Azaghvana E-Book 2003 - Flipbook - Page 56
mostly foothill and plains people, but they have traditions of origin which link them to the
Gvoko. However it seems that none of this is any longer of great importance. The main
settlement of the Glavda is Ngoshe Kasa, while that of Gvoko is Ngoshe Sama. Ngoshe Kasa
is situated at the southern end of the Zelidva spur. To the southwest of Ngoshe, inside a valley
at the eastern foot of the Guduf saddle, is Gava. As there is no road across the saddle, one has
to drive all around the northern end of the Gwoza hills to get there.
Plate 8a: Intramountainous eastern plain photographed with a wide-angle lens.
Plate 8b: Eastern plain with Ngoshe, photographed from Divili.
To the east of Bokko and Ngoshe we can see the nearby Moskota hills (only about 15km
away) obscuring the view further east. As we have now entered the intramountainous plain of
Kirawa, with the Kirawa river forming the international boundary, we are no longer able to
see the eastern chain of the Mandara Mountains, at least not from the bottom of the plain. The
Moskota massif nearby is inhabited by Mafa, which is the largest ethnic unit of the Mandara
Mountains. The Mafa are competitors over land, since the narrow plain between the Moskota
and the Gwoza hills provides only limited resources.
Before we drive south from Nghoshe, we turn east and visit Atagara and Agapalawa, the two
main Glavda settlements in the plain on the Nigerian side of the Kirawa river (see Figure 3).
We drive on as far as Ashigashiya, which is an alternative international border crossing to
Kirawa town at the northern foot of the Moskota hills. The majority of the inhabitants of
Ashigashiya are also Glavda, which makes them a cross-border population. As it is the dry
season we can see that the Kirawa river bed has dried out, however we don’t want to visit
Cameroon, and decide to return to Ngoshe.
From Ngoshe we continue south, leaving the Guduf saddle to the right behind, and arrive at
Amuda, which is where the southern massif begins with a range of foothills stepping out into
the eastern plain. We carry on southwards and pass the foothill of Arbokko, a Glavda enclave,
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