Mr. Enosa Iyekekpolor's Challenger 2009 Experience.

I've always considered myself sort of a jungle boy and I naturally prefer the purity of the wilds to the artificiality of the city, hence one can understand my overflowing enthusiasm about the Challenger program from the moment I heard of it.

My experience began with leaving my base in Port-Harcourt for Jos, which turned out to be a 15hour trip! Nevertheless, I enjoyed the trip due to the adventure of passing through many novel towns and villages en-route. 

The other members from Lagos arrived around 9pm that night and after a few hurried “good-to see-you” hugs, we gathered our stuff into a waiting bus and got on our way to the challenger kick-off point.

The kick-off point was Maguna Village where the village Chief hosted us in his office quarters that night and the morning of the next day. With bellies fortified from the bounty of the village chief's hospitality, and backs laden with personal survival gear including dangling cans of water, tent bags, mattresses etc, our team made its way out of the village amidst the curious stares of its inhabitants, to the mountain camp. The trip there was uneventful but punctuated with frequent stops as quite a number of us needed time to rest our tired backs and legs which were being put through the ordeal of high altitude mountaineering for the first time. 

On getting to the base camp on the mountain, we did a little scouting to find the best possible area for setting up our tents. After that was done, we had a little rest then BINGO! The activities began!

That afternoon, after setting up camp, we had an orientation meeting were we each got assigned to a buddy (I nicely got assigned to my fiancée) after which the program of events was outlined and broad expectations for the team defined. At the conclusion of the meeting, it was announced that it was too late to head for the rock climbing site which was previously scheduled for that morning, so as a substitute, the day would be spent getting water from the village and camp keeping. That announcement brought visions of a restful easy day to my mind and I looked forward to lazing the rest of the day off.

Alas, I should have known better than to expect we'd be given the day off. The water fetching which I expected to be an easy "stroll to the village- fetch the water- and stroll back" experience didn't quite turn out the way I dreamed. It turned out to be a "climb, jump, hack, march to the village- fetch the water- and pant back" experience, none the less, I found it the most enjoyable and notable experience of all the ones I had during the program. It was just simply beautiful to see how proper teamwork could make cheese out of a normally difficult task. The assistance and encouragement from team members coupled with having a leader that knew the way, got us all through the ordeal in one happy, fulfilled piece. Later, some of the biggest guys confessed that they often felt like dropping for a rest but on seeing the apparently fragile ladies scaling the rocks, didn't dare.

After dinner on the first evening on the mountains, we had the first of our daily camp fires where the day was reviewed and the tone was set for the rest of the period.

The rest of the challenger program passed quite interestingly for me and I deeply enjoyed the many activities which included early morning compass check talks, a mountain Sabbath Service, mountain hiking, orienteering, rock-climbing, an excursion to a nearby hydropower station, going for water and wood fetching trips, a buffet night, daily camp fire nights, occasional baths in a cold small stream, group discussions, photograph taking and every day camp activities. The program also afforded me an excellent opportunity of reinforcing my bond with the other expedition members including my fiancee.

But as interesting events usually go, the days of the program quickly reeled to a close and almost before I knew it, it was time to go. As we walked back to the village where we were to catch a bus back to Jos city, I stayed towards the rear of the marching column of campers on purpose, to have a good view of everyone and store the image in my mind. That image along with the entire experience still resides strong in a tender place in my heart and continues to inspire me down to this day.

Mr. Nosa Iyekekpolo is an Electrical Electronic Engineer working with an oil servicing firm in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He is engaged to Miss Blessing Taiwo Alade.