Taraba: Searching for pathway to glorious tourism

Since the adoption of 27th September as the World Tourism Day by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in 1979, tourism has witnessed tremendous growth and has become a major source of revenue for many nations. The role of the (UNWTO) in nurturing global tourism has gone a long way in creating “awareness among […]

Since the adoption of 27th September as the World Tourism Day by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in 1979, tourism has witnessed tremendous growth and has become a major source of revenue for many nations. The role of the (UNWTO) in nurturing global tourism has gone a long way in creating “awareness among the international community on the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic values.”

Thus, in 2008, Taraba state hosted the nation to the magnificent, breathtaking Mambilla Plateau with the aim of attracting investment to the “unexploited treasure” and improve the state’s decrepit infrastructure.

Three years on, the state government had to get another hosting right because the federal road from Bali through Serti to Gembu still remains pothole-filled and unmotorable. The state government had hoped that after the 2008 national tourism day at Gembu, the federal government and investors would see the huge potentials the Mambilla Plateau holds for tourism development in Nigeria and will swing in to action by partnering with the state to fix the decayed or non-existent infrastructure in the state.

This year’s tourism day at Gembu would turn out to be a fiasco. Just few weeks to the event, two bridges on two federal highways in Taraba State have collapsed. The bad omen would foreshadow the low key tourism day celebrated last Tuesday on the Mambilla Plateau.

The theme: Tourism: Linking Cultures made a mockery of the whole event as only traditional dances and cultural displays from Taraba state had brief displays at the township stadium in Gembu.

No international tourists were seen and even within Nigeria, apart from the Benue State Commissioner of Tourism and Culture, Mrs Eli Tyonongu, it was only officials of the Federal Ministry of tourism, Culture and National Orientation and Nigeria Tourism Development Board (NTDC) who graced the occasion.

Despite that Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai could not hesitate to emphasise the rich potentials of the Mambilla Plateau to Taraba state in particular and Nigeria, in general.

“Mambilla is a great endowment to Nigeria. It can be transformed into a great treasure—this is the whole truth about Mambilla,” the soft spoken governor said.

He enjoined the Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke, to convince the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that there is an undiscovered treasure in Taraba that could be turned into a treasure base for the nation.

The Mambilla Plateau covers the southeast part of Taraba State in Nigeria and stretches to the northern border of Cameroon. A high grassland plateau peaking at about 1800 metres, it is picturesque, cool and a pleasant change from the inclement weather of Jalingo, the state capital.

Small villages scatter around the undulating plateau and stretches over to Cameroon. The settlements appear to be identical and both Nigerians and Cameroonians here regard themselves as a group with a common identity. But the Mambila language itself is a congeries of dialects and related languages.

At an altitude of some 700m, these villagers live in a different ecological zone where banana and plantain grow. Patches of green eucalyptus forests adorn the numerous valleys.

The Mambila plateau provides a unique physical and climatic conditions for human habitation as well as for cattle breeding. Suntai described it as a home of diverse cultures, diverse agricultural ventures—tea, coffee and apple plantations and dairy farms, boasting that the plateau accommodates the highest herds of fattened cattle in the country.

Researchers and explorers have revealed that the plateau has developed on a basement complex rocks and measures about 96km along its curved length. It is 40km wide, and bounded by an escarpment which is about 900m high in some places.

The Mambilla Plateau also provides the watershed for the major rivers in the state. Rivers Benue, Donga and Taraba (from which the state derives its name) all take their source from the Mambilla.

The undulating surface of the plateau with its blend of evergreen low growing grass vegetation, neatly hedged into some kind of ranches or grazing reserves, and the  snaking road with hairpin corners across hill slopes, ravines and deep gorges, make driving to and from the plateau most amazing and interesting to a visitor.

The highest peak in the country, Chappal Wade is in the north-eastern section of the Gashaka-Gumpti National Park. The park provides an attractive setting for tourists and researchers.

Cattle ranches, tea plantations and rolling, grassy hills neatly define the features of the plateau. Its unique flora and fauna sets it apart from the rest of Nigeria. It is home to some rare species of birds and animals, especially at the area around Gashaka-Gumti National Park.

The Premier of the defunct Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto, was the man who discovered the Mambilla Plateau and as a mark of honour, the local government was christened after him. He saw the potential on the Mambila Plateau even then, and he fought relentlessly to ensure that it was not ceded to the Cameroons.

The 1961 plebiscite to determine whether the Mambila Plateau should be in the Cameroon or Nigeria was to be influenced by the visit of the irreplaceable premier to the plateau in the late 1950s. His visit and the encouragement he gave the people about its development resulted in the people’s affirmative vote to be in Nigeria, despite the fact that Cameroon is just a stone throw away from them and appears to be cut off from Nigeria because of the distance and the rugged terrain. The bad situation of the road and the steep climb uphill, it takes between seven to eight hours to drive from the capital of Taraba State, Jalingo, to the expansive dome of the mountains.

Unfortunately, the great Sardauna could not live long to turn the potentials of the Mambilla into a real goldmine. Successive governments may share in the Sardauna’s vision but the political will to develop the Mambilla into a tourist hub is what makes the difference.