A LETTER FROM YANKARI 2 – EIGHT YEARS AFTER

I spent last weekend at the Yankari Game Resort attending a retreat of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON. The last time I was here was August 2012, and which I ‘gisted’ readers on the Saturday Column of September 1, 2012. That 2012 trip was actually a treat – funded by His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto – for three of my children who had a Qur’anic Graduation at the National Mosque a few days earlier. This time, it was a four-day retreat organised by a Federal Government agency to sharpen the skills of its staff.

NAHCON YANKARI RETREAT: It was a good thing the National Hajj Commission chose Yankari for its retreat. The Board, Management and top officers were taken there from Abuja for an exhilarating intellectual and pleasurable exercise. Conducted by Nungu Business School, the retreat was a real back-to-school experience. It was also a patriotic statement by NAHCON for choosing the place; a ‘local content’ contribution; a ‘sayen-nagari-mai-da-kudi-gida’ experiment. Only Allah knows how much the local economy benefitted from the 100+ guests who spent those four nights at the Resort. Ma sha Allah.

SOME FACTS ABOUT YANKARI: The Yankari National Park is the premier game reserve in Nigeria. The Park and Wikki Warm Spring are located 110 kilometres southeast of Bauchi. The beauty and size of the Yankari Game Reserve make it the most pop¬ular reserve in Nigeria – before insecurity. Set up in 1956 and opened to the public in 1962, the main game-viewing areas of the reserve are open all year round. The reserve covers more than 2,000 square kilometres of savannah woodland and is well-stocked with elephants, waterbucks, bushbucks, crocodiles, hippopotami, antelopes, buffalos, baboons and a large variety of birds. Lions are occasionally spotted, despite their natural cam¬ouflage in the grassland. The best time to visit is the dry season between November and May, when more game are out and about as the dense vegetation and waterholes have dried up, forcing animals to congregate around the few remaining sources of water.

THE WIKKI WARM SPRING: The spring really fits the name – warm. It is constant at 31 degrees Celsius all year round. This body of water, Wikki Warm Spring, is indeed one of the best features of the reserve. During my three visits (first in 1989 when on NYSC, then 2012 with the family and then last week), the spring is there, undisturbed, unhurried, majestic. It is wonderful therapy after a hot day’s game-viewing to relax in the warm water. One could stay in the water and forget about time. The spring gushes out from under a rock, with a bathing area that extends for 600 feet to an open area. More than three decades ago, there used to be a certain company called Diam Mare which bottled Yankari Water at the source of the Wikki spring. That company – and the bottled water – disappeared because our leaders preferred French Evian or German Sparwasser. But now, thankfully, a new venture called Wikki Table Water has arrived.

BEWARE THE ‘AREA BOYS’: As I mentioned on this page eight years ago, Yankari Game Reserve has its own unique ‘Area Boys’. And these are the baboons. All over the Park, there are warnings about these mammals that seem to think, and truly so, that they are almost human. They can rob you in broad daylight. In my presence back then, a group of baboons went up a car, pushed its side glass down, entered it and ran off with a loaf of bread. Pursued by car owner and even warthogs, the monkeys jumped up and down the trees and vanished. We were later to see them enjoying the fruit of their ‘labour’ right down near the spring. A visitor had written on the internet: “The baboons are funny and entertaining, but very persistent and sometimes annoying or even dangerous. Be sure that your house is locked even when you are inside, or they will help themselves to any food that you brought. They will also take bags, cameras, etc in their search for food. There are signs warning you against encouraging, familiarising with, or feeding them.”

THE UGLY ONES ARE ALREADY BORN: Some mothers do have them! No wonder Simba (in The Lion King) could not, did not, eat Pumba the warthog, and only befriended him. The warthog is really the opposite of handsome, ma sha Allah! What with that snout and the two sets of tusks and the potbelly and all. Prohibited game for Muslims, warthogs are to Yankari what cats are to most homes: constant companions. Warthogs are everywhere. And they are just too many. They poke their noses – and what noses, what snouts – into the dustbin and into you if they get half a chance. (And you wonder the Simbas of Yankari are waiting for. Succulent dinners! Yuk!)

YANKARI IS IN BAUCHI STATE: The host state, Bauchi, should note that all its good works at Yankari may not be seen, or acknowledged, as the Park is sometimes promoted as in Gombe State on many websites. Perhaps it was because Gombe had an airport before Bauchi. On other websites, Yankari is even promoted as in Plateau State, with offers of trips from Jos. But truly, Yankari is a great National Asset, a resource to control. All those Northern conferences of governors and their appendages should hold there so the place could be regenerated. The Warm Spring is still superb; the safaris are good, albeit the game viewing vehicles have seen better days. But Bauchi State and National Park authorities should critically think of other activities to bring in tourists – starting with reconstructing the 110 kilometres of road from Bauchi.

A COUNTRY OF ONLY ‘POTENTIAL’: Any discussion of Nigeria by Nigerians at home or in the Diaspora always revolves around the word ‘potential’ – that Nigeria could be this great or that developed, if only…Such is the story of Yankari (and also Obudu, on which I wrote back in December 2009, and Tinapa, both in Cross River State). Then, as now, we chose Yankari to patronise Nigerian – at a time when most of our executives, legislators and judicial top shots still prefer going abroad for their meetings, jamborees and holidays – but for COVID-19. The people who should make Yankari and Obudu worth their names prefer to jet out to other countries, including lowly Ghana and even lowlier Benin Republic. With your money, no less.

The Local Content Board must ensure we all patronise ours – such as Yankari. A place to go still.