Caboose

We got up a bit later than planned after another uncomfortable night. The rain had made it a bit cold, so I actually climbed inside my sleeping bag, which meant there was less padding underneath me.

After another breakfast of unsweetened porridge we packed our things, including the still damp clothes from yesterday. The leftover food was dashed to George, who seemed quite pleased.

The king and his advisers appeared for a final photograph and to send us off back down the path to Mildo market. Tuesday is market day, so many of the locals had already gone that way.

At Mildo market we stopped for refreshments with George and the others who had walked down with us. The Site Higher Executive Officer from the National Commission for Museums and Monuments came to greet us and ask how we had enjoyed our visit.

Dave stopped to buy a present for Marebec and then we headed over to where the buses and motorbikes were. The only taxi driver was demanding far too much money, so instead we arranged motorbikes to take us back to Madagali for 200 Naira each.

Just as we were leaving Simon the guide reappeared in a bit of a flap. He said we should have come to see him at his office to “sign out”, but his office is some distance away beside the District Head’s house. We had visited Simon’s house as we’d promised on Sunday, but he wasn’t there. He hadn’t brought his forms with him, so in the end we just left him complaining at the side of the road.

We were waiting for a bus at the side of the road in Madagali when a man appeared, saying that he was from immigration and we had to come back to his office. It seems his boss had seen us passing on the machines. After checking his ID we hopped on machines again for the short journey to the immigration office.

At immigration we met the man in charge there, whose office was in a garage. Both men were quite friendly and talkative, I suspect they were just bored and wanted a chat. They’d both been posted up to north-eastern Adamawa state from the south and I think they were finding it difficult. We didn’t mention our little trip across the border yesterday.

They eventually stopped a bus for us and it took us all the way to Maiduguri, dropping us just after the university. From there we took machines back to St Patrick’s.

Once we’d showered and changed we walked into town and tried to visit the palace of the Shehu (the local equivalent of an Emir). The guards asked us to sit down while they talked to the Shehu’s secretary and kept popping back to say he’d be coming shortly. After a while he drove out, the guards insisted he’d be back soon. Eventually one of them pointed out a few features in the courtyard then took us outside to show us the front of the palace. It was a very subtle way to get us out, not what you expect from the Nigerian police at all.

We went out for suya in the evening but were concerned by the hygiene standards at the suya stall. They insisted on washing the cooked suya sticks in grotty-looking water. When we complained they replaced with soapy water from an unknown source.

During the night the early morning call to prayer from the mosques seemed to go on for at least half an hour. In contrast the cathedral summoned its faithful with just a few dings of the bell. Maiduguri has always been peaceful but there were nasty riots there this year, Father Marcel told us about how they had had to barricade themselves inside the cathedral compound.