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 On
March 29, 2006 a total solar eclipse passed through West Africa and
extended up through the Mediterranian Sea. Star
enthusiasts, Bev and Ken From were serving a one year voluntary service term with the Mennonite Central
Committee in central Nigeria and made plans to visit the center line of
the eclipse in Northern Nigeria.
Our family had served in Nigeria as
volunteers with MCC from 1990 to 1993. We learned enough of the
trade language, Hausa, to survive in Northern Nigeria. Now we were back for a 10 month sabbatical. We had
also learned a significant amount of the culture and this was not to be
underestimated when making plans totravel deep into Northern Nigeria to
view the eclipse. We were not tourists who could arrive and leave
within days with few concerns about a longer relationship with the
nationals. A national census had been planned for the week
previous to the eclipse and people were not permitted to travel.
Additional days of "no movement"could be announced and this would have
prevented travel to the center line of the eclipse. It was
important to include several of our Nigerian friends and colleagues who
were able to navigate the complexities of military and police
checkpoints in the travel. We made arrangements for a van and
driver from the college where we taught to transport about a dozen of
us from Gindiri in Plateau State to Gusau in Zamfara State. Though
this is a distance of only 500 kilometers, the trip would take most of
the daylight hours on March 28 to reach our destination. Gusau
was the closest point to Gindiri on the center line of the eclipse.
We would look forward to more than four minutes of
totality. An American couple who were teaching in a college at
Gindiri also joined us on the excursion.
Along the way we
stopped to pick up a friend who had helped make arrangements for our
travel and lodging. In December 2005 we had stopped at Amadu
Bello University in Zaria to speak with those in the astronomy
department only to discover that the astronomy department had been
disolved years ago. We had the opportunity to speak with the
head of a department who had been educated in London, Ontario but he
showed little interest in the total eclipse which would take place only
a few minutes drive from the university.
As is customary in
Nigeria we had others who wanted to "follow us." We had come to
understand that this meant they wanted to enter the van and travel with
us to our destination or to a place along our route. Since there
is no such thing as a "full bus" we were able to squeeze one or two
extra friends into the van. We found food at restaurants and
along the road from various vendors and eventually arrived in Gusau
where we went to greet the leaders of the church from where we would
view the eclipse. Gusau is in a predominantly Muslim area of the
country and Zamfara State had chosen to practice an expression of
"sharia" law. As a group of visitors from another country and
from another area of Nigeria we were identified as Christians we needed
to be sensitive to local customs, practices and religious expressions.
We and the American couple found lodging at a motel.
Since the $20 rooms were far too expensive for our Nigerian
friends, they made arrangements to sleep in a church. We found
some supper and enjoyed the evening sky which becomes dark very quickly
with little twilight. Our concern was that skies would be clear
the next day since the local "harmattan" could stir up dust from the
desert to the north and block a clear view of the sun.
On
eclipse morning we found an individual from the national capital,
Abuja, who had come to Gusau because of the eclipse. In a
country of about 120 million people, he would be the only other person
we met who had travelled to Gusau to view the total solar
eclipse. He brought along solar viewing glasses so we purchased
several of them to share with people who gathered around and wondered
what we were doing. Our group who slept in the church came to the
motel and we travelled together to an Anglican church where we would
set up to view the eclipse.
At approximately 10 AM the
moon began to take a bite out of the sun. I had purchased some
Baader solar film and had made filters to fit a cheap pair of 10x50
binoculars as well as a 70mm finder scope. I had left some
simple filters made with this material with students in Gindiri
where they would have about 90% of totality. Some who saw the
silvery solar film assumed a gum wrapper was made of the same material
and used it for viewing the sun.
As the moon slowly moved
in front of the sun, our view with the solar filter equipped binoculars
and telescope showed more and more of the sun disappearing from the
sky. Several Hausa boys from the neighbourhood were interested in
our group and came to take a look through the binoculars. They
commented that the moon was disappearing and it took us a few minutes
to understand what they meant. The moon is important to Muslims
in marking the months, especially the month of Ramadan. When
these Muslim boys looked through the binoculars they saw the sun but it
appeared to them as the moon at half phase or like a small crescent
moon as totality approached. 
As we entered totality
we quickly romoved the solar filters to gaze upon one of the most
spectacular sights every viewed. With a simple digital camera
attached to the 70mm finderscope I snapped several photos of the total
solar eclipse. Venus and mercury appeared in the sky
directly above us. An eerie darkness similar to twilight
surrounded us. Bev took video on a simple video camera. We
didn't have an extra tripod so she zoomed in on the eclipse by
handholding the video camera. The amazing sight was of a huge
black hole in the sky surrounded by light. As totality ended we
snapped photos of the diamond ring effect. A huge cheer errupted
from our group as our months of planning and effort had been rewarded
with an awesome and unique experience.
With a 500 km trip
ahead of us we hoped to reach Gindiri before nightfall as the roads
pose several hazards which are better handled with daylight.
Potholes, stretches of road missing asphalt, goats, people, vehicles
without headlights and armed robbers are some of those hazards.
As we left Guzau and proceeded south I couldn't help but notice that
the harmattan had begun to move in. We had been privileged to
view the total eclipse with a relatively clear sky but a few hours
later the Sahara dust would have diminished the quality of our
view. We stopped to view a large growth of baobab trees and a
Fulani herdsman tending his cattle. We stopped again for food
along the road from various vendors and eventually pulled into Jos as
 darkness fell. With another 1 1/2 hours of travel ahead, we had
to make a choice of whether to proceed in darkness or find
accommodations in Jos for the night. Most of our group were
anxious to get home to their families so we continued to Gindiri in the
dark, arriving safely to the security of our homes and beds.
On
the evening news across Nigeria on March 29, 2006 the solar eclipse was
reported. A few people mentioned to us that they would have
joined our trip if they had known how special this  event would
be. I mentioned to them that they could plan for the next
total solar eclipse happening in Nigeria as they would have 40 years to
prepare for it.
Our American friends shared the
costs with us for the trip and we calculated that our solar eclipse
expedition for our friends and us cost $20 per person.
The solar eclipse: "Yana da kau!" (It was good!)
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