23. Nigeria: Jos to Jalingo

I do not remember now what our expectations were before the trip, about seeing wildlife in Africa. But the truth was that we had been traveling close to 3 months, mainly in the Sahel and Sahara, with a bit of Guinea Savanna, and we had seen no large wild animals whatsoever.  In this blog we visit the first of only two game reserves that we were able to visit on the entire trip (the other was in Zimbabwe). These were the only times we saw wild animals other than birds.  While some of our travel was on trunk roads, some of the time we were in remote areas but the animals were not to be seen outside of game preserves.  In 11 months of travel we were only able to see macro fauna, a fundamental symbol of the continent, for a total of 10 hours.

On a separate point, as you can see from the Michelin road map below, it was very different for people travelling with their own vehicles.  At that time there were many “Safari Bungalows” sprinkled about, shown as little white or black huts (a black hut meant it also had a restaurant). .  There were also many wildlife preserves, at least on the map.  But they were generally inaccessible to us and to the vast majority of Africans themselves.

I should also remind people who are following this blog that photo-taking was very different for us in those days.  We had a single, fixed-distance lens as our telephoto zoom did not work from the very first day of the trip.  We had slide film, which could not be developed as we travelled. We sent it back to the US to be developed when we could.  We therefore travelled the whole year before being able to see how any of our pictures turned out.  By contrast, I was in Kruger National Park, South Africa, in 2012, and was able to take excellent game pictures with a common digital camera with a built in zoom. You can of course see the results immediately and take as many pictures as the memory will hold. We probably took as many pictures over 3 days as Helena and I were able to take over a whole year….

Our route in yellow dots.  Michelin Road Map of NW Africa (ca 1980) . 

Jos-Jalingo, Friday, 7 January, 1983

(HELENA)  We left Jos at about 8:30, but before really being on our way, Charles had to go a few km south to Bukuru to get ten bags of chicken feed.  Sudan Interior Mission has a big chicken and feed operation there, so they are not purely into evangelism. The rest of the day is quite complicated unless you have a fairly detailed map at hand.

To get to the Yankari Game Reserve we went through Bauchi, crossed the Gongola River and turned south at Dindima. The whole way was beautiful with rock hills amidst the sa­vannah. Before entering the park (one must pay almost $4 per person) we saw a patas monkey, so we really felt as though we were “IN AFRICA!”  We had gotten a few provisions at a fancy super market. We got to the park village (Wikki) at about 12:30, so we first took a swim in one of the most beautiful swimming holes that can be in exis­tence.  The water comes from an underground river and appears to come from nowhere because the pool begins at the foot of a vertical rock cliff.  The cliff must have been 40 feet high. Leading away from it, it looked like a shaded river with one bank being fairly steep and covered by trees.  We came down the hill from the other side.  Back in the “good ole’ British days” they had made stairs down the hillside and a concrete side for the poo1. The floor is sand. What a beautiful spot!

We had our lunch and then went to join the guide whom Charles had arranged to meet at 14:30. The guide was very silent, but no one can go into the park in a private car un­less accompanied by a guide. The guide showed us which road to take and for the next 2 1/2 hours we wandered along rough roads. We mainly followed a swampy stream. 

The faithful guide and water buck.  Yankari Game Reserve

We saw quite a few water buck and water buffalo near the water. It was funny to see Charles try to get pictures even with a telephoto lens (sigh) of the water buffalo. They are supposed to be dangerous. We would try to get as close as possible without being too visible or vulnerable.  In the higher, drier parts there were a lot of baboons. They are apparently quite a nuis­ance around the cabins.  (Yes, Yankari is quite a resort place).  We saw several alligators in the distance, and we barely glimpsed a bush buck (they are fast and shy) and saw a hippo’s head. There were a lot of neat birds, too, one kind being a red-necked bee eater.

