Visiting Yankari Game Reserve, inarguably the apple of Bauchi State’s eye, was something I always looked forward to as a child. Being one of the lasts, I only visited the game reserve a few times, but there was always the thirst and hope for more. The long drive with a car full of family, the warm spring, the roaming wilds, it was always beautiful. When I grew up, and the cohesion that usually binds a family together ends with everyone scattering here and there to start their own lives and families, such trips ended too.
Finally, on the 27th of March, 2021, I got a chance to revisit that place that has always held a special place in my heart. It was a school trip. I would like to share my Yankari Game Reserve experience with you.
It was approximately a distance of an hour and a half trip from Bauchi town, a total distance of 110km. We started along the Bauchi-Gombe road for about 20 minutes and then diverted left to the Dindima-Maina Maji Road. We were on that road for 40 minutes and voila!
The Yankari gate was before us. We got off our bus and took pictures before the ‘Yankari Game Reserve’ letters on the muddy-red wall, bought out tickets, and then went back on the bus. We drove a long way through the reserve that harboured all the wild animals roaming there. After another 20 minutes, we made it to the warm spring. There was so much excitement!
I couldn’t get off the car because some monkeys were roaming and my friends said they were going to snatch our bags if we got out. A friend that grew up on the reserve before moving to Bauchi town was not scared at all, so he got down and fed them biscuits that they fisted over. After learning that monkeys are afraid of sticks (I still don’t know if it’s true or a myth), I got down and we made our way to the warm spring.
The Yankari Spring
A view of the Yankari spring
The spring is such a refreshing green sight, laying there way below, having you take hundreds of steps in hard courtship before you reached its refreshing waters. After taking several stairs before reaching the water, I sat on one of the benches to relieve my motion sickness.
Many of my friends dove right in, swimming and splashing and having the times of their lives. I am a terrible swimmer, I didn’t dare! So, I took up my job as the photographer of the group with my DSLR camera, one of the best cameras for travellers out there, and went around taking pictures of amazing sights and friends.
Several times, we caught some monkeys trying to sneak upon us. They steal phones and bags when you are not too careful.
The Yankari Safari
The Safari is equally as refreshing as one of my Yankari Game Reserve Experience. For the experience, officials will arm you with the reflective jacket, and you get the tour in their carts. The forest has a whopping size of 2,250km square, so do not dream of exploring all of it in a tour of an hour or so.
However, the tour is even more promising than it sounds, full of all rare breeds of wild animals, some that are found in no other place in Nigeria.
The Restaurant
Back in the spring, we got very hungry, but our drivers were nowhere to be found so we couldn’t take our food from the car. I and one other friend were starving, so we went to the restaurant. It was very hard making that walk up all those steps when you are starving. We stopped several times just to rest and take some more steps.
When we got to the restaurant, the food was a bit expensive for our budget, so they gave us a discount and we shared a single plate of fried rice and salad. It was the BEST fried rice I have ever eaten, no exaggerations! We sat at the restaurant for a while, talking about the meal and the whole experience, then we went looking for some drinking water.
Shortly after, we were back in the spring. Our drivers were back and food was brought. We bought some sponge cakes and drinks at Sky Crown Bakery back in Bauchi before coming. I began trying to gather us back in a clique so we could leave. It was the most exasperating experience. When you get a group of four people and try to get some more back from the water, you come back to find the slippery bunch of four you initially gathered gone. I was almost in an anger fit. I finally tried to gather at least enough people for one car, but that too proved to be impossible. So, I sat back and seethed.
After a long while, they were all ready to pack. One of my friends got me a bottle filled with sand and water that still, as I write, holds a very special place in my room. I have a thing for collecting sand from special places I have been to. We packed and left. At the entrance of the spring, as we were leaving, we saw some folks from some neighbouring village jumping off their buses. It was getting dark. They were probably there to party all night. As I watched them run the steps to the spring, my eyes also caught a gang of men sitting just outside the spring entrance, smoking shisha.
For the first time, I realized how much Yankari Game Reserve had grown with us, too. I recalled seeing no kids jumping in glee in the shallow waters. It is now an adult place, a good place to visit with friends in the daylight, a good honeymoon location, a good place for night-crawlers to party. But the spring, in particular, does not seem like a very good family location at the moment.
