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| Traffic in Kano |
In life, there are things, everybody agrees. It is the same with
travel tales. The worst stories ever told, came usually from Nigeria –
too many people (every fifth African is a Nigerian!), chaos, scams,
internet fraud, Biafra, religious conflicts, Sharia law, bureaucracy,
corruption – the list is anything but entire, but everybody, who has
traveled through Nigeria can report about it. What does that mean now
for me? I would say another exciting country… Nevertheless, better
finding out myself, whether these horror stories tell the truth or
whether they are legends and myths….
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| Zaria |
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| Market, Kano |
However, the road connecting northern
Cameroon and Nigeria is in a
very poor condition, just like most streets close to borders in this
part of the world. Somewhere in the bush, the minibus leaves the tarred
road for a sand track. After half an hour driving in the sand we ended
up in a provincial town. Because of the border traffic these little
towns often have gigantic markets as goods can be traded on both sides
of the border! Passing the border was absolutely not bureaucratic
(I expected a kind of Nigerian paper war) and I was not asked for a gift
(so, entering the country is possible without any bribe). It was even
very different from what I expected: the officials were happy about my
visit, offered me the most comfortable chair (this was with four
legs!!!), gave me a cup of tea and asked me politely, on which side in
the passport I would want the entry stamp to waste as little space as
possible. After that they helped me changing money for a quite good
rate… After that the immigration officer gave me a ride on his
motorcycle to the motor park to make sure that I do not end up with the
wrong car. It was not really difficult, as there were only two cars,
out of them only one to Maiduguri. Nigeria? Yes, I was not on another
planet, but had just recently entered Nigeria….
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| Kurmi Market, Kano |
The car was extremely full with 8 people plus driver and their
luggage. The landscape was desert like with a few dry bushes and lots of
black plastic bags flying through the air. Finally, we reached
Maiduguri after four hours driving. Vandi, the receptionist of my hotel
of Maroua, was also after my departure from Maroua taking care of me. By
phone he had informed his cousin Luka in Maiduguri about my travel
plans and had urged me to call Luka, as soon as I reach Maiduguri. Well,
I did as promised, and just shortly after, Luka was there and brought
me to the guest house of Maiduguri University.
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| Kurmi Market, Kano |
The late afternoon, Luka accompanied me to the black market. Banks in
Nigeria are not of great use. Money is better and easier changed on the
street or in the market. When changing money, I usually prefer having a
local with me out of several reasons. I do not particularly trust
moneychangers, above all if one is new in a country and does not know
the exact exchange rate. Besides, when changing a bigger amount of money
somewhere on the streets is usually not unnoticed by quite a few
others. So, these people know by then, that I am running around with
quite some cash in my pockets…. So, better being with someone!
The next day, Luka brought me by motorbike to Kano Motor Park.
However, it took the minibus four long hours to fill up. We were a nice
group travelling together, almost all of us women, so that our trip was
very amusing. Wherever we stopped, me fellow travellers bought street
food out of big baskets and buckets, which was sold by small girls. They
always bought tiny amounts, so that I could try many different snacks!
We definitely had a lot of fun!
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| Kano |
After eight hours we finally arrived in Kano. According to the guide
book, there are more than 3 million people living here. Whether this
number is correct is very doubtful, the government estimated last year 8
million habitants, independent organizations are telling numbers like
14 millions. However – the town is gigantic, there is the absolute chaos
on the streets, cars, minibuses and motorcycles are racing like wild
bumblebees without recognizable traffic rules through streets lined by
blow holes, which are often extremely narrowed by little shops on both
sides of the road. In addition, beggars linger in between the vehicles,
which stop at traffic lights, water and newspaper sellers go from one
car to the other and boys with begging bowls walk through the dusty
streets…. In Kano, there are also motorcycles rickshaws which are used
above all by devote Muslim women, who would not like to go on a normal
motorcycle taxi, which is not considered as a proper means of transport
for a woman anyway. All this reminded me very much of some cities in
India, of course people look different here.
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| Indigo dye works |
Kano can be very strenuous, so was important for me to have a
reasonable lodging, where one can really recover from running around the
streets during daytime. With the guest house of Ecwa – Evangelic Church
of west Africa, I found one of these places. The room was big and clean
with private bathroom, TV, fan and AC – all this for the equivalent of
20 Euros, which is a very well invested money. In Kano, there is quite a
lot to see, however, one needs just alone due to the size of the town a
lot of time.
Especially interesting is for sure the old part of town. Here, there
is a big emir palace, which ordinary people like me can only see from
the outside. In theory, one can also arrange a visit of the interior and
even a meeting with the emir, but to get the permission needs several
weeks. Anyway, there are a lot of other things to see and to do in Kano.
The centre of the old town is the big mosque which was built in the
sixties in Saudi style, after the emir came back from his pilgrimage
from Mecca. Before, there was an old sahel style mud brick mosque at the
same place. Close to the mosque, there are the indigo dyeing pits. The
holes with the indigo are up to six meters deep. These punches are
filled with indigo, water, cinder and acid. Depending on how long the
material is dipped there, the color ranges from very bright up to
deep-blue. In this hectic town, this was one of my resting places, where
I called in over and over again. Simply sitting down on the edge of a
not used hole, chatting with the workers about the news of the day,
playing with some of the children there, is there anything better?
