, the Soviet President -Nikita Sergeyevich, President of Egypt, Ronald Regan of America and the likes. His trouble particularly

impressed Mrs Golda Meir the then prime minister of Israel, on meeting with Ajala she said as quoted in Ajala’s memoir ‘it’s not often we have this kind of trouble. Your bravery impressed us. We thought we should crown it.’

Crossing Lebanon on his way to Israel, the Lebanese

security force arrested him believing he was on an espionage mission for the Israeli. He knew crossing of any border between Israeli-Arab frontier would be a death wish but was daring to continue his journey as this was the heat of the Israeli-Arab war.

His journey took him

not just to the cities but to the rural places where no black man has ever set their foot, upon his arrival at a farm in Minsk, Soviet Union which is now in Belarus, his arrival caused some locals to flee in panic at the “frightening sight” of the black man invading their village

He ended up spending more time than the initially proposed nine months, and during his sojourn, he got arrested on several occasions. He visited eighty-seven countries in his six-year globetrotting trip (ranging from North America to Eastern and Western Europe, through Africa

and Asia and as far east as Korea, Indonesia and Australia). He documented all this in his book- The African Abroad”.

After his first journey previously in America, he expeditiously got fame for himself and accolades. All these got him a role in the film “White Witch Doctor”

produced by 20th-Century Fox movies where he played the role of an African boy.

Why did he leave the USA to continue schooling in London England?

The intrepid traveller had a forgery case with the American immigration and was deported, he went on to protest against this by

climbing an 80ft mast and refusing to come down for nearly 13 hours, his plea was that he was duped and didn’t commit the crime. The US government decided to deport him to London instead of Nigeria after he said he would face a tribal execution if he got deported home.

With his tremendous charisma and eccentric nature, he was the golden boy loved by the ladies, many of whom he met on his journeys. In his trip around the world, he married 5 women; an Australian lady, an American, a British model, a Nigerian woman in London and also another

Nigerian in Nigeria. Upon his return to Nigeria, he became a publicist and his awesome showmanship got many musicians such as Ebenezer Obey, Ayinde Barrister and Sunny Ade singing about him.
Ajala had seen it all, from the greatest displays of wealth to the

stupefying corridors of power. But somehow, by the time death came knocking, he was one of the poorest Nigerians alive.

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Mashood Olabisi Ajala (known as ‘Ajala the Traveller’), in White Witch Doctor. Ajala was suggested for the role by Ronald Reagan. Following a successful screen test, 20th Century Fox gave him the role of ‘Ola’ originally, name later changed to 'Jacques’.

Video of Ajala the traveller