MY RECENT VISIT TO YANKARI GAME RESERVE AND RESORT, REVEALS THE CHALLENGE OF LACK OF PRODUCTIVITY IN NIGERIAN SOCIETY:
By Dr. Ibrahim Vandu-Chikolo, TAB Blogger.

Yankari Game Reserve and Resort is easily accessible from all corners of Nigeria by road, air as well as by railway (when operational) via Bauchi. Those flying in from abroad as well as from far corners of Nigeria such as from Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Calabar as well as Sokoto, etc, can fly into Jos international airport via Abuja or direct for a further smooth drive into Bauchi town where one can rent a taxi for a shuttle of 11/2 hour drive west-ward to the Yankari game reserve and resort.

On this particular trip I left Abuja on Thursday morning of 27 October at about 8 am and arrived Jos 5 hrs after at 1 pm. From Jos to Bauchi town is about one and a half hours away with beautiful and smooth roadway driving at about 80 to 100 km/hr under a cool morning breeze. In Bauchi I decided to stay the night for my own convenience, mistakenly booked into the Awalah Hotel, a hotel that has greatly depreciated and lost its past glory. I would rate it as a zero star due to excessive decay in its facilities. However there are many other new hotels with good facilities in Bauchi which can be booked into through Hotels.com online platform.

In the following morning at about 11 am I departed Bauchi for Yankari game reserve. The drive to the Yankari road junction on Bauchi- Gombe road takes about 30 minutes because of frequent occurrence of potholes and police checkpoints. However the drive from the junction to the first gate into the reserve takes another 50 minute drive at about 70 km /hr on a very smooth road through several picturesque small villages on the way, then eventually you arrive at the bridge over a wide river fully silted with fine golden sands and leaving nice sandy beaches in the middle of nowhere.

Soon, in company of another tourist we had arrived the first gate where we paid an entry fee of 1,500 NGN per person, then began a beautiful drive on the approach road to the reserve camp and the famous Yankari resort.

The drive road is about 59 km long and very smooth, marked along the way by 'Animal Crossing' restrictions that slows one down to 30/hr for safety reasons and as well gives you opportunity to watch animals crossing to artificial waterholes provided for all animals, intentionally to give the visitor a first glimpse of some of the inhabitants of the reserve.

After another 30 minutes we had arrived at the second gate that took us into the administrative area and further on to lead us to the accommodation area with hotel type facilities, chalets of various comforts as well as to the museum, conference Centres, social amenities, specialized shops, restaurant, and finally to the steps close to the restaurant that led us to the awesome Wikki hot springs that is a source of one of four rivers traversing the large reserve.

The Wikki hot spring for example flows from source of underground aquifer within the camp area at a constant speed and temperature and eventually turns into a clear stream that flows away into the heart of the jungle. Because the spring traverses a deep underground layers of sand stones to arrive at the surface the water is glassy, pure exposing its golden sands visibly at bottom of the pool.

Earlier as we drove on the approach road inside the park area to the second gate we encountered piles and piles of elephant poo at various crossings. However we did not cross ways with possibly roaming wild animals because we arrived in peak heat of the day when most animals would have been resting under tree shades deep inside the thick jungle.

However as we entered the resort we found a lot of water bucks standing under shady trees while Warthogs or bush pigs were all over the greens as well as around the lodges. So were also flocks of baboons that came to welcome us on arrival at the lodge. The resort has many varieties of lodges which can take about 110 visitors at once.

Our first port of stop however was the administrative office where we went straight to the booking counter to claim our rooms having earlier made a booking reservation through hotels.com online platform. Mine was 'Luxury Double' with good amenities and I have made sure to provide photos of the various sections of my lodge in the photographs exhibited here. I have also provided photos of some of the neighbours I encountered that roam the grounds of the resort.

 

 

Whatever your interest Yankari resort provides for all within the camp zone securely fenced to ward off animals that would pose threats to visitors. I was impressed to note that there are no snakes at all within the camp and resort area as I was made to understand that the presence of the baboons and warthogs is also meant to eliminate such creatures intruding into the zone, hence it is safe to move around the highly illuminated reserve camp.

For those who love swimming the warm spring river flowing at varying depths along its course has about 10.90 ft depth at the source at the foot of the sandstone cliff to below the knee downstream to a strong gate steel wire gauze which had been installed under the only  bridge across the stream and deprives unwanted animals like hippos, crocs and other animals intruding crossing into the swimming area as a safety measure. At weekends hundreds of families swim and lazy away in this warm spring pool of glassy water over golden sands. On the banks of the warm spring are entertainment areas as shown in my photos, while across the opposite bank a sandy space is reserved and protected for parties which often take place at night under flood lights at weekends. If I didn't forget, the camp area is lit with flood lights at night as people rest and swim in the warm springs throughout the night just at youths spend the night at concerts in the social club that is located within the resort.

After checking into our rooms we headed to the restaurant where professional cooks dish out varieties of meals to guests. I loved their delicious couscous with chicken source and a very nice salad, except in the mornings when I went for my regular crispy potato chips and Spanish omelette.

