Gashaka: A Community that Yearns for Modernity

Tourists troop into this town on a daily basis. And they do not do this in few numbers. The allure the town holds for many, in the first instance, is its cool weather which rarely fluctuates despite abrupt seasonal changes. The other source of attraction for foreigners and nationals alike is the fact that one […]

Tourists troop into this town on a daily basis. And they do not do this in few numbers. The allure the town holds for many, in the first instance, is its cool weather which rarely fluctuates despite abrupt seasonal changes.

The other source of attraction for foreigners and nationals alike is the fact that one of the country’s greatest natural assets can be found soundly ensconced in the bowels of the town. One can easily drive across the town in a little less than an hour but it equally offers a route to Gembu, a border town between Nigeria and Cameroon which is the tea resource centre of the nation albeit vastly untapped.

Gashaka is a Local Government Area in Taraba State, Nigeria. Its headquarters is located in the town of Serti. It has an area roughly estimated to be in the range of 8,393 km² and a population of 87,781 as at the 2006 by official census figures.

The Gumpti national park is one of the greatest natural habitats of the nation which accommodates thousands of animals living in unabashed nature’s cocoon with little or no interaction with human activities.

Tourists from different parts of the world come into this town principally to view these animals in their natural terrain with a token fee paid to the authorities.

Others, like academicians and researchers find it a veritable melting point for their study into nature’s secrets. A few others simply come into town to savour nature through a well deserved rest from their daily hectic schedule at work.

Whichever class one belongs to it is a well known fact that Gashaka holds diverse fond memories for many people. But despite this laudable attributes, it is one town that still basks pitiably in the throes of underdevelopment and lack.

One of its greatest challenges appears to be in the area of comfortable and adequate accomodation facilities to take care of the peculiar needs of the thousands that visit yearly or pass through it for onnward journey to the massive Mambilla Plateau that is a few miles off its borders.

An already tired tourist may spend valuable hours traversing its small length in search of boarding facilities to lay their heads for the night. Apart from the Gumpti National Park tourist camp, which has its own unique challenges, there appears to be very few other guest houses or hotels to accommodate tourists and visitors.

The park’s tourist camp itself is a ghost of its former self, say residents. Apart from decaying infrastructure it battles with the issue of power supply, which makes the residential abode to be constantly in darkness unless in the night when its generating set comes to the rescue and this is promptly shut down before the midnight hour.

But the greatest source of worry for the town’s residents and visitors is the sparse or near non-availability of banking facilities in the mini-town.

It would be a regrettable error for a potential tourist to depend on getting a working automated teller machine for quick cash in case of emergency in Gashaka. The town can only boasts of only one bank’s branch, the United Bank of Africa, UBA located in the city centre. The dilapidated structure in dire need of upgrade is the only banking facilities the entire town depends on.

It is a regular sight according to a resident to see long lines of people queuing up to make use of the bank’s facilities. Fisticuffs regularly happen in the process of patronage. It’s ATM which wears marked signs of ravages of time works epileptically to the chagrin customers many of which prefer to enter the banking hall to carry out their transactions. But the bank still offers a source of affinity to modernity despite its forlorn state.

Despite this battle to embrace snippets of modernity however the town still holds a much cherished history that makes it a veritable spot to visit as far as Nigeria’s tourism spots are concerned.

A national park’s chequered history

This park lies in the mountainous north-eastern region of Nigeria, covering a sizeable swathe of the south-eastern part of Taraba, which makes up the Gashaka region which borders the more temperate Mambilla Plateau, and also the southern part of Adamawa State which is known as the ‘Gumti’ section. This section is close to the Cameroon border, particularly, the Faro National Park in Cameroon. The park is divided into two sections, north and south, with each having its unique natural endowments of both fauna and flora.

Online records have it that the Gashaka Gumpti national park is perhaps the largest such wildlife location in the entire country. ‘Gashaka-Gumti National Park (GGNP) is a national park in Nigeria; it was gazetted from two game reserves in 1991 and is Nigeria’s largest national park. The total area covers about 6402 km², much of the northern GGNP is savannah.

The southern GGNP sector of the park has rugged terrain from about 300 m up to 2.419 m at Chappal Waddi, Nigeria’s highest mountain. It is an important water catchment area for the Benue River. There is abundant river flow even during the markedly dry season,’ says Wikipediaonline. It adds also that the uncommon ‘red faced Lovebird is abundantly found here and in the Central African Republic’s Bamingui-Bangoran National Park and Biosphere Reserve.’

In the amazing recorded experience of the deputy manager of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, NCF’s Gashaka Project of 2004 one comes to appreciate the awe inspiring aura of the national park and its vastly untapped potentials. Tagged, ‘climbing the ‘mountain of death’ Aaron Nicholas narrates his experiences while exploring the vast expanse of wildlife enclave including the amazing heights of the Gangiwal, Nigeria’s acclaimed highest mountain.

He narrates inter alia: ‘Nigeria’s highest mountain, Gangirwal, stands at 7,963 ft (2,419 m) and is found in the Adamawa mountains in a remote corner of Gashaka-Gumti National Park (GGNP).

The park covers 6,600 sq km (roughly 3 times the size of Greater London) and is Nigeria’s largest National Park. The name Gangirwal translates as “the mountain of death”. There is certainly an ominous and overbearing feeling when viewing the bulk of the mountain from below at the small village of Jauro Hammasale.

