Lit: Cannot be bought,..secrets not for sale..strategic – Swahili
Origin: African-Benin-Nigerian
HISTORY
The ol’ Faro Reserve that bordered the Cameroon and Nigerian border was interestingly enough, surrounded by several hunting reserves. This amusing quirk of zoning and land distribution for the 1287 sq mi area, and the subsequent affect it had on its inhabitants, ran a rather interesting parallel to another division that existed within the state as well.
“..there was one Cameroon…..then white man come and split it..”.
“yeah..but, that was some time ago..(?)..”
“Yes..but a divide still same..”
That was then.
The story told was that after the end of a war, Cameroon was appropriated by and then between French and English nations. This was somewhat followed shortly thereafter by a series of migrations and adjustments as some residents re-located just beyond the border to Nigeria. Between a divided Cameroon and the neighboring republic of Nigeria, whilst in their travels, the people took along some cultural elements and acquired others while some fell unbeknownst out of the luggage of life.
It could be said that the lions of the park, The Faro Reserve inherited some of the big-eyed angst. The strife was mainly out of disputes from juxtaposed jurisdictions more than anything else, and the fanning of the fire was the existence of another nature reserve just southwest in Nigeria, The Gashaka-Gumti National Park. While earlier during human times, most of Gashaka’s efforts seemed delegated to primate conservation, this mattered little today. It would be that the proximity of the two parks provided many a conflict for the much territorial cats that inhabited both expanses.
Presently, a long ruling, and the most widespread of prides had governed the Gashaka Reserve and had sat rather lofty and quite comfortably in such a plush provided sense of security. They stemmed from a most brazen generation of pride-less young males who had worked their way northeast from Garba, intent on obliterating all traces of their conventional coming of age period. It reeked of limbo. They drudged forward, hugging the Taraba River, addressing any unintentional contact with with sheer determination, ultimately designating a kingdom in Kipsan. But whoa did they become content and fat cats indeed. It was upon a customary scouting and marking of grounds that one king drew in the odor of confrontation.
A curious and impervious cat had found many puzzles and intrigue along the western border of the Faro reserve. He had toyed with old traps left by big-eyes, pounced on the riddle of procuring food in otherwise gameless places, not mention, had he shadowed and investigated the livelihood of pretty much all wildlife present in the park. But, he unknowingly sought a larger conundrum. One in which he could employ all of his sparkling thoughts and illuminations. Alas, he had found it, although he was not apparent of the discovery.
Arduous decisions, one’s that were once made over a fine efo stew and manioc… such decisions were elsewhere being made, over the fresh kill of eland, a grazing animal. These decisions were comprised of an attempt to maintain their way of life while holding steadfast to a sense of identity and security.
To achieve the best of outcomes would require patience and intelligence that none were so ever endowed with such as the Yelba tribe of Faro. A crafty and ambitious pride from the north just short of Mali, while not often seen, they were surely felt. The occasional slaughter, scent marking or tagging’s that seemed far beyond their stretch of land . This pride had successfully mitigated turmoil between other wildlife and forged alliances that were otherwise uncommon. They negotiated and risked much to not only spread their linage, but to beguilingly set precedence and security for future litters.
WanSiha-Hila-OonhH was of this pride.