At midday when few activities take place I always watched my favorite tv programmes especially those I would have missed away from home. I watched my X Factor GB and America's Got Talent as well as my favorite Nigerian movie programmes. If you are my type who loves tv viewing there are three Decoders from which you can sample favorite stations.

My previous visit to Yankari was in 2009 with a team of colleagues from VANRICHI and Lireal Ltd Abuja and NITT Zaria for an appraisal and most facilities then were still under construction, some on the verge of completion and several other projects were on the drawing board. This time I was highly impressed by what I met on the ground, a first class infrastructure to a global standard. The furnishing in the lodges are of first class standard of the best material and workmanship. The services are basic but of good standard where most of the staff take pride in what they do and are proud to serve their customers.

On the second day of our visit we went on a safari in the extensive wildlife reserve that form the body of justification for the establishment of the Yankari Reserve and Resort. The park of forests, wetlands and dry Savannah are said to be inhabited by numerous wild animals that range from elephants, giraffe, zebras, buffalo, water bucks, lions, and too numerous other African wildlife to mention. To go on a safari tour each pays 1,000NGN for a trip that would take about two hours. This is because the current tour zones are limited as more access routes are still being developed to penetrate into the heart of the reserve that is 2,250 km sq, in size, which surrounds the base camp from all sides. The park area in addition to harboring numerous species of animals and flora contains about four different spring water sources feeding beautifully swift flowing streams that eventually merge in the heart of the wilderness and then flows out through one outlet in form of a big river that eventually flows into the Benue river. The wilderness is also a unique natural domain that also exhibits ancient archaeological sites featuring early human settlements in cave forms dug into walls of sandstone hills, as well as ancient iron smelting furnaces and other artefacts that can easily be previewed in the big museum that exhibits many preserved species. It is thus at the Centre of this extensive wildlife park that a modern resort with all-inclusive amenities perches on a relatively higher ground offering comfort and all kinds of social activities to its visitors.

The resort is indeed a grand modern development in the middle of nowhere. From this great infrastructure one readily perceives how government must have pumped billions of NGN to provide such, but these are foundations for possible big business. Any visiting professional will no doubt find great potential for great businesses staring him in the eye. Great effort need to be made here to market the potential to drive home big business and earth the much needed chunk of margin of income on investment. If the visibly perceived numerous potential arms of businesses and services are eventually brought into activation with growth of patronage Yakari Game reserve and resort will be the greatest natural potential to drive the economy of Bauchi state and also to manifest the tourism flagship of the Nigerian economy. A long term vision must be made to bring the potential of this ‘gold mine’ to the attention of a huge potential market even locally in the country. I say potential market because less than 1% of Nigerians today especially from the growing middle class appreciate the benefit of taking leisure holidays to wind off stress and recharge their energy for higher productivity at work. It's even unfortunate that our governments and authorities in the private sector fail to harness the benefits of stress management for personnel to enhance productivity at work place and thus reap profit and growth in their businesses.

Furthermore, Yankari reserve and resort cannot depend simply on accommodating guests to generate revenue. Hospitality service is simply a supportive service within the resources of the Reserve Park. There are many ancillary business potentials that can be activated to be supported by other needs of visitors. There are also considerable entrepreneurial potentials for additional investments by the authority. For example we heard repeatedly that the Wikki spring water has special as well as rare mineral content that is revered by health institutions worldwide, which  means such spring water if bottled with good branding can source of wealth earned through export for the organization not simply for local consumption.

I have also looked at the disadvantages the Park and its Resort faces at the moment; in the lack of local patronage for holiday destinations in Nigeria. Local market is in its infancy in Nigeria for holiday resorts, and exists so because there is little appreciation in the country for leisure holidays to dissipate stress from living. My experience in Malaysia during early part of my studies in life showed how the authority there recognized strongly benefits of stress management at the onset of independence by adopting the process of 'Home Leave' left behind by the British. Their perception of the benefit is so strong that ‘home leaves’ for a couple of months are granted to Malaysian senior workers to any country or holiday Centre of their choices abroad and are fully paid for by government to include their family members. By the time holidaying staff returns to work his or her productivity is said to have jumped many fold. If our aim is to build an egalitarian economy and productive public and private services we must begin to adopt the process of productivity management through effective stress management. Presently Nigerian workers are caged and subjected to untold stress. This is quite visible among drivers on Abuja and Lagos roads as the act is not for the faint hearted, as stress take its toll on systems of workers driving to and from work.

I therefore wish to advocate special attention be given to considering compulsory leisure holidays for senior management of Nigerian establishment and be mandated every year with special assistance from work place. There are so many resorts across the country to be considered for such purpose, and in turn will promote development of tourist destinations in our country in preparation to tap the trillion dollar market that is envisaged ahead for international tourism. It is obvious that if we do not start this way the development of tourism in Nigeria will be like the mirage on black-top roadway at mid-afternoon sun.