Abujan serenities
In the end, nothing happened. The police and army came out in force, plain clothes security checked on the Imam's message, then nothing.. Abuja is not an easy city to riot in.
The big event in the afternoon was my servers arriving finally from Lagos, after an epic two day journey. The servers will be used for the IFEMIS project I am overseeing. I met up with the lorry on the outskirts of Abuja. We entered the city in convoy. The lorry was loaded up with servers so we travelled slowly. "A convoy carrying IT to the core of the Federal Govt" I was thinking. We passed by places so slowly I noticed things I hadnt before - like a lovely tropical garden bush bar called Little Havana in Wuse. It took till quite late into the evening to offload everything - the malaria giving me a bad headache.
Today, we trekked to Usman Dam and climbed one of the sculptured volcanic hills that overlook the reservoir. Later, I swam in the crystal pure water. It never fails to strike me as odd that more people don't visit the dam - its a little bit of Scotland/Switzerland right next to the capital.
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4 comments:
Jeremy,
one should exercise caution in Africa's reservoirs and lakes. Lots of nasty things like bilharzia, guinea worm etc. All rather unpleasant and some are very widespread. I haven't looked at Usuma Dam recently but I would always tend on the cautious side. Kaduna has a good place for testing for bilharzia if you get a rash, pass blood etc. Let me know!
Rivers tend not to have bilharzia but do have their own risks.
'Usman' was(or is) Usuma to the original Gwari indigenes. The name Usman was 'imposed' by Hausa 'imperialism so I was reliably told.
The dam is the lower dam and was originally supposed to be built after an upper dam. But political (rather than engineering or economic) expediency meant that the lower, bigger, more expensive dam was built first...so I am led to believe.
I stand to be corrected!
What are the servers for - a truckload? Is that to process Google's sntich lists of who searched for what?
Devil's Advocate
anonymous is one cynical person. happy things are fine out there. got a lot of relatives living in abuja.
take care and be safe.
Thanks Obi.
I have started my own blog at mischiefmaster.blogspot.com where I will be posting more cynical observations.
Jeremy you need to spice things up lad. Comments on your blog have dropped off. Personally I think the weirdness of the Agbada article might have contributed.. damn weird!
Or perhaps it is Devil's Advocate...
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