Exactly two years ago today since the Covid-19 lockdown started in Nigeria. This has brought still to a lot of activities especially business and travels (both local & international travels). This made me miss so much of outdoor activities although it was such a moment of self reflection, family time, online learning, growth, etc
Fast forward to July 2020, this was when the lockdown was relaxed to some degree and other activities were back (obviously with precautionary measures). I had the privilege to travel far-far north west to see different breeds of livestock at the borders of Nigeria, in a town called Illela. This town is well-know for rearing different types of livestock especially camels. This animal is very rare in the south as southern part is more of a tropical area, although they are adapted to live in extreme environments (both hot and cold) you find more of them around the arid regions. Illela is generally an arid region that gradually merged into the deserts of Niger Republic.
It was a market day so we proceeded to the market at sunrise around 5:30am where a lot of vendors show up there to showcase and sell off their stock either in exchange for another or for money.
Note: Market days vary from town to town which is a selected day of the week agreed by the town heads.
The vendors are usually berber people who are inhabitants of North Africa who were colonized by Arabs during the Muslim invasion in the 8th and 9th century. Since then many of them have be Arabized and speak some Arabic.
This tribe is scattered all over North and West Africa because they don’t know what borders are and walk through it or ride their camels. I had my longest walk ever which was some sort of adventure which of course i was seeking some because we just came out of a lockdown haha. So from one market to another for the whole day.
This fitness tracker results was 6 times my daily target, 13 times the national average, all either walking or riding the camels back.
I learnt that these herders often travel as Far East to the shores of Red Sea to cross over to Saudi Arabia where the famous camel/horse racing takes place. Taif is the most suitable location for the activity because of its weather and obviously it’s an expensive hobby for the Arab elites to watch and prizes are won.
A camel can live up to 9 days during hot season and 3 months in winter without water. They can eat thorns without causing any harm to their body because their saliva contains some certain enzymes like acid that dissolves thorns as they eat. They have transparent eyelids which one is made of flesh and the other transparent which can enable them withstand dust in desert by closing the transparent eyelid. A camel can range from $10k up to $5million.
In summary of my trip i learnt a lot about
-other culture and sets of people we had in Nigeria,
-different breeds and important features of camels,
-multiplied my fitness record,
-Taif camel racing competition
Do you like animal sporting? Do you have camels around you? Are they in arid/semi-arid regions or elsewhere?
You remember that castle in Kaduna I told you I wanted to visit?