It was 6:00am on the 3rd of November 2012, and the final year students of the Department of
Biology Science, University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), were getting prepared to go for ZOO 411, field course
(Wildlife Ecology), a course which 98.5% of the students selected to its
alternative.
The purpose of the field trip was to give students practical insight on the geomorphology of Sambisa forest and the adverse effect of human activities on the Natural Ecosystem - also, comprehensive rigors and dynamic of Biodiversity and Conservation Management Scheme.
Mini and luxury buses of assorted size arrived the faculty vicinity, even the notoriously scorned "EZE GOES TO SCHOOL" was not left behind on the list of carriage making the trip. You can imagine the numbers of students to vehicles going for the trip! "Enormous". That was how we all dashed arbitrarily to the conveyor of pick and sat gregariously with close acquaintance.
By 7am we had commenced on our trip to Sambisa forest.
The adventurous journey to the Sambisa which is a real forest game reserve located not far from the state capital from about 14 kilometers off Kawuri Village, along Maiduguri – Bama Road was dawdling due to the several military check points accompanied by the faulty tar road. However, that didn't stop us from frolicking wild with excitement as we laughed, shared drinks, jokes and in-distinctive chitters of utter cacophony pervaded.
From the passenger's seat, Eric gestured to the left, just above the driver's head and I turned to look and saw small bushes stuck in the sand and a few scattered trees, dogon yaro, acacia and baobab trees flashed by in a blur. As the sahelian landscape grew drier and flatter, the yellow flowers broke the monotony of the green and brown landscape and then, suddenly, we were surrounded by cows making their way across the road.
One of them stopped by my window, and I looked into its big, moist eyes, admiring its shiny, reddish brown coat.
The vehicles continued in fleet, undaunted till we highlighted kawuri village to chill out, the fierce and unceremonious gaze from the inhabitants (sleeper cells of the ferocious Islamic death cult) of that locality didn't deter us from engaging in our routine. 15 minutes was all we needed to get back to our bus and continue the journey down an un-tarred, pothole-ridden remote road.
The small grass started graduating from as low as half a metre trees to the extremely thick areas where human skins cannot penetrate without being hurt by thorns, that is if you do not have a cutlass or something to ward them off.
We arrived the game reserve covered head to toe in sand and were led in on a 1.8km geomorphological hike by the reserve rangers. Throughout the hike there were series of stops to glance at caves, bedrocks, glacial float and structures which are of great architectural splendor.
We had a 45-minute lecture on the pre-historical and geomorphological
development of the park, during the lecture, some of us did not pay
attention to; we
instead preferred taking snapshots.
After the lecture we were allowed to take choosy shots at caves and at about 4:15pm we started heading back to school...... Wondered pensively how we left that horrible region intact????
That was the nature of the forest which is now being manipulated and controlled by Boko Haram who have become masters of the savannah. A few people liken the ferocious sect to the animals who hitherto lived in the game reserve!
The purpose of the field trip was to give students practical insight on the geomorphology of Sambisa forest and the adverse effect of human activities on the Natural Ecosystem - also, comprehensive rigors and dynamic of Biodiversity and Conservation Management Scheme.
Mini and luxury buses of assorted size arrived the faculty vicinity, even the notoriously scorned "EZE GOES TO SCHOOL" was not left behind on the list of carriage making the trip. You can imagine the numbers of students to vehicles going for the trip! "Enormous". That was how we all dashed arbitrarily to the conveyor of pick and sat gregariously with close acquaintance.
By 7am we had commenced on our trip to Sambisa forest.
The adventurous journey to the Sambisa which is a real forest game reserve located not far from the state capital from about 14 kilometers off Kawuri Village, along Maiduguri – Bama Road was dawdling due to the several military check points accompanied by the faulty tar road. However, that didn't stop us from frolicking wild with excitement as we laughed, shared drinks, jokes and in-distinctive chitters of utter cacophony pervaded.
Entrance of Sambisa forest
From the passenger's seat, Eric gestured to the left, just above the driver's head and I turned to look and saw small bushes stuck in the sand and a few scattered trees, dogon yaro, acacia and baobab trees flashed by in a blur. As the sahelian landscape grew drier and flatter, the yellow flowers broke the monotony of the green and brown landscape and then, suddenly, we were surrounded by cows making their way across the road.
One of them stopped by my window, and I looked into its big, moist eyes, admiring its shiny, reddish brown coat.
The vehicles continued in fleet, undaunted till we highlighted kawuri village to chill out, the fierce and unceremonious gaze from the inhabitants (sleeper cells of the ferocious Islamic death cult) of that locality didn't deter us from engaging in our routine. 15 minutes was all we needed to get back to our bus and continue the journey down an un-tarred, pothole-ridden remote road.
The small grass started graduating from as low as half a metre trees to the extremely thick areas where human skins cannot penetrate without being hurt by thorns, that is if you do not have a cutlass or something to ward them off.
We arrived the game reserve covered head to toe in sand and were led in on a 1.8km geomorphological hike by the reserve rangers. Throughout the hike there were series of stops to glance at caves, bedrocks, glacial float and structures which are of great architectural splendor.
After the lecture we were allowed to take choosy shots at caves and at about 4:15pm we started heading back to school...... Wondered pensively how we left that horrible region intact????
That was the nature of the forest which is now being manipulated and controlled by Boko Haram who have become masters of the savannah. A few people liken the ferocious sect to the animals who hitherto lived in the game reserve!
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