However, as long as you do not disturb the keeper of the mountain, the only danger that exists when you climb is that you will suffer from a seriously good walk that will afford a unique insight into the culture, scenery and natural biodiversity of the region.

Trekking across Gangirwal takes about 8-10 days if time is allowed to visit remote rural communities and look for wildlife. Much of the walking follows high watersheds along the Cameroon-Nigeria boundary with amazing views over each country.

Numerous habitats are passed through and different ways of life observed and there is always the chance of spotting some of the important wildlife species that GGNP is famed for including chimpanzee, giant-forest hog, buffalo, klipspringer and leopard to name but a few.

This is adventure style walk, led by knowledgeable local guides and assisted by cooks and porters who will carry the loads and prepare local dishes that are guaranteed to fill the end-of-day stomach holes. Tents, basic camping equipment and food are carried by the porters, leaving those trekking free to carry only lightweight day-packs.’

Of the summit of the awesome mountain he records too. ‘The 21 sq km area of the summit of Gangirwal itself is reminiscent of areas of the Scottish Highlands, consisting of a varied landscape of lichen covered bare rock, low layers of shrubs and herbs, montane grassland and montane riparian woodland. Many plant and tree species found here are not found elsewhere in Nigeria, and their sensitivity is such that both man made fire and overgrazing by cattle from Cameroon represent threats to their survival and to the integrity of many of these unique habitats.’

He also records the noble efforts of researchers working in the famed Gashaka forests on a project called Gashaka Primate Project.  ‘En route to Gashaka, it is worth detouring 800 metres on the road to visit Kwano research station where you may be lucky enough to meet some of the Nigerian and international primatologists working under the umbrella of the “Gashaka Primate Project”. The focus of the Gashaka Primate Project is primarily to habituate a community of chimpanzees resident in the forest near the research station.

Other researchers are also at work studying baboons and facets of primate ecology and behaviour. As part of their work, the researchers have cleared paths through the forest and it is worth taking a few hours to slowly walk one of these to look for primates.

Apart from the chance of seeing chimpanzees, it is likely you will see monkey species such as the silky black and white colobus, chirpy putty-nosed monkeys or the white faced Mona monkeys.

From Kwano, the next port of call are the national park’s offices in Gashaka, many of which were built by a project of NCF/WWF that closed in 2008. The project was formed in 1992 to assist with the development of the park and has a broad based focus with activities including capacity and infra-structural improvement of GGNP, park protection, rural development, environmental education, research and monitoring.’

His predecessor Andrew Dunn, deputy manager of NCF’s Gashaka Project, 1992-2001 paints a more graphic picture of the vast natural endowments of the region. ‘The Northern, Gumti sector of the park is relatively flat and covered with woodlands and grasslands, whilst the Southern, Gashaka sector is more mountainous and contains vast expanses of rainforest as well as areas of woodlands and montane grassland.

This rugged terrain is characterised by steep, thickly forested slopes, deep plunging valleys, precipitous escarpments and swiftly flowing rivers.

Altitude ranges from 450 metres above sea level in the wild savannah plains of the Northern sector, to the peaks and pinnacles of Gangirwal in the Southern park sector, which at a staggering 2,400 metres above sea level, represents Nigeria’s highest mountain. It is the sheer variety of different habitats within Gashaka-Gumti National Park that makes the area so uniquely rich in wildlife. In fact the park is actually an intricate mosaic of montane grasslands, savannah woodlands, swamps, lakes, mighty rivers, dark lowland rainforests, and luxuriant, montane rainforests strewn with ferns and orchids. Each habitat supports its own distinctive community of plants and animals.’

Despite prominence Gashaka suffers

Being close to one of nature’s natural attractions to mankind should ordinarily be a plus to this town. But this is not so. Rather residents still have to battle with access to basic necessities of a modern town. Electricity is at its lowest with majority of household getting used to powering their energy needs through the use of generating sets.

The town shockingly has only one petrol filling station to handle the needs of thousands of its residents. So it is a common sight to see long queues of vehicles and humans jostling to purchase the precious liquid. More chaos is added to the whole scenario when vehicles in transit decide to join the maddening crowd to buy fuel.

But the greatest plea by residents for now seems to be that of more financial institutions and regular power supply. A member of staff of the tourist park who prefers anonymity has this to say to the reporter. ‘Electricity is our problem here. We don’t even have it not to talk of having an improvement. We rely on generating sets. The sets are put on at 7pm and shut down at 11pm or midnight sharp. This is to tell you that we are not having the best of times. And you know that a park of national standard like this requires energy constantly.’

Hamed on his own part can be seen standing in front of the only bank in town with a frown on his face. On this particular day the ATM has stopped working as usual and he has to wait at the gate for the bank’s staff to resume so he can enter the banking hall to withdraw money for a pressing need. It is betting close to 9pm and his patience is fast dissipating as the arrival of the bank officials is not in sight. ‘If only other banks will consider our plight and set up branches here in town then maybe all this stress will end one day. It is becoming unbearable to access banking services here,’ he says.

Additional information courtesy of the Gashaka Primate Project, the Gashaka Gumpti National Park and Department of Anthropology, University College London.