From The Horse’s Mouth | Michelle Unravels Fifth Chukker

Fifth Chukker Polo and Country Club is set within Kangimi Resorts, on the Kaduna to Jos Road, Kaduna State, It is acclaimed to be one of the biggest Resorts in West Africa, which offers a range of activities. These activities include the Polo Club, stables, basket ball court, tennis pitch, a pool side which is set around the club house and around some of the huts… etc. It is a life style resort which gratifies your typical cosmopolitan traveller as well as your classic polo enthusiast.

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The trip was essentially for some fun and relaxation. It wasn’t like we had been planning it. Some of us had decided to go a week or two before the time, while some joined in one/two to three days till we departed. I guess there was a need to unwind, ease up, enjoy the serenity and (for some of us), acquaint ourselves with the stories we had heard or photographs we had seen. I think I’d be speaking our minds if I said we primarily wanted to luxuriate and laze around for just a bit. We deserved it! So we tagged it “Girls Trip“.

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Oh absolutely. We had called in to make inquiries. We were disposed to three likely alternatives, the single room huts (for two), the double room villa (for four-five people) and the three bed villa (for 7 – 8 people). We eventually settled for the three bed villa as we were supposed to be eight. It was heavenly! Highly spacious, remarkably clean and lived up to it’s name – Luxurious! We had a living room and a kitchen. All rooms were en suite, each had a comfortable couch and a center table (like a mini living room) to go with it. Extremely palatial! We were ecstatic!

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What was the most surprising thing you saw or did?

Most surprising, Lol! That’s flinty, like, really tough… Well, for me, It was a rude awakening to the wonders of the North. I mean, from the space to the structure. As a matter of fact, the entire resort is quite a beauty to behold and is hands down one of the best I have ever seen. I haven’t been round the North much asides from my visit to Kajuru Castle years back, which is thanks to you folks at Unravelling Nigeria and Naija Nomads. That was one of my most memorable trips yet. My friends on this trip spoke highly of the North especially Taraba State, I was beyond impressed.

 

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What was your best moment of the entire trip?

My best moment(s) had to be my time with the girls! Haha, they were such a delight! We kind of bonded so quickly, though most of us had already been previously acquainted. I mean I had never met Aisha or Sefina, they were so amiable.

Oh, Sefina! She would ask what each person wanted in the morning – hot chocolate, tea or coffee and make it with glee, provided us with other needs too (inside joke) lol.

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There was lovely Dami, before you say Jack, she has gone to shower. I learned something there, lol!

Queenie was our constant entertainer, Omg! I laughed till I cried tears of joy.

Uju brought us food for days from mama’s kitchen and I fell in love with Aisha, instantly. She missed the train but made the trip by driving down to KD (Kaduna). I mean what else do you call an adventure? That “Ain’t nothing gon’ stop me from making this trip” behavior!

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Chinenye has always been one of my favorite travel buddies and I’m glad we made it to this trip. I’d go on a trip over and over again with these ones. We played games, laughed hard, ate and drank together, gisted about literally everything and took tons of pictures.

 I’m not understanding? Lmao. Okay, maybe not so much, I mean, I’d like to think not.

What are two interesting things about where you went that the average person doesn’t know?

Well, the Polo tournaments are usually quite big and interesting and from what we gathered, there was one coming up two weeks from when we were there. They give great discounts on accommodation and feeding around that time also. It’s not one to miss.

Secondly and most importantly,  it’s one of the biggest Resorts in West Africa. Much bigger (in size) than Ikoyi Club and the Polo Club in Abuja, surprisingly. This was especially enlightening for me.

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Sadly, we didn’t quite get to meet locals. We were lodged at the villa inside the resort throughout our stay. We stopped by some places on our way from the train station, to get things to take with us to the resort but most of us didn’t get down.

Hardest part of the trip had to be me getting up as early as 5 am so as not to miss the train at 7 am! If you know us in Abuja, life is quite facile. So painless and undemanding. Get up 7a m and you’d make work at 8 am! So easy sailing.

Oh my! Lol. Funny you ask this because this had to be the highlight, lmao! I got to the train station at about 6:25am. Met Sefina, Chinenye and Uju who had already gotten there and had tickets ready for 6 people. We were just there waiting for others and time slipped so fast!

Apparently, 7am is 7am for departure, boarding is obviously before 6:45am. Queeneth and Dami got there at about 6:40am, running and gasping heavily for breath, lmao!. It was 6:45am before we knew it and we were still waiting for two people. We were so apprehensive, calling and making sure they were almost there.

Before we realised it, it was almost 7am. Oh boy! Come and see sprinting. We were so agitated, we thought we had missed the train… We all laughed so hard when we realised Queeneth, (well, who else), had recorded us from behind, all the while begging for help with her elephantine sized box.. It wasn’t so funny then.

We were literally all just a mess and highly strung. The mood was a little tense after two of us missed the train. To think one of us was just pulling up at the drive way at 6:45am and still missed the train, so heart rending! Morale? Mess not with the train schedule. You are under strict obligation to be there 30 minutes to the time with ticket already in hand. In other words, an hour to departure as there’s a seemingly endless queue for ticket purchase.

Oh, Uju brought us isi ewu from home, I guess that could pass? It came separately with rice and some chicken stew. So sumptuous! Bless her !”

Cost was fair. I mean, the whole idea was to travel with fun people who would share a villa to reduce cost. A 3 bed villa is 162,000.00 so eight of us paid 20,250 each. The train to and from Kaduna was 2,200. The meals ranged from 3,000 – 5000 so that’s an average of N30,000 each in total.  We also had to drivers who picked and dropped us off at the train station for N16,000.

  The horse rides cost N5,000, quad bikes for N10,000 per hour and bicycles to move around for N5,000. We didn’t have time for these activities because we were pleased with walking around on the first day of the trip.

Day 2 was basically picture day and just generally playing around. We were going to go to the stable for the horse back riding but time was of the essence. We didn’t realise how much time we had spent gisting that morning and taking pictures in the afternoon so we resolved to head to the train station so we didn’t miss our train back!

Now that you’ve been there yourself, when you think of your trip what’s the first image that comes to your head?

 First image would probably be the Villa. I totally loved it! I mean, the polo ground, pool, club house were all beautiful. The luxury, snug and congenial feeling I got at the villa was extremely breathtaking, coupled with the fact that the tour assistants were good natured.

Revisit, most assuredly! Move, naa, not because it’s not a beauty to behold, but I mean it’s a holiday resort, I’d do holidays there over and over again!

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HAVE YOU BEEN TO FIFTH CHUKKER?

WHAT DID YOU THINK?

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*Reviews are based on opinions and personal experiences, and may differ from person to person

*prices written are based on the time the visit was made and is subject to change by the owners.

*pictures are provided by the ‘horse’ interviewed.