NIGERIA

The Big Kahuna

The drive from Abomey to the Ketou border crossing took us about 2 hours. The actual crossing itself is 15km past Ketou and the Benin border control offices are a little difficult to spot. We got to a boom with Nigeria on it and were told we had come too far. Looking behind us there was an immigration official waving to us from a building so we backtracked a 100 metres and went inside. He informed us we had gone way past the Customs Office which was 15km back on the outskirts of Ketou. The friendly official offered to arrange for a motor bike to show us to the Nigerian border controls and also to have a trusted money changer exchange our CFA’s into Naira. We completed our immigration then sped back to Ketou and completed custom exit formalities for Proper Job. The officials were all extremely helpful and friendly and reinforced my conclusion that Benin is a great country to spend time in.

I did wonder why the immigration officer suggested we have someone show us to the Nigerian border controls as I would have thought they were straight ahead through the barrier....not so. We followed a bike along a winding dirt track for a couple of kilometres, through a village until we came to the Nigerian border control offices. Formalities here were straightforward and by 10.30am we were through and on our way. We were now on the road that we had heard so many bad stories about concerning constant police stops and hassle from ‘stick boys’ who push nail studded planks of wood in front of your car. We soon hit our first stop, then our second and then another fifteen or so. We passed many others that were not manned. Some of the official stops were only a couple of hundred metres apart and seemed pointless. The customs, immigration, health and a few other stops took us 2 hours to drive 25 kilometres. It is, of course, very frustrating but you have to keep your sense of humour. One check point made a story of how our Yellow Fever certificates were not valid as the nurse had not stamped her signature, and another said our car was illegal as it was right hand drive. I told him that the border customs knew it was a UK vehicle and had allowed us into Nigeria as we were only in transit. The problem with these stops is that it wasted valuable time, and we wanted to push as far as we could towards Abuja that day.

Eventually we got past them all and then we hit Abeokuta, our first large Nigerian town. The traffic was manic and it took us ages to get through. Reading other journals of overlanders and referring to our Tracks4Africa it appeared that most head from here to Ibadan and then northwards through Ilorin to Mokwa, where they turn eastwards via Bida, Minna and Suleja to arrive in Abuja. Hence we decided to take the same route...much to our regret. When we got to Ibadan the heavens opened and the rain was so heavy we could not continue. It was 4.30pm and we had been driving since 6.30am so we pulled over and stayed the night.

The following day it was still raining and we left at 6.30am to try and make it to Abuja, which lay 600 km away. I estimated we would arrive by about 5pm but I had not taken into account the condition of the roads. To be fair, the road northwards to Jebba and Mokwa are pretty good, but after that was appalling. A word of warning for others, do not take this route if you can help it as the road eastwards from Mokwa to Bida is very bad and mega dangerous because it is the route used mainly by lorries. A few hours later we reached Mokwa and headed eastwards and the lorry traffic was unrelenting. The Nigerian driving, as anyone who has been here will attest to, is abysmal. We saw the aftermath of some horrendous crashes, and in these rainy conditions it takes absolute concentration and continual honking of the horn to get through unscathed. The road itself was full of potholes and ripped tarmac and we can’t remember having even 1 kilometre of clean tarmac. It really surprised me that others who had taken this route have not warned of the dangers, as there is a much faster and safer way via Ife and Lokoja to Abuja.

Eventually we arrived at Suleja, which is a major oil truck stop over town, just as the light was fading. We knew that we were close to a major expressway which leads straight to Abuja. I sent a text to my friend Bill Hussey in Abuja and told him we would arrive at around 7.30pm. What I hadn’t accounted for is the fact that Suleja stretches for kilometres along the road that passes through it and it took us an hour to get through. Bill mentioned to his ‘Mr Fix It’ called IK where we were and he was shocked we had even attempted this route. One of my golden rules for this trip is that we do not drive at night because of the risk of an accident. There were people milling around everywhere and a multitude of bikes and cars, most of which had no brake lights or even headlights. In hindsight we should have stayed in Suleja (if we could have located a motel) but we were quite close to Abuja so we pushed on. We made it to the expressway and continued to Abuja where we arrived at 9pm....absolutely exhausted after a marathon 15 hour drive.

We met our friend Bill, a fellow Camborne School of Mines mining engineering mate, at the Sheraton and made our way to his house where we would stay for the week while acquiring our final 3 visas that would take us all the way to South Africa. We had a quick look for any other overlanders at the Sheraton but could not see anyone there. That evening we chatted amiably about our trip, had a few cold Star beers and hit the sack.

The following day was Sunday and that would give us time to catch up on the progress and challenges of Bill’s gold exploration projects in the north of Nigeria which we planned to visit, relax some more and prepare for the Angola Embassy which we planned to hit as soon as they opened on Monday. That afternoon, we toured around Abuja which is a very clean and quiet city. We had a delicious lunch at Wakkis Indian restaurant and then watched the World Cup final over a few more Star beers and a nice home cooked beef stew. I wasn’t particularly bothered who won the final, and the game turned out to be very edgy and both teams had their chances to win it.

