Journey to Jos
On a quiet road the journey from Abuja to Jos would be pleasant. Once the urban concrete thins out a boulder-strewn landscape takes over as the altitude steadily rises to above 1000m. The problem is the condition of the road; it's too well-paved. This means traffic, of which there is too much for a 2-lane road, goes as fast as humanely possible. Little wonder the roadside is littered with the remains of car wrecks.
Hiromu called me to stop a short distance out of the city. His speedometer was reading 25,000km. “I want to make a photo. It is special moment”. I fully agreed. My computer was just approaching 16,000km, which is roughly 10,000 miles.
Milestones from Peter Gostelow on Vimeo.
After meeting for the first time in Morocco at the beginning of this year we were back on the road together and sharing similar views about our route through central Africa. Hiromu's journey started from Istanbul in May 2009 and he too plans to cycle to South Africa.
The highlight of the traffic-filled 300km journey was watching several hundred cattle drink from a river. It doesn't sound particularly exciting, but was quite a spectacle. We looked down from a bridge as the bony long-horned beasts moved to the water's edge, their Fulani herdsmen eyeing us cautiously as we snapped away.
Accommodation on the road was back to normal after the comforts of Abuja. Camping next to a police station one night and a church the next. As for the food, Hiromu and I seem well-matched in being as adventurous in trying whatever the locals are dining on.
For the first time in many months I'm wearing a fleece pullover here in Jos. At 1200m above sea-level it's as high as I've been since the Atlas mountains of Morocco. In fact it was when I was in Morocco that I first heard about Jos. Over three hundred people were massacred here earlier this year. The city has long had a history of ethnic and religious tension between Christians and Muslims. It's a pity the climate can't cool tempers. I wish I could take the weather with me.
