Embarking on great adventures is all I ever yearned for and now an awesome opportunity presented itself and who am I to decline?

   So it all started when @anneadams_ buzzed me to inform me of this awesome movement that she was coming up with I was so excited about the idea of hopping on a train and going to Kaduna because I have never been there before and being that I have never been on a train before made happy. after we talked I picked up my phone and googled the castle and what I saw made me even more excited and I couldn't wait for the weekend to present itself so I can explore as usual.... moving on, that day finally came and based on logistics we all planned to meet at the train station because the tour around the castle cost 20,000 Naira so somehow my dear friend had to find 7 more people to make us 10 so that our expenses could be cut short. due to one or two things and the fact that it was a Friday 4 people backed out of the trip the day before, leaving the 6 of us confused because we already had a planned budget that each of us wouldn't be spending anything more than 8000 Naira so the only way out was to find 4 new people to join the tour and somehow my friend and her friend manage to come up with 3 more people to join us and we were 9. With all things being said we had no choice but to cater for the cost of the last person since there was no last man standing... #lol

Fast-forward to the morning of the tour I woke up by 4:30 am thereabout because it turned out that I was the only one that lived far away from the train station we all planned to leave from (idu station). Hurriedly I had my bath and carried all the necessary items for the trip and by 5 am I was out as I did not want to be the cause of a delayed trip. I hopped into a cab and off I went as I could not wait for my day to start. while on my way I buzzed the rest of the group to be sure we were all on track because the train was to leave for Kaduna by 7 am. However, it took me over 1 hour to get to the train station but to my dismay on getting there, I could not see any familiar face I started panicking because am someone that loves sticking to the plan and time as far as adventure is concerned #lol... To cut the long story short my friends where late tho 4 of them made it to the station at about 6:55 am which was 5mins to the departure of the train and being that most of us haven't been to Kaduna before we decided to wait for the rest and that was how we missed our train.... (the train station had no tolerance for African time #lol).

At that moment all I could think of was the story of the 5 maidens in the bible that had oil in their lamps and made heaven. I told the rest and they all laughed but trust me when I say it wasn't funny to me. blah blah blaaahh... #lol.  When the rest arrived we enquired and found out that the next train was to leave at 2 pm in the afternoon and our tour was for 12 noon (what an irony).... someone somehow came up with the idea of going by road and as determined souls we all bought the idea because we already had plans for kajuru castle... #lol YIPEEE!!!! hurriedly we left for the Kaduna park at Mabushi and embarked on a road trip and in about 2 hours thereabout we were in Kaduna. (missing the train gat nothing on us people..lol). We hopped into our connecting bus to the castle as there was a bus already at the park waiting to take us to our destination but now we where faced with one major problem * * * * the driver of the bus wasn't so sure of the way to the castle so we decided to rely on google map but guess what even our google map turns out to be Hausa because based on the direction it gave us and the directions we got from a policeman, the driver and a few others we all found ourselves at KASU (Kaduna state university).... #phewww..... With our tour time drawing near we had about 45mins to get to the castle in other not to miss the tour. so we called the tour guard and luckily for us he was somewhere around the corner. We headed for kajuru local government where he met us half way and led us to the castle. Tho the road wasn't so swift....guess what?? thaaaa daaaaa..... we made it to the castle in one piece. It was time for the tour to start the tour guard introduced himself as the ghost of the castle, and we had to climb a rather steep hill to get to the entrance of the castle. (the tour guard said the castle was 600m above sea level but after climbing it I doubted his descriptions..lol)

Yeeeeaaahhh!!!! Over to the tour......

Kajuru Castle is a private property owned by Gerhard Heubrer, a German who lived in Kaduna in the 1970s. Built in the 1980s. Constructed with thick granite stone, it took five years to build complete with turrets, armoury, and dungeons(dungeons are rooms tho), this castle is an ersatz Bavarian Castle with a typically European ambience, surrounded by beautiful rocks and hills. It was a fantastic tour, we got to see the rooms but we were not allowed to take pictures because it is a private residence, not a resort or hotel. The rooms are spread across the castles three floors, inside the structure to the left, which has turrets at the top. On the right is the cylindrical castle building, also with its own apartments and rooms. These include four dungeon-like bedrooms, a master suite referred to as the Landlords residence and a baronial hall. while on the tour the ghost of the castle mentioned that our swimming session was included in the 1-hour tour so as Nigerian children we opted to put the tour on pause and head for the swimming pool after which we concluded the tour and now it was time to go home....

                        Pictures,                 Pictures,                      Pictures.....

We headed for the train station because we could not allow history to repeat itself by missing the evening train #wink. Did i mention that on our way to the train station, the driver  stopped us at a pizza shop to grab something to eat * * * 

 At first we where skeptical because we wanted proper food not pizza or something light and thank God for his grace they had proper food and it was also delicious by the way I was still scared of getting food because my stomach has no respect for me but thanks to Anne who convinced me to buy yamarita and sauce along side with ice cream to cool my temperature...lol

low and behold we arrived at the train station quite early so we booked our tickets, sat down in the waiting lounge, had a recap of our day and had a good laugh while we waited for the train to arrive.

Now, the day was drawing to an end as the train arrived. We got into it and off we were on our way back to abuja were home is #lol. while on the train some of us just sat and talked, while the rest of the theme gathered to play whots (Nigeria card). at about 8 pm thereabout we arrived Abuja and we all made pleasantries and parted ways to our various homes. Indeed it was an awesome experience and am glad we did not back out of the trip after missing the morning train.

P.S :  Always remember that determination and proper preparation is a good key to success....... XOXO NOELS