BIJT.org research blog

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!

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.

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.

Not a particularly uncommon sight in Nigeria, apparently. But this was out first!

Radio antennas are being transformed into GSM antennas.