We all have to choose our markets, and Yankari’s customer base is adult at the moment, and that is good if that is what they are aiming for.
Conclusion
All in all, Yankari Game Reserve still gives one a very refreshing experience. It was good to revisit and revive all those memories from almost fifteen years ago. The greens, oh the greens! Take some time to visit and be reborn.
Hausa Karin Magana, otherwise known as Hausa proverbs are very rich just like their English counterparts. When you hear them, sometimes you wonder how the people that originated them came up with them. They are so full of wisdom as they encompass proverbs on all facets of life.
However, in this piece, we will be limiting ourselves to the ones purely on wisdom. Thus;
112 Karin Magana Full of Wisdom
Ganin zumar wani, kada ta sa ka zubar da madacinka.
Ganyen doka daya ya fi na dorowa dari.
Duk wanda ya ce wutar kara ta kwana, shi ya kwana bai runtsa ba.
Duk wanda aka gani da tabarma, yana neman wurin shinfida ne.
Duk wanda yayi noma ya huta da awo.
Duk zafin tukunya dole a sauke.
Duk zurfin ruwa akwai yashi a ciki.
Duk tashin tsuntsu, sai sama ta ga bayan shi.
Dutsen tsakiyar ruwa bai san ana rana ba.
Duk abin da mutum ya shuka shi zai girba.
Duk abinda ka gani a gidan sarki, ya na kasuwa.
Durkusa wa wada ai ba gajiyawa ba ne.
Duniya kamun kifi, kowa ya kamo ya sa a goransa.
Don kai ake hula, har kunne ya samu.
Dan banza yashi ne ko an dunkula shi baya dunkuluwa.
Dan hakin da ka raina shi ke tsole maka ido.
Dan kuka mai jawa uwarsa jifa.
Dan kuka baya zama dan tsamiya Ciwon da kare yayi idan dan akuya ne sai wuka.
Ci naka in ci nawa, ba rowa bane halin zama ne.
Da yayyafi kogi kan cika.
Da tsohuwar zuma ake magani.
Da rarrafe yaro kan tashi.
Da ruwan ciki ake jan na rijiya.
Ciki da gaskiya wuka bata huda shi.
Cin loma yafi jiran malmala.
Barin kashi a ciki baya maganin yunwa.
Biyan bukata yafi dogon buri.
Babban goro sai magogin karfe.
Barawon rakumi daga daddawa ya fara.
Barewa baza ta yi gudu ba danta yayi ra
Babban kaya sai gammo.
Ba’a jan ragama da rigima.
Bakin karen masoyi yafi farin ragon makiyi.
Bakin tukunya mai fidda farin tuwo.
Bakin rijiya ba wajan wasan makaho bane.
Ba’a maida hannun kyauta baya.
Ba’a yanka karfe sai da karfe.
Baka cin zamanin ka ka ci na wani.
Ba’a kada miya tun dawa na rumbu.
A rashin uwa ake uwar daki.
Ayi wanda za’a yi bera ya zubar da garin kyanwa.
Bani na kashe zomon ba rataya aka bani.
Ba iya kwanciya aka fi kare ba sai dai abun rufa.
Baka do gadon mutun amma kana da gadon batun sa.
Ba ji ba gani auren kurma da makaho.
Ba maraya sai rago.
Ba’a fafe gora ranar tafiya.
A rashin sani kaza ta kwana kan dami.
Ana yi da kai yafi ba’a yi, sarki ya koma mai anguwa.
Ba dan tsayi akan ga wata ba.
Ba domin tuwo akayi ciki ba.
Ana zaton wuta a makera, sai gashi a masaka.
Annurin fuska kaurin hanji.
Ana rabaka da kaya kana nade gammo.
A ruwa ake dadewa ba a wuta ba.
Ana sara ana duban bakin gatari.
Ana bikin duniya ake na kiyama.
Ana ganin wuyan biri ake daureshi a kwankwaso.
A bakin tsoho goro kan tsufa.
A bakin wawa ake jin Magana.
Ba’a sarki biyu a gari daya.
Ba’a shan zuma sai an sha harbi.
Ba’a shan zuma sai da wuta.
Ba’a sayan jaki don a ci sai don daukan kaya.
Ba’a raina zakin gwandan daci don ba’a bata ruwa.
