Don Blog 3. Calabar to Yankari

Calabar to Yankari



Saw a Gorilla gorilla gorila - no big deal. 



Its been around 2 weeks since we left the coastal town of Calabar and started heading north along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. The majority of this time we have spent in the rain forests of Cross River and Afi Mountain, but now we hit the drier north of country. The landscapes of the north remind me of South Africa, with the smaller towns, open spaces, classic animals, and sunny weather. I say sunny weather because its actually harmitan at the moment here in west Africa, which means the days are generally hazy and everything is dusty. Apparently this is because of the dust from the Sahara blowing over and clouding the skies, but I think its my sweat evaporating. The north seems to be less hazy than the south, though this doesn't really make sense to me. Maybe it was just our timing, I'm not sure.

Chris has already posted a blog or two mentioning the highlights of our times in the forests, so I will try not repeat. There are a couple extra stories worth mentioning though.

First of all I want to say more about seeing those thousands/millions of barn swallows coming in to roost on hill about an hours walk from a village near Afi. We first heard about the swallow roosting site from our guide while we were doing some mapping in the drill ranch in Afi Mountain. It sounded good so we left in the afternoon and drove for about to the other side of the Afi range to a small village where we left our cars and started the walk up. Before we were allowed to head up the mountain to the site we had go though the formalities of meeting the local chief and greeting basically everyone we walked past. I should mention at this time that my greeting smile has come on in leaps and bounds! We got the roost after an hours walk up the mountain, where we joined a BBC team who were camped there to film the birds for a forthcoming wildlife series focusing on wildlife in Africa. Apparently they plan on calling the series”Africa” - sounds hectic. Turned out the camera man was the guy who had done a lot of work on the Planet Earth series, and it was cool chatting to him about all the things he has seen. It started with just a couple birds swooping over the hill, next moment the sky was just filled with thousands of swallows flying in every direction. Then it rains birds. No pictures could do it justice, it is something you have to see for yourself. Sitting there with the BBC guys seemed strangely fitting, and all that was missing was Richard Attenborough (I can't even pretend to spell that) voice. Incredible stuff! The evening ended a bit weirdly though, with a local dude in the village telling me that he could do anything for me.... anything...(while rubbing my hand and staring at me with this weird look on his face). I pretended the other guys were calling me and got the hell out of there.

We spent three nights at Afi Mountain Drill Ranch and got friendly with an American guy named James who has been volunteering there for the last ten years. One night James told us a couple stories about the chimps they have there, most of which have been rescued from markets and hunters working Nigeria and Cameroon. He spoke about how they escape all the time by running and diving through the electric fence, using a superman style jump. Once they out, they head to the kitchen area, take a couple beers from the fridge, light up a cigarette, and this is how the keepers usually find them. We thought he was joking at first but he was dead serious, and it was clear that he really did not like them chimps. Anyway, on our last night at Afi I woke up with the sound of something big walking around outside my tent. Now I don't know if it was the malaria tablets, but shit I was convinced that an chimp that had escaped and was looking for beers, and after hearing all the stories I was not keen on confronting it. So I just lay there, thinking of what fight moved I could pull out if this chimp starts opening up my tent. The next morning I couldn't believe I was such a gaylord. Definitely not something I ever thought I would loose sleep on, but I had a good laugh at myself the next morning. Chris was so scared in the night that he started crying – true story.

After the forest of Afi and Cross River we headed north to Gashaka-Gumpti, a national park which hosts the Nigeria's tallest mountain, Chapel waddi (“mountain of death” - sweet name!). Driving north towards Gashaka-Gumpti takes you in to a completely different region. The roads are quieter, fewer road blocks, and the Muslim influence starts to become obvious. Churches are replaced by mosques, and the religious texts that line the back of almost every car and bike change from Christian messages to Muslim messages. You really feel like you are in another country, because this was not the Nigeria we can come to know.



We spend three nights in Gashaka, and although we had been told before hand by the head office that there were 'millions' of roads within the park, we drove the one and only road leading from the gate, through a village, and then ending at the Gashaka Primate Project camp. The park is really scenic, and I can imagine is must be incredible in the wet season. It's one of the more remote parts of the world, and its the region's inaccessibility that has allowed it to remain relatively untouched. We spent two nights camping along the Gashaka river at the sweetest campsite we had found so far. A sandy beech with big rocks over a clean river where you could swim and enjoy a couple cool refreshing drinks. The river had a resident croc which we caught a glimpse of, but the river still made for some good swimming. It was a campsite city in a big way! We also spend a night at the primate project, did a cool walk down to a river confluence, and saw out first colubus monkeys - good times.





Wikki warm springs - Yankari NP



Next on the itinerary was Yankari Game Reserve. Nigeria's “No. 1 tourist attraction”. Clearly modeled on parks like Kruger, but completely lacking any reasonable management. Such a waste because the park itself is beautiful. Natural warm springs giving way to clear blue streams with white sands in the savanna bush - nothing like I have seen before. We floated downstream in the Wikki warm spring, checking out cool new birds, colorful fish and a couple baboons. Tropical times indeed, but Yankari was a one frustrating place. We spend three nights there but only managed to organize two short drives, both of which we had to take a guide on at a premium price. Our guide chilled in the back seat listening to music from his cell phone and occasionally singing along – he wasn't a bad signer but we still felt like we were getting ripped off. The camp manager was a real treat, but I don't feel like writing about him. After one drive we arrived back to find our campsite trashed by baboons. Now I could deal with them jumping on my tent and snapping the poles, I could even deal with them ripping open the one whole side of my tent. But what really bummed me out was that they didn't take anything, although did decide to chew on the one piece of equipment that I need to put in my mouth – the valve for my mattress. So basically they got into my tent, bit off the valve to my mattress, chewed it, then ran away laughing and high fiving each other. Thats the way I picture it anyway.

Chillin in the Sheraton Hotel now in Abuja finishing this off. So what if its in the parking lot between the dog kennels and the rubbish dump – its still the Sheraton! Overlanders camp for free basically so its a good deal. I have skipped past a lot which we have seen and done over the last 2 weeks but hopefully I will remember at a later stage.

Later daters, Don OUT!