Tuesday, Esther and I arrived in Lagos by air from Abuja. We were in the same plane as LL Cool J and his entourage… The arrival at the airport went smoothly, we were picked up by people from WAMCO company (producer of Peak Milk and Three Crowns Dairy products). Our car was accompanied by a security car with 3 people, one armed, and blasting sirens, assigned to us by WAMCO, who had arranged all.
Archive for December, 2006
In Lagos -1
Thursday, December 14th, 2006New pics from Nigeria!!
Friday, December 8th, 2006Just a dump of some of the most interesting pics from the last few days in Shonong, a rural area south of Jos where we have stayed for a few days. Sorry for the grungy quality, I have done it the easy way because uploading each image in its original quality takes too long from here.
Hilltop in Bachit where we made a stop to call to NWO for the Co-Ops launchs. THis was the best place for reception.
Esther pointing at some maps that hung from the district chiefs house whom we visited.
Esther, Sadik Balewa and Ab at Dini & Jaap’s place
Talking to the Berom chief under the Mango tree and explaining our purposes in the village of Shonong
Ab, ElHadj Masseia and John talking about routes
Ab, ElHadj Masseia and John talking about routes and drawing a map on the ground
Fulani Woman in Shonong preparing my first nonno (yogurt drink)
Another Fulani woman after having prepared my second nonno at the market of Makera. Here Fulani Milk and Peak come together - see the cans in front!!
Ya’u milking a cow. I followed some Fulani men with their cattle for a day in the field.
Ya’u, Isa and Hassan with fresh milk. Hassan is wearing the GPS device I gave him. He has walked a really nice trail that I hope to post later.
Hassan and Ya’u in front of their hut, near where the cows spend the night, and they too
Ya’u, Hassan, Isa
More Fulani boys show up, with their own herd
Oldest brother Maikudi has a closer look at the GPS device Hassan is wearing
Who said being a herdsman is hard work…?
Everything I wrote down caught the immediate interest of everybody. The Fulani are very keen on mediation! 
The making of Fulani milk
Maikudi killed a viper in the field. The Berom farmer cut off its head and tail, let it drip empty, skin it, and dry it. The next day he told me he had a nice chopchop!
Again, everything I photographed or filmed was very interesting to the men
The Fulani men I went walking with are looking at the pictures I made with Esther’s camera. So I took a picture of that with the cellphone. How meta!
One of the things that struck me most during that day was the close interaction of agricultural life and semi-nomadic pastoralism. As soon as fields were harvested, the Fulani could access the land for their cattle to graze. The cows both strip the land clean of remaining plants and shit on it, so it is fertilized again. Here sorghum is harvested.
Hassan on his favorite cow. Maikudi behind it.
And after a hot day in the field, I saw a large can of Peak Milk standing near one of the houses of the family of Ahmadu Idris (the father of Maikudi, Ya’u and Hassan)!!
OK, tha-tha-tha-thatsallfolks!
Out in the bush
Sunday, December 3rd, 2006
We’ve met some Fulani herdsmen out in the bush in the village of Shonong, district of Bachit, Plateau State. Ab has been there for a couple of days now and has managed to get aquainted with quite a few people already. They are kind of wary towards strangers. The first family we dropped into were shy and distant, since the head of the family was out since dawn (with his cattle?). Quite an awkward situation arose when one of the younger men yelled to the more curious younger boys and women to get away from us. The second group we met was way more friendly and receptive. The main man was there and silently approved all this, it seemed. Beautiful landscape too. Seems like great place to work!
Hamaz mobile phone shop in Jos
Friday, December 1st, 2006
Strange name indeed for a phone vendor. They sell all kinds of moderately recent phones there, from 4900 naira (~= 30 euros) up to 45000 nairas. Odd behavior by the guy behind the desk. He did not seem to want to sell us a phone at all. According to Ab, this is a much wanted item among Fulani!
Cartographic section of the Ministry of Lands Survey
Friday, December 1st, 2006
Dini and Jaap, the incredibly hospitable Dutch couple in Jos where we are staying, gave us one of their many golden tips that the Ministry of Lands Survey & Town Planning sells beautiful old maps. We arrived by okado just a little before 16:00, when everyone was just leaving the premises after a hard days work.. Luckily we talked 2 men into at least showing us some of the maps.
The state these maps are kept in is just ridiculous: dust, half-eaten by 137 generations of rodents, yellowish from moist, rolled up and thrown under a table, etc. Tomorrow we will go there early and see if we can find anything useful of the area we plan to do research on Fulani herdsmen. Good and detailed maps are hard to find. Ab Drent, our good man in Nigeria, has been able to contact some groups of Fulani and will introduce us there this Saturday, insh’allah/deo volente.
Visiting cows in Vom Dairy Farm
Friday, December 1st, 2006
Believe it or not, these are real Dutch cows in the heart of Nigeria. They were once imported by Dutch-owned WAMCO company, producers of Peak Dairy, to experiment with milk production within the country itself. The farm changed owners.
Mobile phone shops are everywhere
Friday, December 1st, 2006
Anywhere you go, people have started their own enterprise by putting down a parasol and a table. When you want to make a phone call but don’t have a phone or are out of credit, you can make one here for 20-25 naira. These guys told me anyone can now start a small business here selling phone calls and cards.
Another great example of increasing value by number: the more there are available, the more it becomes a truly useful service that fills up a need. The whole question of personal possession is perhaps less relevant when you can always use a phone to make a quick call.
And then… a Peak Milk truck
Friday, December 1st, 2006
Not a particularly uncommon sight in Nigeria, apparently. But this was out first!
Another one from along the Kaduna-Jos road
Friday, December 1st, 2006
Radio antennas are being transformed into GSM antennas.
Advertisement for mobile phone operators 02
Friday, December 1st, 2006
Somwhere in Kaduna. The “Xtra Connect” offer by South-African corporation MTN means calling cheaper to family or friends (”Call 3 family & friends @ 25k/sec”). Keeping contact with family that lives far away seems a very important use of the mobile phone here. People I have talked to named this as one of the main benefits of the “handset”. They also mentioned as a negative side postponing face to face contact by keeping in touch via the phone