Nigeria - West Africa - page 694

(Magasin Rumfa Rd; dishes from N550; noon-3.30pm & 6-11pm) If you've been craving some veget-
arian food, this fantastic Indian restaurant will answer your prayers (meat dishes are also
served) and the owner loves talking to backpackers.
Information
When in doubt, head to the Sabon Gari, a kind of foreigners area of the city.
Try the money changers at the craft stalls outside the Central Hotel; they'll also ex-
change West African CFA francs. The tourist office has a bureau de change.
Friends Internet (Murtala Mohammed Way; per hr N200) Also serves coffee, cakes and sandwiches.
Kano State Tourist Board ( 06 464 6309; Bompai Rd, Tourist Camp) A rarity in Nigeria - a working
tourist office. Has pamphlets and can arrange guides to the Old City (N1500 per hour).
See & Sweet Bakery Cybercafé (Bompai Rd; per hr N250) Also a good place for a quick bite.
Getting There & Away
The airport is 8km northwest of Sabon Gari - N150 by okada, three times that in a taxi.
There are daily flights to Lagos (N20,000, 90 minutes) and Abuja (N15,000, one hour).
Overnight luxury buses to Lagos are found at the Sabon Gari and cost around N4000.
Kuka Motor Park is the motor park for the north and the Niger-Nigerian border.
Naiwaba Motor Park serves points south and west. Sample fares and times: Zaria (N500,
90 minutes), Kaduna (N700, three hours), Maiduguri (N2000, six hours), Sokoto (N900,
six hours) and Jos (N700, four hours).
TOP OF CHAPTER
Gashaka-Gumti National Park
Nigeria's largest national park, Gashaka-Gumti (admission N1000, vehicles N500) is also the re-
motest and least-explored part of the country. Its 6700-sq-km area contains rolling hills,
savannah, montane forest - as wild and spectacular a corner of Africa as you could wish
for. It also holds incredible diversity and is one of West Africa's most important primate
habitats, as well as supporting lions, elephants, hippos and buffaloes.
The park is open year-round, although access is easiest during the dry season (Decem-
ber to March). The best way to visit is through the Gashaka Primate Project ( www.ucl.ac.uk/gashaka )
, a UK-based conservation group that works with the park to protect the watershed and