Unknown Tourist Attraction in Northern Nigeria Farin Ruwa, Nassarawa State

Victoria Falls at a drop of 105 metres. Farin Ruwa a 150 metres
Since 1999, there have been an appalling 1000 visitors at this
site. Its a three hour drive from Abuja. Farin Ruwa is also
known as the Sha falls or Munjai falls as there has been an ongoing dispute
as to whether the falls is in Nassarawa state or Plateau State.

Just found an interesting write up on the history of the falls.

The Sha falls or the fall of Sha?

Did you ever hear about the Munjai falls? It is there that the water of the river Yar falls down from the Munjai hills, flowing on to Wamba, in Akwanga L.G.A. This fall is called “Farin Ruwa” in Hausa, which means “White water”.

The water falling down from the hills and splashing up at the ground is a great spectacle. It is said to rise in big clouds. The water falling down from the hills is steaming as if it was boiling. After touching the ground, the water enters into a big cave and comes out from another place again as a river. There are many stories told about the Munjai falls, e.g. that the water gathers at Tiryau (a mythical meeting place of all the water). The cave into which the water enters is said to be the house of a mighty water-spirit. Others say that a powerful Lwa’ (Alter Ego) resides there. According to the white-men it is also a good place for winning hydro-electric power.

People from Daffo, Sha and Tof, going down to the lowlands have to pass the Munjai falls. It is an important trading route. The road passing the falls on the way to Munjai isn’t good at all. Nevertheless many people like the Daffo dare to take it to buy oil at Munjai. The oil of Munjai is said to be the best oil in the whole area.

To men, the Munjai falls are also a way to show their courage. A man how doesn’t dare to pass the Munjai falls is said to be a coward. And indeed, it is true. Many a man on reaching the place and seeing the steaming water has turned back in fear. Formerly, all the traders who wanted to pass there used to take along a sacrifice for the Lwa’ of the fall to get permission to pass. There is a belief among the traders that if a person is seeking wealth and passes the Munjai falls, he will certainly get it. But many who have taken this way have perished on it. The number of people who have lost their lives is impossible to tell.

The people living beneath the Munjai falls started to claim that it is their second self. That it was them who killed and still kill the people who perish at the falls. The fixed a fee which every trader who wanted to go down or up past the falls had to pay. Only those who paid it were allowed to go down or climb up. Every person who refused to pay the fee would perish on passing the falls. But indeed it was them who would ambush the traders passing the falls, kill them and take away their goods and money.

When the Sha people heard this they said that no-one should pay the fee anymore. They abused the Munjai people, saying that they were great evildoers. They said that the Munjai people ate human flesh and that no-one should have contact with them anymore. That people should fight against them and do away with those bandits.

Then the people living at the bottom of the Munjai falls joined with the Munjai, the Masingar, the Yiw, the Mama, the Marhai and the Kamtu people. They prepared local beer all over their country. They invited the Sha people to a beer drinking party. They should come and see for themselves that those stories about the Munjai falls were not true. The Sha people rushed down to the lowlands for the beer.

However, those people had prepared the beer as a trap for the Sha people. The Sha people came and drank a lot of beer. They got drunk and started dancing and falling about. Their hosts put on their war dresses. Then they started singing a song, asking the Sha people: “So you say we have eaten people, we are devils, or what? Now you have come to do away with us, have you? Or were you drunk when you said that?” The challenged the Sha to repeat what they had earlier said. The Sha people became very afraid and started running away. They said: “These people want to kill us. We are lost!”

They started climbing the hills in their drunken state, when the sun had already set. While climbing, they kept falling. Their hosts shouted: “See them there, let’s chase them.” They had earlier put a slippery matter on the way. Now the Sha people began to glide on it. They broke their heads and died in great numbers. Due to drunkenness, many fell down on the rocks and their blood was pouring to the ground.

When the sun rose the following day, the hosts saw the Sha people lying dead on the ground and were very contented. They continued with their drinking party and sang a song about their victory over the Sha people. They abused them, calling them stupid and fools. Those few who could escape came to Sha mourning and said: “this is the end of Sha”. People asked them why. They told them that the people who had invited them had wanted to kill them in cold blood. That they had wanted to climb the hills, but the people had put a slippery matter. That this combined with their being drunk had made them fall down, break their bones and heads and that many had died.

Then the Sha people put on their mourning shrouds. The Sha spies claimed that those people had not only put the slippery matter on the way. That they had actually made them drunk and then turned on them and beaten them to death. But those people denied the charges. They also denied having put a slippery matter on the path. They claimed that it had been the Sha people who, after getting drunk, had looked for trouble. They had said that they were devils and that they would finish them this very night. But then suddenly they had started to run away. Then, climbing the hills in the middle of the night, being drunk, of course they had fallen down and broken their necks.

Until now, the Sha people haven’t forgotten how they perished at the Munjai falls. The Daffo people like to tease the Sha people by reminding them of that story. They use to tell the Sha people: “Hey you, you must have been fools to go to that drinking party and climb the hills being drunk. If those people are not as strong as you, how is it that up to now you haven’t taken revenge?” They tell them that perhaps it was them who used to kill people on the way until finally they got punished at the Munjai falls. In a very rude manner, they even swear “by the fall of the Sha people”. Then the Sha people become very angry and tell the whole story all over again and people laugh even more.

Allegedly, the Sha themselves are partly related to those people who invited them to the drinking party.They are said to have a common origin.

The Munjai fall is a place that has now become very famous. Nowadays, people like to go there and take pictures. The Federal Government is even planning to build a road from Sha down to the place where they went for the beer. Allegedly, due to the perishing of the Sha at the falls, the falls are now no longer called Munjai falls, but Sha falls.