Tourism belongs to one of the most important preconditions for individual self-fulfillment. Our mental health is inextricably connected to the awareness of our stressometer, how it affects our performance at work, in the home and in several other important aspects of our lives. Psychologists affirm that this significance is the core need for people to feel full-fledged and happy. We must be socially relevant to be able to enjoy a proactive work life and by that, I mean have a life outside the office, interact with new people, try something new, something different yet interesting. Sometimes, people suffer from a permanent excessive busyness. Just before solving one issue, they start to think about the other working problem and continue to keep it in the mind even when working hours end, which is why I commend the initiative behind taking the Bauchi Government House Press Crew retreat to Yankari.
Yankari Game Reserve is a very popular tourist center in Nigeria. It is sitting in Bauchi state, North-east Nigeria.It is the most remarkable thing in the area. Acclaimed the biggest tourist attraction site in West Africa, it harbors wild life. Its rich display of nature is the best I have ever seen and its very peculiar feature is the constant warmth of the ever crystal bluespring.It has an excellent museum and a Safari. Yankari is all about nature.Hence, having a press crew retreat in such a place would be soothing for the mind, body and soul. I am almost sure the Gentlemen of the Press felt a certain release from work pressure and probably wish it lasted longer than it did.
My aunt Hajo, a member of the Government house Press Crew, decided to treat I and her personal assistant Blessing to Yankari, alongside the Gentlemen of the Press. My first visit to Yankari is therefore very significant to me as it offered me the exposure of having close contact with a Press crew off duty, although they claimed it was a sort of work because they will write and send reports to their various offices. I observed their style of delivery, their code of ethics, and everything within and outside the profession, I saw them portray. I was thrilled by the kind of guests that showed up during the retreat, the likes of the Bauchi state Commissioner of Information, Culture and Tourism, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Publicity, the NUJ Chairman, Bauchi and the resource persons. It was an opportunity to interact with both the political class and men of the Press.
Even while I understudied them, I was keen about exploring Yankari totally. Moreover, having blessing on that trip is the best thing that happened to me. She was my partner and roommate; we explored the Game Reserve side by side. Did I mention she is madam Hajo’s P.A? Yes, she is. She is a good talker while I am a good listener, and that is relatable because she studied Mass communication. We talked about several things including Hajara, the Press, Yankari, hair, animals, skin care, our friends, food recipes, school, books, podcasts and music.
Our gist about Hajara has not stopped even after Yankari. Our most repeated line is, “This our madam eh, she is gen!” and then we will go on and on about how beautiful her soul is. We could never get enough of her goodness. She acted like a mother hen protecting her children from predators. I can bet that she was more concerned about our welfare than she was about the retreat. On the night we arrived, she ensured our accommodation was sorted before she checked into her own room. Her actions taught me empathy. She put herself in our position; imagined the discomfort of staying in a room with a dysfunctional AC, bad light and ants everywhere. She insisted on our room being changed and until we moved into the next one, she stood there. I can go on and on about qualities worth emulating I saw her display. She cared for everyone equally, she showed up early to every scheduled meeting. Shamefully, we were the ones dragging our feet. She even let us use her phone during the second lecture to take as many pictures as we wanted and we almost killed her battery. We prepared our minds to get a piece of her mouth but the best she called us was, “big heads”.
The first lecture was delivered by Mr.KashimJubril, on the topic, “Photography in Journalism.” He isa lecturer from NTA School of Journalism. He narrated the history of Photography, its improvement, elements and features of a camera; like depth of field, shutter speed, aperture and the rest. He explained that how a shot is takencould dignify or diminish the status of a person. He described how portraits should be taken, how to highlight the details on your target image that will make them look more attractive. I used to think photography was merely about posing and taking shots. After listening to him, my perception about photography changed completely. A lot of smart work go in to bring out the best in every piece of work. One take away point for me is the notion of motion graphics that he debunked. He said there is no such thing as motion graphics, and this affirms Aristotle’s quote, “There is no motion in picture, there is only picture in motion.” He defined depth of field as an area of excessive sharpness in a picture. In depth of field, the target image is sharp and the area outside the depth of focus is blurry. This happens in order to create an emphasis around the point of focus. He mentioned that the angle from which you take a shot speaks a lot. He gave this illustration; if you want to take a picture of a short man and you take the picture from an elevated point, the image produced will make him appear even shorter or closer to the ground. In that situation, you should take the shot from an angle that will make not reveal his shortness in the picture. He stressed that the target image in a snapshot should not be in the center of the picture. It is wrong to snap your target image in the center position. Your target image should be at the side. The space left on the other side of the picture referred to, as spatiotemporal dimension is not as empty as it seems. There is a psychology behind that as it connects to the emotions of the viewers.
We took a break after the first lecture. Blessing and I did not return for the second lecture. We left to have a swim. I was initially scared of getting into the water, but then the beauty of the spring kept beckoning me. As soon as I stepped into it, all my fears were replaced with strength and enthusiasm to explore the spring and I did. I played in the spring for over thirty minutes.
At the heart of my Yankari experience was the baboon attack. I was forewarned that baboons, fondly called area boys attacked women mostly, in search of edibles, but I completely forgot. Just after lunch, while we walked Hajara to the conference hall, the area boys sped in our direction. Worried about what they wanted, I took to my heels. Releasing everything in my hands, I fell over a shrub and brushed my ankle against a stone. The baboon had taken what it came for, which was the Mirinda drink I was holding. I felt so embarrassed. Then I stood up, determined never to give them another chance, but it happened again with Blessing. We had packed our bags, headed towards the car. Next thing, area boys showed up and snatched one of the bags from Blessing. I ran back into the house, while Blessing tried to pick the pieces of what they left. This incident saddened her half way through our journey back home.
Everything that happened in Yankari, happened really fast. It was tempting to linger in Yankari. But we had to leave. I assured the connections I now have from the Press crew that I will keep tagging along and I promised myself that I would just have to come back another time for the love of nature. I have a lot of pleasant memories documented from my experience and I scan through them to keep my faith alive that someday, I would return to Yankari.
Chioma writes from Bauchi
