The many camels of Jabo

Our reporter’s automatic reaction to the several hundreds of camels lined up at the gate leading into Jabo community could best be described as that of a child squealing at the sight of a pleasant surprise.They were strategically displayed to show off the community’s cultural heritage; camels and horses are traditional symbols of the Jabo […]

Our reporter’s automatic reaction to the several hundreds of camels lined up at the gate leading into Jabo community could best be described as that of a child squealing at the sight of a pleasant surprise.
They were strategically displayed to show off the community’s cultural heritage; camels and horses are traditional symbols of the Jabo people. The desert animals came to be a part of the community since the coming of Islam to northern Nigeria because they were the mode of transportation from the Sahara to other places the Sarikin Fada of Jabo, Ibrahim Jabo, explained.
“The animal serves multiple purposes here. Family heads buy for themselves and for their sons also. They use it to cultivate their farms, as a mode of transportation as well as a source of meat,” Ibrahim said. “Because it is an integral part of our culture now, we use it during ceremonies.”
Beyond these, they also are a class definition item of the people. “A royal family isn’t supposed to own camels because it is used by peasants. Royals only have horses. Then peasants have only camels. If you see a horse, it belongs to royalty,” he said.
Explaining the reproductive system of the camel, the Sarkin Fada said it is bi-sexual: “The female carries her pregnancy for 12 months before it gives birth to one calf only. It also nurses the calf through breast milk for 12 months as well, before they wean the calf. During that feeding period the female calf doesn’t conceive because the male will not even go close to it until it is through with nursing. Even at that, she does not conceive until after one year. So by default, a camel cannot have a calf earlier than two years of a previous birth. The camels eat grass but prefer the bitter tasting ones like dogon yaro.”  
Ibrahim said taking care of them is quite an easy task: “We give them water once every week because they have humps with which they reserve water in their bodies. If you give the camel water on a Sunday, you don’t need to give it again until another Sunday. The only thing is that, maybe after you have worked with it, you can take it to graze in the bush where it will find its own food. You can then take it home afterwards. In the morning you can take it to work again and if you have no reason to use it for work, then you can take it to graze again.”
On how the animals cope in the dry season, he said because camels like bitter tasting plants and dongon yaro is a plant which is all seasonal, they never experience a food shortage: “If you try to give it water before the one week, you’ll see that it refuses the water or food. When it needs water and you give it food, even if you take it out to graze, it won’t eat. That’s how you know it needs water. You have to give it water before it eats.”
Ibrahim said camels exhibit symptoms when they are ill to alert their owners: “They are less active and unduly slow. If you take it out to graze, and it’s ill, it will stay in one position all day until you come back for it.”
He added that: “The treatments we use are readily accessible to us here. Most times we use potassium which we mix with water. And give them to drink. When they drink this, it cleanses their system. But if it is external, we call the specialists to examine, make a diagnosis and then give prescription.”
The Sarkin Fada explained that: “Their most common sickness is attributed to rainy season when insects sting and infect them. When they take ill at such times, they sometimes remain ill until the dry season comes.”
A camel owner, who gave his name simply as Danlami, said: “Just like herdsmen find it reluctant to kill or eat meat from their cows that is how we camel owners are reluctant about our camels. We grow very fond of them and are attached to them. We are even reluctant to sell them.”
Attached as they are to their camels, the owners are also very careful with them because in seasons like this when it is dry and there is not much work for them, they grow very robust and strong and could pose a threat to the owners.
Danlami explained that: “It is at such times some owners consider selling them. If they attempt to kill you and you escape the next thought is to sell it.” But for some, such an attempt gives them joy because they interpret it as the camel being grown and mature.
“There have been incidents like in the neighbouring village, Kagara, where one owner went to the market with firewood for sale and then returning home, the camel attacked and killed him,” Jabo narrated.
Sadiq Bello, a taxi driver well attuned with the characteristics of camels having previously owned some, explained how deadly they can be: “If you are mean to them, they simply wait until you have forgotten your action and then attack. They clasp your neck with their mouth and shake you until your spine and other bones are broken. Sometimes, they hit the person with their heads. If you fall to the ground, they sit on you, until you pass out. Their calm look is a façade, so people have to be very careful with them.”
As if to prove Bello right, a camel angrily groaned as it struggled to rise to its feet sending the crowd around running in all directions for safety as they screamed ‘wa yo Allah,’ leaving their footwears all over.
“It has rubbed off on us because of our being neighbours with Niger Republic. In Niger you can find one individual owning up to 1000 camels. In such cases male and female could own the animals. But here only men own them because they are not so many,” the taxi driver explained.
Daily, the animals are taken out to graze the same way herds of cattle are grazed with a shepherd taking care of them. It’s not all gloomy about camels as their urine and milk have been proven to have certain efficacies, health wise.
Camel urine is used by the Jabo people to treat skin rashes, Sani told our reporter: “People apply it to the affected part of the skin and gradually it gets rid of the rashes. It is something that has been used over the years. Many people drink the milk because it cleanses the system.” Camels according to him are rarely killed in the Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi axis. Owners who want to get rid of them sell one for as much as N10, 000.