As I have always said, northern Nigeria is not the way people perceive it to be, it's my favorite region in Nigeria and I love exploring it. There are lots of remarkable and beautiful attractions to explore in the Northern part of Nigeria, but many people are afraid to explore these places because of insurgencies. But I can tell you that Northern Nigeria is not the way people perceive it to be. I actually travelled to Bauchi with four of my friends who are also interested in tourism. Located in the north east part of Nigeria, Bauchi is truly a home of tourism. There are beautiful places you can visit such as the Emir Palace and the Yankari Games Reserve.

We got to the Emir Palace and took some pictures and then listened to the enchanting history of the Emir Palace. The great Emir’s Palace is located at Unguwar Jaki Street in Bauchi Local Government Area in Bauchi State. It was founded by Fula in the early 19 century and built by Babban Gwani whose real name is Muhammadu Durugu from Zaria in Kaduna State.

The Emir's Palace was constructed with mud around 200 years ago, although it has now been renovated to a new modern structure. The palace has uniquely designed windows and fine balconies as you can see from the pictures.

After checking out the Emir's Palace, we headed down to the Yankari Games Reserve which is one of the greatest tourist attractions in Nigeria. It is the most sought after game reserve for wildlife and safari in Nigeria. The Yankari Games Reserve is actually located in Yankari, a town in the central part of Bauchi State.

On getting to the Yankari resort I secured my hotel accommodation, refreshed and prepared myself for next day. The next day at Yankari Games Reserve was amazing. I saw the baboon monkeys and they were very smart 'thieves' although friendly.

Interestingly, one of the baboons entered my hotel room and took away my bread. Hahaha. The baboon actually opened the door to my room, took the bread and disappeared.

I visited the Wikki Spring located within the Yankari Games Reserve; it's one of the most beautiful and clearest water bodies in Nigeria. It's crystal clear, disease free and naturally warm, cool in the day and warm at night. The Wikki Spring is one of the reasons why most people go to Yankari Games Reserve.

Swimming in the warm spring with other tourists. It's really worth the visit. After swimming at the warm spring, I went on Safari ride with my friends. It was actually a very sunny day and we kept searching for wild animals but could only see few of the wild animals due to the weather conditions.

Usually, hot weather like it was on the day we visited, doesn't allow the animals to come out, but it was nice and the safari trip at the Yankari Games Reserve was worth it. I saw some wild animals such as the waterbuck, wiled guinea fowls as well as the warthogs.

I also visited some caves such as the Marshall Cave. According to Lasiru our Tour Guide, the Marshall Cave was discovered by a British man known as P.J Marshall in the early part of the 20th century.

According to the story, no one knows who used the caves but it could have served as a settlement many years ago, sheltering communities from wild animals and invaders. There are speculations that the local indigenous people used the caves to hide from slaw raiders associated with Emir of Bauchi and the Arabic slave raiders who come down from the Sahara region during the slave trade days. These caves are beautifully painted by their presumed Initial inhabitants. There is also a beautiful museum located within the Yankari Games Reserve. It's a nice one and I learned a lot about the beginning of Yankari and how it came into existence as well as the three types of springs found there, the most common of which is the Wikki Spring.

I really enjoyed my time and trip to Bauchi State. If you could, you should visit Bauchi State especially the Yankari Game Reserve, and enjoy the gift of nature from God. The Bauchi State government should invest heavily on that resort so it can attract a lot more people even from outside Nigeria. Nigeria is beautiful and we have many great tourist attractions to explore. Nigerians should spend more time to visit these places.

Bolaji Seun is a Nigerian tourist, travel writer and travel blogger who is passionate about explorative tourism. He has visited 33 states, many tourist attractions and destinations in Nigeria and outside Nigeria including Ghana, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Bolaji is a guest blogger on www.afritraveller.com. You can follow him on Social media: Facebook:@Bolaji Seun Tourist, Twitter: @TRBolaji24, WhatsApp:+2348063513525