Happy Independence Weekend!

This weekend I really connected with this country for Nigeria celebrated 47 years of independence from British colonial rule. Together, Americans and Nigerians raised up our voices saying, "No taxation without representation!" Ok, so maybe that's not exactly what my local friends were saying...I don't even think there is a tax here...but regardless, I rejoiced for Nigeria's Independence Day, October 1. To celebrate, I took some fun little adventure trips. I didn't want to overload my blog with pictures, so please check out my photo album for more.

Shere Hills

Water packed, sun shining, trekking shoes on, and a crew of us set off to spend some time up in Shere Hills, about 1/2 and hour outside of Jos. It's really amazing how quickly we can go from conjested street city to beautiful, lush, mountainous terrain. I'm a big fan. Of course I had no clue where we were going but we had a few people with us that have lived here for 20+ years and they guided us way out to park in this random village. One guy fluent in Hausa asked some boys to watch our vehicles and off we went. Now, these "trails" aren't exactly well marked; it requires a bit of guesswork, but I couldn't have cared less, it SO beautiful. These pictures really don't do justice, of course, but maybe they'll persuade you to come check it out someday. We trekked up this one overlook and then went down into a valley in search of a waterfall. Once we found it some people parked it at the bottom to have a snack but I followed the lead of this wonderful lady, Beaj, and climbed up the sucker to the top. (Mom wouldn't have been too thrilled EXCEPT, her and Beaj grew up together in Liberia! Small world, huh?) Anyways, I stood there looking out over this awesome terrain of fields and rock outcroppings and praised God for the beauty of his creation here in Africa. As they say in Hausa, Kai!

Jos Wildlife Park

Now, don't get TOO excited because this was a "wildlife park" not a "wildlife game reserve." Big difference. Parks have fences and cages around their animals, game reserves don't. Nevertheless, I had a blast yesterday scoping out all the animals native to Nigeria with my buds from the office, Shammah (picturesd) and Akim. Lions, elephants, and headless vultures (see picture for proof). The sad thing was that many of these animals looked really skinny. PETA people would go nuts here but really, when you think about, it makes sense. With most of the population living on less than $1 a day, making sure Mufasa over there has a fresh antelope each week really does not make it very high on the priority list. So as bad as I felt for the critters, I feel worse for the people I see every day who also won't have much for dinner tonight.

Golf Ball and Cobra Rock

THIS was a cool day of hiking. We may not have covered 20 miles, but today was not for the faint of heart. A totally different crew of adventurers convened and decided there was no better way to celebrate Nigeria's freedom than to take advantage of her natural beauty. Particulary the state we live in, Plateau State, is known for its unique rock formations. We first went to Golf Rock, who's name sake should be pretty obvious from the picture. But this was just a mild 15 minute hike. While up on top, taking in the surrounding beauty, some of us spotted this other rock that looked like a giant cobra's head. 5 of us were in the mood for a challenge so we hopped down and began forging our way to the cobra. If trails had been hard to come by before, this one took the cake. George, our leader, trailblazed the way through some pretty thick jungle and briar patch. At the end of the day his arms were shredded with cuts and scratches (of course when someone pointed it out, he just said, "Ah, a price worth paying for the adventure). I'd have to agree because once I finally got on top of Cobra Rock, I forgot about the 2" long thorns that had dug into my legs and the stinging nettle plant that left a myriad of bumps on my forearm. This was a GROOVY cliff with an INCREDIBLE view of the area. We hadn't even known that just a little ways away was a little village of about 10 mud and thatch huts. Some of the kids spotted us at the top and yelled up, "Hello Baturis, how are you?" haha! They're probably wondering why the heck we're climbing on rocks like this for fun. Luckily, we met a Fulani man (Fulani's are a nomadic tribe of people who heard their cows and goats all across western Africa) and were able to ask him for a suggestion on a better way down. Turns out, there was a more reasonable trail than the torture foliage we swam through.

So those are a few of my adventures thus far. I can think of no better word to teach you today than "Kai," pronouced "ki" with a long 'i'. It is used in a variety of ways but mostly to say, "wow." Sitting on those mountain tops drinking in the views, with the breeze cooling off my face and the symphony of noises in my ears, I could only praise God and remark, "Kai!"