Hey there!
Happy New Year!
Hope you had a nice and relaxing holiday season.
Ours was packed.
Fun and stressful, but hey, we can't complain.
Awesome memories were made.
Since everyone had some time off, we decided to travel to the grandparents and great grandparents.
Thank you for all the comments on our last road trip post. I tried to get some good shots this time but it was hard to stabilise the cam through the tinted windows of a moving vehicle.
This time, we went to Daura first for three days and then Kano for four days.
We went via the Abuja - Jere - Kaduna - Zaria - Hunkuyi - Malumfashi - Kusada - Ingawa - Daura Route which isn't my favourite. I prefer the Kano route but since I was hitching a ride with the parents, I had no choice.
As Jenifa would say: "A beggar he has choose?"
Can I just say I'm in love with Hunkuyi? It's a small town on the border of Kaduna and Katsina states and oh my, they have some of the freshest, organic veggies in the country.
There are many roadside stalls like this one and the veg are ridiculously cheap! Like, 200 naira for 4 large heads of cabbage!
200 for 10 medium sized cucumbers! and this was probably the inflated price for travellers! Imagine how cheap they'll be if you went to the actual village markets...
300 naira for a large tray of carrots! *sigh* we are being robbed in Abuja, daylight robbery!
The veggies are actually being grown by the roadside. Like in this photo you can see the cabbage patches by the roadside.
The rainy season has recently ended, so 'kayan miya' like tomatoes, red peppers, scotch bonnet peppers are in abundance. They are are preserved by being spread across the horizon to air dry and then packaged in sacks to be sold now, or kept till periods of scarcity.
The heat and wind by the roadside will dry them in no time.
A roadside dry tomato/pepper market
Negotiations
Packaging
These baskets are used for fresh tomatoes to be sent to the south of the country.
We arrived Daura at 7;30 after leaving Abuja at 11 and so many detours. Quite good.
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| Tired, but well behaved toddler! Well done Baby R, you've really grown more mature <3 |
'What is this place we've come to Mummy? They keep feeding me weird stuff.'
Did a lot of visiting and eating in Daura
But the most fun were the weddings! This one was a relative marrying off his foster daughter. SO much fun! Ali Jita attended, so I was dancing in my seat the whole time. It started getting cold around 11pm though, so dancing increased body temp.
This was the exact same venue where I had my Kamu nearly five years ago! SO it was rather nostalgic...
Tested my makeup skills on my aunt. "Make it light," she insisted. I did my best. Subtle enough, huh?
"But I'm not camera ready, Mummy!"
A drive through D Town
This is the main road when you come into the town from Kano.
Tashar Kwadayi (aka Tashar Kudu)
This city gate was named after my great grandfather, Sarki Musa the 57th Emir of Daura and the Emir that restored the Daura Emirate back to Hausa rule after 100 years of Hausa exile from the Fulani Jihad. The Fulani and Hausas have peacefully coexisted in Daura since then and they even hold an important seat on the Emirate Council (Sarkin Fulani).
I spent many hours of my childhood walking this road between my maternal grandfather's home to my paternal grandparent's. It's amazing how much it has evolved over the decades.
Also, Daura is a very well planned town, so roads are wide and easy to modernise. The old town still exists beside the "modern" layout.
This city gate was named after Sarki Bashar, the 59th Emir of Daura. He was also a great grand child of Sarki Musa which makes him my cousin (Genetically I think its second cousin, no removes, Hehe). An amazing man and great emir that ruled for 41 years and passed away in 2007.
The entrance corridor to my grandma's house. Baby R's great grandmother.
Here you can see the courtyard has a neem tree for shade (dalbejiya) and a clay pot of water (karfi). The shade from the tree keeps the sun away, leaving the water in the pot cool and refreshing. What fridge?
My grandma is a drama queen. She's so animated when she speaks. Here she's explaining to me why she doesn't need to be on her blood pressure medication anymore. I wasn't having it at all.
In this shot you can see her Vintage cassette player, a torch light, her cosmetic basket, some oil perfume and food warmers. Feels like home.
She showed me this really old piece of rock which just looks like an old door stopper, but is actually a magurji, a rock used in the past to grind local kohl which was then stored in those little metal containers with a stick. Isn't that amazing? They DIYed their own make up.
Back in Kano...
Had to make sure I stocked up on some Gurasa.
Ever had Gurasa? Its a local moon shaped bread that's either salted or sweetened. goes well with stews or steamed which yaji, kuli kuli and fresh veg (bandeshe).
Gimme More!
Gurasa keeps well in the freezer for well over a month.
When you wanna eat, just take it out and steam it on the stove top.
Guyses.
Grammar Nazi. This one bothered me.
The cold had everyone covering up! The number of Niqabis I saw in Kano were way more than I had ever seen previously.
Back in the day this bakery was quite happening. We always used to stop by to buy some bread for family as we passed kano on our way to Daura. Good to see it still kicking.
The infamous Hunchback bridge. Hehehe! So much fun. When you reach the peak of the bridge you experience a second or two of free fall. I use that as an indicator to show that we've left kano.
Harmattan...
So many flights were cancelled this holiday season.
Visibility? None.
So that's it folks! Hope you enjoyed these few moments from our trip
I have part 2 coming up. with details of my shopping adventures in two of Kano's markets.
Have an Amazing year 2017!
Do you have any resolutions?
Have you been to Kano or Daura?
Any recommendations for my next trip?
Let me know in the comments.
Lot's of nomadic love,
Ummi
x o x o
