The Nigerian Field Society

Lagos Branch

Ijebu-Ode - 02-2004	ABM - 03-2004
Kajuru - 03-2004	Waza - 04-2004
Yartsamiya - 05-2004	IITA-Ibadan - 06-2004
Abeokuta - 07-2004	Jos - 09-2004
Cross River I - 10-2004	Cross River II - 10-2004
Durbar - Kano/Katsina - 11-2004	Lagbaja Concert - 11-2004
Okomu Forest - 12-2004
Trips & Talks

The Durbars in Kano and Katsina

November 11th - 15th, 2004

The meeting time was 6 AM at the Lagos airport. 21 intrepid souls, many first timers, some veterans were setting forth with eager anticipation to see the Durbars of Katsina and Kano in the north of Nigeria. We had with us Bob Griffith as the able organizer and Paulette Van Trier as the facilitator and guide.
Arriving in Kano we discovered our first class hotel accommodation at the Prince Hotel. This was to be our base for the next 4 days. The food was good, the pool was always a delightful relief after a hot days touring and they had beer. Travel can be tiring so on the first day we picked up the pace slowly with a trip into Kano to the market. In spite of the torrid heat on this last day of Ramadan there was plenty to see and smell. Shopping was entered into in earnest, by some. 

Bus - Our tour bus (owned by the Kano Pillars FC, a local favourite, so we were cheered as we drove along!)

Katsina Durbar

Next day’s start was early as we were going to Katsina, 200 km to the north, for the Durbar. Our transportation was a bus from the local football team so everywhere we went we were cheered. After Lagos the roads seemed pretty good. We made good time to Katsina, a little fast for some. Along the way we could observe that it was the end of harvest with most of the sorghum in and melons and grains in abundance at the markets. Arriving in Katsina we drove directly to the Emir’s palace and after a brief wait were invited into the Emir’s viewing stand. The early arrival ensured excellent seats and an opportunity to watch the gathering of the town’s folk along the parade route. The crowd, the colour, the animation, the enterprise … and the Durbar had not even started yet! 
For this first timer the Durbar of Katsina was spectacular – the robed horsemen on their bedecked horses announced with a cacophony of drums, horns and acrobats. The colour, the tradition, the noise! How could it get any better? Then we saw the Kano Durbar! Kano’s grandeur and Katsina’s intimacy – both are worth seeing. The arrival of the Emir is announced with the shooting of flintlock muskets. So loud and the horses didn’t even jump. Clearly some of the horsemen are very good and others were still learning to be so. The charge across the parade ground in Kano was a sight to behold. 

Over the four days we managed many different kinds of visits – tea with the Emir of Katsina, the ladies visit with the wife of the Emir of Kano, dye pits, town walls, brick works, baobab trees, the Tiga dam and its unused hotel. But the highlight had to be the visits to the villages where we saw:
- a lady pounding a mixture of sand and clay into a pot with some 20 minutes worth of effort, 
- a weavers’ village where we were surrounded by children delighted to see their images in the digital camera screens
- dye works and cloth preparation by pounding with a wooden mallet
- ladies winnowing peanuts
- the colourful Fulani dress

The travelling companions were a pleasure – on time, good humoured and expert in everything from botany, birds and architecture to shopping. Our guide Danjuma was ever present, ever helpful and ever smiling.
To come to Nigeria and not have done the Durbar is to have missed the experience of a lifetime.
Thank you Bob and Paulette.

A. De Leebeeck (Canada)

More photos? Click here.