Yankari

On Friday October 3rd, I was able to go on a little trip to Yankari. Yankari is a protected animal reserve. It is a huge area with a hotel and you are able to take a safari ride in the bush. We did both!

We were told not to expect to see too many animals because it is the end of rainy season so the animals still spread out and get water all over the place rather then having to go close to ponds and rivers where it would be easier to see them. Once you enter the park it takes about 20 minutes to get to the reception area for the safari and hotel. The coolest thing was that on our drive to the reception area we saw two elephants! Well I saw mostly one but we could tell that there was a second one behind it. It was just a small elephant standing on the side of the road. It waved its ears out and then as we drove closer it quickly disappeared into the bush. About 10 minutes later, we were almost run over a pack of warthogs (I am not sure what the official word is for a group of warthogs but I am going to stick with pack!). As we neared the hotel area we saw baboons, everywhere! It turns out we saw more animals driving into the area than we saw on the safari. The safari itself was still neat, we did see the noses and ears of 3 Hippo’s who were mostly under the water and we also saw some Waterbuck. Basically we spent the rest of the time bumping through the bush and swatting away biting flies!

There is a river that you can walk to from the hotel area called Wikki Warm Spring. It looks like any other jungle river and I was still expecting it to feel like any standard jungle river. It lived up to its name and was a very warm river. I was not able to find out the scientific reasons for why the river is warm but I do know that it felt incredibly nice to swim in!

As I mentioned before there are baboons everywhere (It reminded me of being in Jasper where the elk roam around all over the place). These baboons are also very smart. I should also mention that the rooms at this hotel are “stand alone” little huts spread out over the property with a regular house slide and lock windows. One of the baboons decided to try and get in our hut and get some food, it jumped onto the window sill and slid the window open then proceeded to climb inside our room. One of the girls I was with, jumped off the bed and started screaming at the baboon and waving her arms around, sure enough she scared it off. We made sure we shut all the windows and locked them tight but as I stood by one window getting something out of my backpack the same baboon jumped onto the sill again and started working on the window. I had to bang at the window until the baboon jumped off and walked away. But then…the same baboon walked around the front door of our hut and sat just waiting for us the open the door so it could run inside. These things were crazy, it was hilarious!! Thankfully no baboons got into our hut during our stay although many of the parked cars weren’t so lucky. When the baboons weren’t trying to break into people rooms they were jumping onto cars and into the car’s open windows to swipe food. They would even take it right out of people’s hands. It was so funny to watch!

The 3 hour drive was really cool. It gave me a chance to see more of Nigeria and the towns and villages outside of Jos. There is a definite difference from the cities to the towns and villages. We would drive for half an hour or so without seeing anything but bush and rocky hills then with no warning both sides of the street would be packed with people, stalls, animals and little shop buildings almost right on the highway. Every so often there would be sections of the drive where little groupings of mud huts that could be seen.

On Monday, Peggy and I will start a two week trip to Gboko and Taucum. We are going to be visiting with some of the partners; to see what they do out in the field. We will be able to talk with the people who have started small businesses with the loans they have received from PCEN (Partners for Christians Empowerment Network) and we will spend time with ECJP (Ecumenical Commission for Justice and Peace). I am not sure what the internet situation will be like while we are traveling so I may not be able to post any updates while I am on that trip but I will give you the update once I am back in Jos.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your support.

Here are some prayer requests:
- Pray that we are safe as we travel and pray that our time with the CRWRC partners and the people they are serving is encouraging for them.
- Pray for me as I continue to settle into life here and that despite really missing home I will take advantage of the time God has for me here in Nigeria.

Blessings, Natalie