Another distant water buck

We fi­nally had to head back a bit disappointed because we had not seen a single elephant.  We rounded a curve and suddenly met a Land Rover with several wardens in it. They gestured excitedly and said something in Hausa.  They were telling us to take a certain road, and there we would see elephants. Sure enough, we came upon three, two smallish and an older female with just one tusk, The big one put on quite a show for us by looking straight at us, chewing on some grass, and flapping her ears. I am really sorry Dan did not get a picture. Charles had asked him to drive while he took pictures. One of the many times I shall regret my lack of confidence in both driving and picture-taking.

Warthogs in and around the Yankari – Wikki Lodge and camp.

 On the way into the park we had stopped to get a close look at some of the big ant (or termite) hills we have been seeing since Senegal.  Some of them were tall and quite delicate. By breaking off the tops of some of the spires, we could see that some of them were just tubes. Others had more little tunnels.  We did not have to be told where the park ended because the vegetation deteriorated, we stopped seeing wild animals of any kind and there was a lot more burning.

Termite mound outside Yankari.  Also the University of Iowa Hawk Eye cap that every border guard wanted to liberate. Note freshly burned background.

We still had about 300 Kms (180 miles) to go, so Charles really stepped on it. He is more careful than the Nigerian taxi drivers we have had, but he is just as fast. We drove through Gombe and turned south.  As we went through Biliri, we suddenly lost power.  It was dark already, so we drove back to a small shish kebab stand where we could get some light. We stopped, and the motor would not start.  Naturally, no tools.  Eventually Charles found someone with a wrench and a little know-how.  They tightened the fan belt and we were on our way.  Whew!  Dan and I had to buy a shish kebab to placate the owner of the light, but I guess it was worth it.

We decided that it would be better not to arrive in Zing at all hours, so Charles took us on to Jalingo to spend the night at his house.

Jalingo-Zing, Saturday 8th January, 1983

(DAN)  We awakened under rather confusing circumstances.  The Mazda van that we came in from Jos belongs to the seminary in Zing, and Charles had taken it in for servicing. In any case when we drove up to his house which is government teacher’s housing, his own van was missing, and Charles has the only key!  There was nothing he could do at midnight, so we all went to bed.  We awakened about 6:00 when he left to look into the matter.  He found that there had been a district church meeting in town_, and they had gone into his house and looked till they found an extra key.

After a quiet breakfast of French toast, we set out to deliver the van, chicken feed, and ourselves to Zing. If you cannot find Zing on your map, look for Zinna between Numan and Jalingo. They had to change the name because Zinna means “adultery” in Hausa (but not in the local language, I guess).

Our Route in Yellow.  Note Vogel point that escaped our attention at the time. TIMES comprehensive Atlas of the World.

Nobody had mentioned the topography of the area to us, and we were surprised to find it hilly, almost mountainous, grassed up and down hills with scattered granite outcropping and inselbergs[1]. The most amazing inselberg was Zing Mountain. The mission is located on a saddle with a long slope and view of grassy hills and mesas on one side and Zing Mountain on the other, just across the paved mission landing strip.

The mission itself has the Fitzgerald house and Ann’s house where we shall be staying.  In addition there are storage buildings, chicken houses, etc. There are a lot of beautiful acacia trees and a number of frangipani trees that are beginning to bloom.  Ah yes, and a few bushes of desert rose that look like miniature frangipani with no leaves and big pink blossoms.

Mr. Fitzgerald was out, but Charles introduced us to Barbara Fitzgerald and then brought us over to Ann^’s house. She is not to arrive until Monday or Tuesday. We spent a leisurely afternoon and then went to supper at the Fitzgeralds. They have five children between the ages of one and a sixth-grader who is boarding at Hillcrest.  Barbara is teaching her children by the Calvert correspondence courses, and we are amazed at how many of the books are the same-- The Gods of Greece, World History, the art history book, amongst many others[2].

We had pizza with real cheese.

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[1] Somehow, nobody mentioned that we were only a few km from the highest point in Nigeria. Vogel Peak in the Shebshi mountains to the SE of Zing.  We also do not appear to have realized how close we were to Cameroon and the crossing near Yola.

[2] Helena, our older brothers and sister, and I all studied at one time by correspondence from Calvert, based in Baltimore, Maryland.