Monday morning we arrived at the Angola Embassy at 8.30am to apply for our double entry visa, only to find out that it opens at 9.30am. Whilst waiting for the gate to open we met an English couple called David and Jane who were 8 months into an 8 year drive around the world in their Land Rover.......yes 8 years !! When we got into the embassy you are given a number and then sit and wait to be called out. Once called you ask for a visa application form and then sit and wait again. When the form eventually arrived we read through it and realised that we needed almost as many supporting documents for the Angola visa as we did for our Nigerian visa. We didn’t have these so had to shoot over to Bill’s office to make copies of passport with Nigeria visa, relevant Carnet de Passage pages, vaccination certificates, car insurance and International Driving license. We arrived back at the Angola Embassy at about 11am and reclaimed our numbered badges and sat and waited to be called. Another word of warning, you can only apply for visas on Mondays and Wednesdays so plan your week in Abuja carefully if you are seeking other visas. Eventually we were able to submit our forms and were given a receipt with a collection time and date, which was two days later at 10am.

We decided to go to the Cameroon Embassy and Congo Embassy to show our faces, get visa application forms and find out how long they would take to issue once we submitted them. We were told the Cameroon visa would take up to 48 hours and the Congo visa 24 hours. Without our passports (that were now in the Angola Embassy until Wednesday), we could do no more and looked likely that we would be here for the full week. The longer than expected time to get the Angola double entry visa meant that we also could probably not go to the north of Nigeria to see Bill’s gold projects.

That evening Bill took us to Rooftop Cafe at the British Council where we had nice pizzas and a couple of cold star beers. Thinking about the journey ahead through Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, DRC and Angola we decided that evening we should get Proper Job serviced and checked over, even though not due for another 2000 km. The thought of trying to get this done in a French speaking Central African country did not appeal much. Bill and IK offered to take us to a mechanic they use for their Toyota services so we had a worthwhile task for Tuesday.

The following morning IK showed us the way to S.H. Sonny Motors (tel 0803 7008053) where I spoke to Sunday Kwashue (Director) about our journey and what we needed doing. Sunday, like many others we had met, was genuinely in awe that we could have driven from England and agreed to do the work for 20,000 Naira which I thought was a good deal. I left Sam with Proper Job and the Sonny Motors mechanics and headed back into the centre to withdraw money from the MasterCard accepting banks (Zenith and GT Bank) and check out the rates from the hordes of official money changers that line the street outside the Sheraton Hotel. I know that there are very few ATM machines in the next few countries we are driving through so decided to stock up with a stash of central African CFA’s. Remember that you cannot use your West African CFA’s in Central Africa.

Later that afternoon, Proper Job reappeared and all seems to be well. We know that ahead lies some of the roughest roads we will meet on our journey so I wanted to be as assured as one can be that we have prepared as well as one can do.

That evening we headed to an outdoor bar restaurant where we had some local food, including a large catfish. The restaurant has a pond full of them and you point out the one you want and later it appears cooked and wrapped in foil. The fish was very spicy and peppery but we washed it down with a few more cold star beers...maybe a few too many.

The following morning, feeling a bit groggy, we headed back to the Angola Embassy at 10.15am to hopefully pick up our passports. The fellow overlanders that we had met on Monday were already there waiting. Again we had to get a number and wait to hand in the receipt with collection date and time on. The others, who had earlier handed in their receipts, soon got their passports with visas and headed over to the Cameroon Embassy. Thirty minutes later, at 10.45am, our number was called and I took the chance on asking if our passports were ready as our receipt said 10am pickup. Fortunately the lady immediately handed us our passports with visas, which saved us from having to wait once again for our number to be called out. I asked her for confirmation on the double entry and 5 days, and was told that we could go in twice but the total number of days for both was 5. As we planned to go through Cabinda (Angola) into the DRC and then via Matadi into Angola, we would have to ensure that the border officials also understood this....let’s see what happens when we get there.

