POLO!

Yesterday we went to our first polo match ever. It was a unique experience filled with action on the pitch and ceremony in the stands. We arrived at the polo grounds around 3:45p at the end of one match and ahead of the final, the AUN cup. As we sat in the stands we watched as horses ran from one end of the pitch to the other as well as the arrival of several dignitaries. Upon the arrival of each dignitary the crowd would stand in respect. The biggest entrance belonged to the Lamido Fambino or the Emir of Adamawa State. Police, guards, and handlers burst onto the scene and the announcer turned his attention from the action on the field in order lavish the Lamido with praise and welcome. It was quite a scene.

In the picture above the Lamido is shaded in the center of the photo. He is accompanied by his entourage. The gentleman in red is one of his bodyguards (dogeri ?spelling?). When the Lamido sits the dogeri sit at his feet. When the Lamido stands or sits, he is covered from view as it is not allowed that anyone sees him doing this. I have heard that sometimes these guards are eunuchs, but that is probably a practice that is no longer used.

To the Polo! The matches were exciting, the horses beautiful, and the skills of the players was great. I don't know the rules of polo but from what I could gather it is like soccer/hockey, but on horses. There are only four players for each team and they use mallots to try at hit a ball between two goal posts. Goals are 1 point, but there is someway (not sure how) to score 1/2 points. The match is divided into 4 Chukkas (the first three are 7.5 minutes and the final is 7 minutes). There are all kinds of rules for right of way and line of play (reminded me of my sister's field hockey games with obstructions). It is quite something to see these horses going at full speed and the men hanging down to one side to hit a ball that didn't seem much bigger than a baseball. I was also surprised that with all the movement, no collisions between horses occurred and no one fell off their horse.

The match we saw was the end of a week long tournament that hosted teams from throughout Northern Nigeria Kaduna, Kano and others. Here are some pictures of the action that was afoot:

Now no post would be complete without some pics of the girls. Here they are in their matching dresses:

In other news, I have a week off and will use it to catch up on work, but also to relax a bit. I am still getting my nose into aquaculture here. I am doing a little trial with one farmer, not scientific, but it should provide us with some information. I know that aquaculture will succeed here, but it will require me to flex some muscles I don't have...my business muscles. Just like anywhere and anything else, if its going to succeed people need to make money at it. Below are some pics of fish in the market and the last is squeezing eggs from an african catfish (sorry some may think it gross, but its actually a great shot).

In other news, I had my first shakedown from the traffic police. One of the officers jumped in front of my car and pulled me over to the side of the road. I didn't have my seatbelt on and I don't have my Nigerian license yet ... oh yeah I also didn't have a fire extinquisher. Anywho the officers made a big show and were showing me all the fines they could give me. I said fine go ahead and fine me I'll pay. Well they kept going on and on and I kept telling them "fine me". Well if they had given me a fine it would be written up and I would have to get a receipt. That being the case they wouldn't be able to keep any of the money. So, I started to bring out money to pay the fine and they FREAKED OUT "NO NO! we don't take money don't show your money people (passers-by) would think you are bribing us!" I apologized and asked for the ticket to go and pay at the bank. Then the head officer "you want me to take you papers and your car!" I responded that I would not like that, and they then communicated to me in indirect terms that they wanted a dash or bribe. So I went into the car an officer came over and said, "I will take the money and go pay your fine for you." 15 minutes and 2500 Naira later I was off again. Oh...I forgot to mention that when the officer jumped out and stopped me a motorbike plowed into the back of my car (minor scratches). The officers were so interested in their dash that they didn't notice and the biker took off!!!

(Not my picture, from another blog called the feathers project. I couldn't find a pic of traffic officers so I thought you may enjoy this...Nigeria has a helmet law, or another way for police to make money).

I'll stop for now. I have been trying to upload video, but the internet connection is hopelessly slow...we see!

Sai Anjima (see you later in Hausa)

-Harvey