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| Emirpalace, Zaria |
In Kano, there are two very good museums who are accommodated in
traditional houses. It is not only the artifacts, but also the
architecture of the buildings in itself, which made the visits of these
museums interesting.
Not very far away from Kano, there is the old city of Zaria. By
minibus it is possible to reach Zaria from Kano within 1.5 hours – as
soon as the vehicle is full. And this can last…. However, we were
waiting nearly three hours…. With the minibuses there are different
models of filling it up with passengers: most often I had the version
2:4:4:4. This means two people next to the driver, in the rows behind
each row four passengers. This is a little bit problematic, as there is
only one seat next to the driver, and in the rows behind three seats per
row. Children, animals and luggage do not count at all. Well, these
minibuses are packed and travelling under conditions like these is not
always a pleasure!
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| Guard |
Well, the journey to Zaria was especially problematic, as we had a
very big African mama aboard, who clearly needed two seats. For sure,
she did not want to see that she should pay the double price… The
argument took quite some time. At last, she paid for one seat only, but
paid extra for her exorbitant luggage…
Zaria is a very old town with an emir’s palace. Here I was allowed so
see the court and some of the rooms, but not the inner ones. There, I
got to know Hamza, a very nice employee of the palace, who took great
care of me the rest of the day. First, he showed me some parts of the
palace and organized a meeting with the first secretary of the emir.
Then, he fetched his motorbike and took me to the old part of town. In
Zaria, there is a compact old town, which is surrounded by a high wall.
Some houses are decorated with great patterns in Hausa style. The thick
walls provide cool temperature inside in spite of the glowing heat
outside.
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| Hamza, Zaria |
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| Zaria |
In the afternoon, Hamza took me on a tour outside of town and drove
me all the way to Amadu Bello University. This is one of the biggest and
best known universities of Africa and one can study here all subjects. I
was glad to see mosque and church next to each other on the campus,
apparently Muslims and Christians found here their place to learn and
study. Of course, the northern part of Nigeria is mostly Muslim, but the
students here come from all over Nigeria and also from completely
Africa. Accordingly Muslims, Christians, Animists and others study and
live together here. Religious problems I did not feel here, which does
not necessarily mean, that there is none. Kano is the stronghold of the
sharia law in Nigeria and the Islamic right is also taught in Zaria
University. Personally, I have never had a problem with people here,
whatever religion they belonged to. Actually, it was right the opposite.
The problems in Jos, where Muslims and Christians are fighting since
many years, are according to most Nigerians not a question of religion,
but of politics. Christians as well as Muslims have confirmed that the
religion is abused by politicians of every religious direction for their
purposes and thus the fights break out over and over again.
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| Family of Mariya |
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| Market, Katsina |
From Kano, I continued my travels to Katsina, which is just 30
kilometers from the border with Niger. I wanted to visit Katsina anyway,
because there are quite a few things to see, but something else arrived
as well: at the hotel in Kanu, I got to know Mariya and her husband
Ishyaku, both absolutely charming people. And they invited me to visit
them in Katsina. Actually, I thought of staying one or two days there,
but these plans were immediately crisscrossed my hosts by introducing a
four days program… However, at even this amount of time was not
realistic at the end.
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| Mariya |
Not that there would be so many tourist highlights here in Katsina,
it was more things like visiting friends and family, attending a big
wedding, which was of course incredibly exciting for me. The church
service at the wedding ceremony lasted nearly three hours, there was a
lot of dancing during the service, there were several choirs singing and
of course everybody was dressed in fantastic, colorful traditional
clothes. One day, we visited Gobarau minaret in the old part of town,
which is a spiral minaret. Spiral minarets are very rare, so people
assume that the builders maybe derived inspiration in Samara/Iraq or in
Cairo/Egypt. Moreover, there is an old school and of course a lot of old
houses and crooked lanes in the old part of town.
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| Girl at a wedding |
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| Girls at a wedding |
However, most interesting was being part of family life with my new
friends Mariya and Ishyaku. They have four children; the fifth is on the
way. Going to the market, eating together, buying a new TV, going to
church – well, just normal life. One morning, I went with Mariya to
hospital. She had to attend some tests because of her pregnancy. Hardly
anyone in Africa goes alone to hospital. When it turned out, that Mariya
had her examination exactly the day I was about to leave, I just
decided on the spot to add another day in Katsina to accompany her…
However, after five days I really had to leave, which was not easy.
Here, I want to say thanks a lot to Mariya and her family for their
great help, their hospitality and their friendship. I hope very much,
that the idea with England will work out and we will soon meet somewhere
in Europe. If this is not working out – then I might just have to come
back to Nigeria myself – to the country, I was warned more than just
once, and to its inhabitants, I had nothing else but good experiences.
However, I also have to mention, that many Nigerians warned me about
their own people. Namely they warned me about people from the southern
part of the country. Of course everybody told me not to go to Jos
Plateau because of the religious and political problems there. Port
Harcourt is problematic because of kidnapping of foreigners. Without
exception all north Nigerians told me to skip Lagos, because there is
the misery of an estimated 18 million people, the chaos, the survival of
the fittest and the corruption rule all means of life.
