Saminaka: Where locals catch wild animals alive

Saminaka, which literally means ‘get your own’ in the Hausa language, is an ancient city with rich culture and history. The city is famous with stories being told of locals catching wild animals alive. It is the headquarters of Lere Local Government Area of Kaduna State and is about 195 kilometers from the state capital […]

Saminaka, which literally means ‘get your own’ in the Hausa language, is an ancient city with rich culture and history. The city is famous with stories being told of locals catching wild animals alive. It is the headquarters of Lere Local Government Area of Kaduna State and is about 195 kilometers from the state capital Kaduna.
Surrounded by hills and rocks, Saminaka boasts of a bustling economy were farm produce get easy market as a result of a railway station. Saminaka also connects easily to parts of Plateau, Bauchi, Kano, Benue, Nasarawa states and other parts of Kaduna state like Zaria. With the influx of people, it has now come back to life as it was during the old Lere vassal state in 1808.
Today, Saminaka has found its way back to limelight and is attracting a multitude of funseekers from within and outside Nigeria who frequent the Saminaka Agro Base and Holiday Resort to have fun in the serene and scenic atmosphere or hold seminars and company retreats.
At the resort, visitors get to see wild horses, tortoise, antelopes, chimps, baboons, pythons, monkeys, and crocodiles. There are also donkeys, cattle, peacock, swans, ducks and pigeons. 
“If you need any kind of animal in our locality, just tell us where you want us to take it to. We hunt in the night without guns or knife. It’s part of our tradition to catch all animals in the bush alive,” Tanko Musa, a local in Saminaka, told our correspondent.
Some of the friendly animals that are being caught and brought to the facility by the locals make Saminaka Resort unique and enabling it to compete favourably with similar resorts across the world like the Munyonyo Commonwealth Resort run by some white people in Uganda.
Saminaka Resort is accessible from every direction – Bauchi, Jos, Kano, Nasarawa, Benue, Abuja and other parts of Kaduna. And as you move you see locals holding dry bush meat and sometimes live animals.
To enjoy the serene environment and tourist sites in Saminaka, members of State Houses of Assembly, from Sokoto, Kaduna, Plateau, Bauchi and many others troop to the area for retreat and conferences. Local and international organisations also hold programmes in Saminaka, Weekly Trust gathered.
“We are not done; we want to prove to the whole world that things can be done in this country with legitimate efforts. We want to have a golf-course, polo field, football pitches where Super Eagles and other internationals can come and camp without distraction. This will be possible if we construct a helipad and a hangar where helicopters can land. We already have a lawn tennis and basketball courts closed to the swimming pool.  Ghana has done it, South Africa has done it. We want to stop people from going to other countries to discuss the problems of this country,” a tourist and Chairman of Saminaka Agro limited, Musa Tugga Karam, said in an interview with our correspondent.
According to Karam, “Imagine if every local government has a resort like the one we have here in Saminaka, hundreds of youths will be employed. Tourism alone has the capacity to move Nigeria forward. Our capacity to invest and attract foreigners has to be improved because as am talking to you, many white people come to Saminaka Resort enjoy their lives and go.”
Saminaka, from its location, is part of the monolith community as tourists move to other attraction sites in other parts of Kaduna State. Saminaka Resort has a well built mosque and chapel where religious tolerance is been preached on daily basis, it was observed.
“For parents with children who love travelling, they won’t regret it if they visit Saminaka because of the attractive and natural animals in the zoo, most of whom were caught from the bush and brought to the facility,” a resident said.
Saminaka Resort has the highest work force in Lere local government apart from government establishments. Many of the youth of the area have been engaged in some self reliant businesses such as fresh fish and meat selling in various locations. Fried yam with eggs at the Saminaka junction is a nice delicacy visitors to the area said they will live to remember.
“I’ve been at this resort for over a week now with my family. We came from Abuja to spend our holiday. This is a place to be and everything here is in such a way that you don’t miss anything when you are here. We have a well built mosque here so I always observed my prayers without hindrance,” said Ibrahim Mohammed at the resort.
Speaking about the progress of the resort centre, Musa Tugga Karam said he got a loan and bought the land in three phases. “It was an agric loan and we farm fish, chicken, cows, rams, and horses apart from other animals that are in our zoo.
“When we were having about 33 rooms, there was high demand but we have to keep taking loan and credit. Today, South Africans and many people from other countries are now coming to Saminaka and some of them if they see the tourist potential in Kaduna state, they always promise to bring international partners.
“Even the locals here have assured me that even if I want pythons and other wild animals that I should just tell them they will bring them alive. I’ve told them I don’t need animals that can cause havoc but friendly animals like antelopes, monkeys, baboon and others,” Karam said.
“The locals that you are seeing here catch wild animal alive without the use of guns. They also have horses in their bushes,” Karam added.