It is a well drained area, with countless tributaries, emptying in to the Niger river at various points, or first entering the Kaduna river, which is itself, a major tributary of the Niger. Thus, it is hard to say Niger State is not the geotourist's haven. But when the topic of tourism is associated with the state, just the magnificent Zuma rock and the Bida blacksmith district come to mind. However, the discovery of a beau, and the subsequent interest in developing it in to a tourist delight, urged me to pay a recco visit, but not without company.
Thus,
in line with taking a tour of Tswata Mukun - the blacksmith district
at Bida, even though we were not allowed to take pictures, I took four
Chinese and one Vietnamese tourists to visit the Gurara waterfalls.
Characterized by features which still make African rivers unnavigable -
rapids, the waterfall is a gigantic stampede of water, slaloming over
granitic rocks cut in beautiful formations to form a collection of small
falls, and a colossal waterfall which plunges off a cliff, and then
proceed through Gurara Local Government to empty in to river Kaduna.
We
spent about 45 minutes at the site, taking pictures, and playing at the
bank, where I was able to engage with the only local tour guide, who
briefed me about the vision of turning the place in to a truly pro-poor
tourist destination in Nigeria. While he talked, I kept dreaming,
drawing up imaginary structures of how the place could be transformed,
but now, I pictured myself as a holder of a 99year BOT tenure.
