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 27^th 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

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.