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Trip to Kajuru Castle, Kaduna,
Kaduna State, Nigeria
(Burg
Heinrichswalde, built 1985 – 1989)
March 26-28, 2004 |
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Friday 26.03.2004, 03.00 p.m.
Aero Contractors Private Lounge, Domestic Airport Lagos:
A well mixed group of 12 NFS-Members is looking forward to spending a
peaceful and relaxing weekend in quiet nature at Kajuru Castle approx. 80
km southeast of Kaduna.
BUT – ChanChangi-flight to Kaduna is delayed by 4 1/2 hours …. At
last, at 09.00 p.m., boarding starts.
BUT – the flight is heavily overbooked, so half of the group gets
stranded outside amidst a furious crowd of fighting and shouting Nigerians.
So Mark, our normally calm and professional organiser, sees only one last
chance: he decides to almost hijack the plane by physically preventing it
rolling off. However, we can only guess how he persuades the pilot to let
the rest of the group come on board.
Anyway, we finally take off and well after midnight we all arrive safely
at Kaduna airport.
BUT – where to stay now, as it is far too late (potentially unsafe) to
drive to Kajuru? No real problem for Mark. Using his old connections he
organises a guest-house, presently under reconstruction. But who cares
after that night. We all find a bed or sofa or place on the floor and
there is chilled beer and red wine and pizza (thanks to Veronica) and good
talk and good company and even a few moments of sleep.
Saturday, 27.03.2004, 06.30 a.m.
Final departure for Kajuru Castle. One hour later we forget our sleepiness.
Behind those big walls we find a beautiful and well kept garden and a
luxury pool.
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So, after a hearty breakfast (thanks again to
Veronica), most of the group feels energetic enough to follow Robert for a
first exploring walk into, around and up those fascinating
“Inselbergs”. Even our Benjamin, eight and a half year old Kai, does
the long and hot walk without complaining and of course he is one of the
first to climb those steep rocks.
The “lazy” rest of the group relaxes at the beautiful though chilly
pool enjoying absolute tranquillity and those superb views.
After a late lunch (thanks to Veronica) everyone is down here, cooling hot
feet and red faces and catching up on some of last night’s missed sleep.
The afternoon is spent relaxing or doing a bit of
walking in the closer vicinity or buying veggies and fruits at a near by
market or……
Just one is answering to the distant call of LUDO-HILL,
setting off for a very long and demanding walk….
Anyway, a perfect day comes to a perfect end with a superb BBQ at the
poolside (thanks to Veronica) – everything from king-size prawns and
“Bratwurst” to a delicious chocolate birthday cake for Jason.
Later we all have a very quiet night (just an occasional rattling of
chains out of the castle’s dungeons), either in one of the five rooms or
at the poolside.
Sunday morning and departure comes far too quickly, but there is more to
do and see!
First, we stop at a small village to have a closer look (in)to those
granaries. Thanks to Veronica’s perfect Hausa, we get a warm welcome and
detailed explanation.
Next stop is at a colourful, quite big Fulani market, where you could
get about everything including a flip-flop repair service! Again
Veronica’s Hausa gives us the best prices, so one or the other (surprisingly
predominantly female…) leaves with somehow bigger parcels than intended…..
But now it is definitely time to move on!
So the last stop on our approx. 3 hours’ drive to Abuja is just for a
quick snapshot of the famous ZUMA rock. (Just have a look at a 100 Naira
note and you know what I mean.)
Right in time at 03.00 p.m. we arrive at Aero contractors’ Private
Lounge in Abuja and there is still Champagne and sandwiches in
Veronica’s magic cool boxes!!!!
A perfect flight with Aero contractors’ new 737 lets us forget about the
chaos two days ago. As we say in German:
Finally, once again, a big THANK YOU to Mark and Veronica for their
perfect organisation and THANKS to the whole group for making it a great
first NFS-trip for me.
TSCHUESS, till hopefully soon on another trip or here in Lagos
Ursula Hoffman (Germany)
More photos of the trip?
Click here.
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Lagos Branch