Ba’a san maci tuwo ba sai miya ta kare.
Ba’a sake wa tuwo suna.
A bari ya huce shi ke kawo rabon wani.
A bar kaza cikin gashinta.
Abin bai dace ba, an ga Malami da gatari.
Abinda babba ya gani a zaune, yaro ko ya hau rimi ba zai gan shi ba.
Allah Ya fishemu da hawa dokin zuciya.
Abinda ruwan zafi ya dafa, in an hakura, ruwan sanyi ma saiya dafa.
Abinda ya bata a duniya in an je lahira a ganshi.
Abin da ya kori bera ya fada wuta, yafi wutar zafi.
Abin da sake, an bai wa mai kaza kai.
Abin da sake an bai wa mai rogo bawo.
Abin da zuciya ya dauka, gangan jiki ma dole ya dauka.
Abin da baki ya daura, hannu baya kwancewa.
Abin mamaki, mai karfi na bara.
Allah ke ci da maraya ko da mai uba bai so ba.
Allah na taimokon wanda ya taimaki kanshi.
Abokin cin mushe ba’a boye mashi wuka.
Abin fada na mai baki ne.
Abu a rufe mai raba zumunci.
Abu kamar wasa, karamar Magana ta zama babba.
Abu uku su ne maganin zaman duniya, tawakkali, dangana da hakuri.
An daga sama anyi wa wada sata.
Ana babbakar giwa wa ke ta zomo?
Abu namu maganin a kwabe mu.
Abokin kirki ya fi mugun dan uwa.
A dade ana yi sai gaskiya.
A dubi ruwa a dubi tsaki.
Abokin sarki, sarki ne.
Abokin kuka ake gaya wa mutuwa.
A ci baa sayar ba, kwai ya fi doki.
A ci a rage, shi ne ci.
A jefar da kwallon mangwaro a huta da kuda.
A aiki kare ya aiki wutsiya.
Aiki da hankali yafi aiki da agogo.
Aikin banza hutun jaki da kaya.
A kan wanke tukunya domin tuwon gobe.
Allah ke gyara tuwon makauniya har a ci ba kuda ba gashi.
Allura a cikin ruwa mai hikima kan tsinta.
Bari murna karen ka ya kama zaki.
Bashi hanji ne yana cikin kowa.
Allaura a cikin teku mai daukanta sai mai dace.
Alheri gadon bacci ne.
Alheri ne bakon gishiri a shekara ana lashewa.
Alhaki kuykuyo ne mai shi yake bi.
Amfanin sani aiki da shi.
Ba za’a ci kwado da yaro ba sai ya wanke hannunsa.
Da walakin goro a cikin miya.
Conclusion
The above Karin Magana (Hausa proverbs) are at your disposal. Feel free to use them anytime you feel like it. You could also tell us more in the comments section. Thank you.
messagearewa.com, a blog about northern Nigeria has been at the forefront in providing unique information about the region. Part of our vision is to further provide unique and insightful content to the people of northern Nigeria and the world at large. Lately, the name Message Arewa Blog just don’t fit the narrative. Hence the name change.
As mentioned earlier, the blog is all about providing unique information about the region to the world. The name messagearewa just don’t it. By transitioning to the name northpad.ng, it allows us to become a full-fledged community blog for northern Nigeria. This allows us to change the narrative of the articles we publish to reflect a more personal touch. We also incorporate categories like festivals, monuments, our heroes, traditional occupations, natural resources, and information about states and local governments in northern Nigeria.
While the name messagearewa is unique, the shift was necessary to reflect what the blog was all about; northern Nigeria. After exploring lot of options, we settled on the name northpad.ng which is all that the blog is all about.
The name also reflects our daily themes and our vision. The name north alludes to northern Nigeria while the pad represents writing and passing information which we are all about.
What Else is Changing?
Apart from the different topics and categories and the shift in the approach to our articles, nothing really changed. The kind of articles we publish remains the same, except they will now have a more personal touch.
The layout of the site has also been updated to reflect the new categories as well as enhance the user experience.
Let’s Grow Together
Basically, We are the “all good news” Community Lifestyle Website.
We are excited and eager to start this new journey. Join us, as we grow into a community you can trust for your information about northern Nigeria.
Feel free to let us know your thoughts. We will be glad to hear them!
