Caboose

Dave, Marebec and I took Friday off work and met Phyllis horribly early in the morning for the eight-hour trip up to Sokoto. The early start was both so that we can complete the journey in daylight and because the cars at Jabi motor park fill quicker early in the morning.

Before long we were off, with the road gradually deteriorating once we passed Kaduna. The bush on either side was noticeably greener than in February and we saw quite a few camels and donkeys along the road once we got further north. We also had an unexpected (but short) stop in Zamfara state when one of the car’s tyres burst.

We were fairly tired after the long journey, so we sat around Phyllis’s house for a while then went to the Double-7 internet cafe for a bit of browsing before being joined by Bashir, who gave us a lift back to the house. Jan had travelled across from Birnin Kebbi in the afternoon, he and Marijke (from the local Leprosy hospital) picked us up and we went for dinner at McDonalds (not to be confused with the giant American company).

On Saturday we had a nice late start and then Bashir collected us for a visit to the cattle market, Marebec wanted to see more camels. There were also lots of scrawny cows there.

From the market we drove through the old part of Sokoto, stopping briefly at the tomb of Usman Dan Fodio (more here), the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate. The tomb was surprisingly unimpressive, I was expecting some of the beautiful Islamic designs you see on mosques, instead it all looked a bit run down. Our next stop, the palace of the Sultan of Sokoto, was more impressive, with some large and elaborately decorated reception rooms.

Later in the afternoon Marijke drove us out to Amanawa Leprosy Referral Hospital, which is quite far outside the city. She had arranged camel riding for us, I didn’t bother but Marebec, Phyllis and Jan did. The patients’ children seemed to find Baturis on camels very entertaining.

Marijke is a physiotherapist at the hospital, she showed us around the site including the mens’ and womens’ wards. We even had a go at fetching water from the well. Despite the hard work of all the staff the hospital suffers badly from uncertain funding, almost all of their money comes from The Leprosy Mission, with little involvement by the Federal Ministry of Health.

We finished off Saturday by going for a meal, at one of the typical Nigerian restaurants where most things on the menu are not available, and then visiting the bar at the local PW camp.

On Sunday we dropped by the groundnut cooperative to buy some of their lovely peanut butter. Just outside was a goat with an impressive head of hair. We also spent a while wandering around the main market and visited the leatherworkers’ part of town. We had been invited to lunch at PW, where they had put on a fantastic curry.

In the evening we were invited round to Bashir’s for dinner. His lovely wife and children were there and we had an incredible meal, with probably the best salad I’ve had in Nigeria.

Monday was the usual long, hot and uncomfortable trip back to Abuja.