The Adventures of John & George: Road Trip Day 3

We'd finally made it to Jos - the one city in Nigeria that all the locals seem to hold up as a beacon saying things like "it's not like Nigeria, it's cold up there" (and it was), and "everything is cheap up there, you can get good fruit and vegetables" (true again - most of the stuff we buy in Lagos has made the 14hr road journey from Jos - and normally suffered along the way).

So it was interesting to see so many remnants of a distant glorious past (back in the colonial days pre 1960) in this city that suggested this wealth that everyone had been talking about, but which no longer existed.

The hotel we stayed at - The Plateau Hotel - was a huge place with at least 100 rooms of various sizes, a big restaurant, pool etc. Sounds like paradise, and it probably was "back in the day" whenever that was... The pool hadn't seen use for years, as far as I could tell we were the only guests and the restaurant felt ludicrous with only tow people sitting amongst thirty empty tables. But like so many things around here, the locals didn't really seem to give a shit, that was just the way things were now - even they couldn't remember "the good old times" - if, at all, they were even "good".

the emptiness of the Plateau Hotel ...

even the restaurant suggested what might have been... once

Following the tradition of tourism in Nigeria, there were no real maps of the city and the guidebook we had suggested places to see that no one had really heard of or new their exact location. Our solution was to talk to some of the drivers hanging around the hotel asking for places to go, eventually co opting one to join us for the day as a guide. We had heard of some nice water falls in the area and suggested that they might be a good place to start. So after filling up the car again (there'd been another small petrol leak overnight which Chris managed to fix...[ it's funny I guess, some friends of our's were driving up through Niger (country North of Nigeria) in the desert and their car had exactly the same problems - fuel pump died TWICE!! what do you do?]

Anyway, this guy, all dressed in the only suit he owns - hoping and waiting in vain I guess for someone to require his services as a driver at some stage... one day... was to be our guide and politely told us of some falls he knew "down there" he vaguely waved to the south of Jos. It was a beautiful day, the first day the harmattan had cleared for weeks and the sun was out. We didn't really give a shit where we were going, the countryside was beautiful -away from the mess of jungle down where we live.

road to somewhere "down there"

amazing multicoloured dirt

a small clay hut village south of Jos

After a good two hour drive through no man's land we got to a village called, believe it or not, Kurra Falls - named after a hydro electric scheme the Brits had built before they'd packed up and left the place to sort itself out. Only problem was, no one knew of any Falls anywhere. A quick word of the wise - never ask for directions in a country where no one ever says "no". Even though someone may have no idea what you're talking about they'll give you an answer

"oh, it's just down there"

"Are you sure"

"Yes, Sir. It's just down there"

I'll tell you right now it is NEVER "just down there", it's probably not even anywhere near "there" ...

Some how, though, just past the village we came to the edge of a huge escarpment and found what looked to be the old hydro scheme. On getting out of the car, we found a bunch of local kids sitting around who, apart from wondering what the hell a couple of white folk were doing in the middle of nowhere, said that there were water fall here that they play at and they could show us if we wanted.

The Kurra Falls Hydro electric setup. The boys assured us that it all still worked

Walking down the escarpment

Falls!! (at last) and this is in the middle of the dry season. In the wet you wouldn't be able to get anywhere near this place. So for today it's just us, Chris, our guide in his best black suit on a 35 degree day, the boys who had nothing better to do, and a bunch of local monkeys...

I was hot I wasn't wearing a suit and jacket clambering over all these rocks...

The falls were awesome to say the least - we've got about 100 photos - too many to stick on the web. they just kept tumbling down the edge of the plateau and we spent a couple of hours rock hopping around with the boys. After more than enough sun and heat we staggered back to the car and gave the boys some water and some small money for their help - I think they were glad to have something to do (and a few good stories about crazy white folk from Lagos)

Crazy Clint's Discount Potato Mart - cheapest spuds in town!!

After a quick lunch at a little bakery in Jos run by an old Chinese bloke where we had some kind of veggie curry flavoured patty in a roll that was supposed to be a "burger" we were back on the road. The poor guide still had no idea of what to make of Chris, George and I - wondering why we were driving across Nigeria during a fuel shortage . They do say that timing is everything... whatever.

Next stop Shere Hills, a rocky outcrop overlooking Jos. Again, we weren't really sure where we were going, but it's kinda hard to miss a large bunch of boulders on the outskirts of town. I have no idea if there actually is a proper way of getting there, but we just drove towards them - through a small quarry - and parked in the bush when we could drive any further. From afar, the whole thing looked do-able. Five minutes later were clambering over these rocks - trying to get to the top - old faithful still in his funeral suit - man was he a trooper!

It got so steep (and by steep I mean basically vertical) that we had to call it quits half way up. At that point the guide was telling us that people normally bring climbing ropes and harnesses to climb this peak - all a bit effin late when you're halfway up and looking at the path you just climbed up you're wondering whether a bloody mountain goat would even be able to get down. Well at least I wasn't dressed for a wedding like our friend..