IK then drove us to the Cameroon Embassy and, on the way, I decided to change plans and firstly go back to the Congo Embassy and ask the helpful lady officer if it was at all possible to get our Congo visas in a couple of hours. If we could do this then we would still have time the same day to put in our application for our Cameroon visas, which meant we could then go on Thursday to see the gold projects and northern Nigeria. Definitely worth a go. We had got our DRC visas from Lome, Togo in just 3 hours and upon arrival at the Congo Embassy were very surprised to hear that they would give us our visas in just 1 hour. It was 11am by the time we submitted our forms so we headed down to the money changers to stock up with CFA’s. It is worth asking different dealers for rates, but they generally all gravitate to the same number. That completed, we headed back to the Congo Embassy where we arrived at 12.10pm. I was assured the passports were about to be collected and after a 10 minute wait they appeared and we set off to the Cameroon Embassy which is just down the road. Upon arrival, the ladies remembered me from my Monday visit to get the application forms and after a bit of friendly banter they went through our completed forms and supporting documents. Besides copies of our Nigeria visa (which we had provided) they also asked for a photocopy of our Angola and Congo visas. I queried whether they also would like a copy of our Gabon visa but they said this was not necessary as you can get this visa in Yaunde, Cameroon. Whatever, so I walked 20 metres down the road to get the copies done, came back 5 minutes later and formally submitted our application forms. The staff at the embassy were very friendly and helpful and told us we could in fact come in tomorrow afternoon to get our visas. I thanked them for their offer and explained we would be in the north on Thursday and so we come in on Friday.
We made a lot of progress on Wednesday and had managed to achieve three visas in three working days. If it were three consecutive days it would have been even better but this is not doable because the Angola Embassy keeps hold of your passport for the almost three day duration it takes to apply and issue their visas. The plan now was to head to the north for a couple of days, pick up our Cameroon visa on Friday and then make the long journey to a northern border crossing into Cameroon. We spent some time with IK plotting a route that would take us along good roads only, as we didn’t want a repeat of the mistake we had made coming from Ibadan to Abuja.

The journey north to Kaduna took almost 3 hours but the road was very good. Again we wondered at the driving of some Nigerian’s as it was quite common to have oncoming traffic on your side of the road. The further north you go in Nigeria the more Muslim it becomes. However, by all accounts the north is supposedly the nicest and safest part of the country. We did not stop at Kaduna, where we would be spending the night, but travelled for another 2 hours to take a look at Bill’s gold exploration projects at Birnin Gwari. Bill forewarned us that the road between Kaduna and Birnin Gwari was poor, but in comparison to the Mokwa-Bida road it was in great condition.

I had reviewed the Birnin Gwari gold project on maps but was struck by the scale of the concession area, each one being 200 square kilometres. We drove through the barrier past the gun toting security guard, though it did look home made. Arriving at the site offices we went on a 2 kilometre hike through the bush to take a closer look at a series of artisanal workings. These consisted of numerous hand dug pits and trenches covering numerous out-cropping quartz veins. Artisanal mining has been going on here for decades and through their back breaking labour must have recovered many ounces of gold. Bill’s plan is to test the area for its potential by carrying out a modern day exploration program which includes drilling to depth. Next we went to a nearby village to see how they extracted the gold. First they pound the pieces of rock with a metal pole. The locals had a good laugh when I attempted to do so as I spilt more than I kept in the wooded pounding bowl. The workings near the village indicated that the quartz structures they had found here were rich in gold. The area looked a bit like a rabbit warren as there were a multitude of tunnels and vertical holes more than 10 metres below surface. Beware the person who decides to walk around here at night as it will definitely end up with a fall down one of these tunnels. We watched how they set up sluices to wash and capture the pieces of gold. The preparation process is quite meticulous as, if it is not, the result could be you miss the gold altogether.

The villagers were all extremely friendly and this has much to do with how Bill has managed the project and local relationships from day one. If one does get it wrong it could well end up in a real battle. Bill correctly concluded that the locals, by digging their pits and tunnels, were actually doing valuable early stage exploration. Certainly where they dug deep holes there was rich gold structures. I was pleased I had managed to come here to see these extensive workings and it brought back memories of the great times I had had in the gold mining industry. For me, there is not a more exciting sector to be in than exploration as you really never know what will turn up. Bill has done an excellent job in setting this project up from scratch and I applaud a fellow Camborne School of Mines graduate that has made it happen in a difficult environment.

Later that afternoon we headed back to Kaduna where we planned to have dinner with a group of Nigerian Camborne School of Mines graduates (Ebenezer, Samson and Jesse). It was a great evening reminiscing about the people and lecturers and they were genuinely delighted to meet up with us. Dr. Ebenezer Damisa graduated a year ahead of me and is in the process of establishing a school of mines at Jos, a famous Nigerian mining province. Jos is known mainly for its rich tin reserves, but also has nice emeralds and tourmalines.

The following morning, we drove back to Abuja and went to the Cameroon Embassy to pick up our last visa. We would spend one last night in Abuja before heading 700km north eastwards to the Mora border crossing and into Cameroon. The drive took us through Jos, Bauchi, Potiskum to Maiduguri, where we planned to spend a night before hitting the Cameroon border.
Bill Hussey has been a great host and friend. He went out of his way to ensure that we had a good time in Abuja whilst getting our visas for our onward journey to South Africa. Having use of his ‘Mr Fix It’ called IK (full name Anslem Oparah) made the trips to and from the embassy’s as stress free as possible. I am not sure how many beers I owe Bill for his help, but I am sure the Bolingey Inn near my hometown of Perranporth, Cornwall will benefit handsomely. Bill goes back to Tehidy, Cornwall in a couple of days for a well deserved break and I genuinely wish him all the best. I just hope he hasn’t blamed me for his delay in going home to see his wife Sue and daughters !