48 Hours In Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

During the October Independence long weekend holiday, I dragged my friend along on a road trip from Lagos to Ekiti State. The journey was unexpectedly long and tiring, we even considered going back to Lagos halfway through the journey. At a point, I got scared and had to call fellow blogger Tosinto find out if she had the same experience on her frequent trips to the area. I’ve tried to do a brief breakdown in case you ever want to visit the area, I also listed all the places we visited and put the info of our helpful cab driver; Mr Deji who took us round the town.

Transportation

We boarded a bus from the Ojota park for 2 500 Naira each and paid for an extra seat so we could have the entire back row to ourselves which turned out to be the second brilliant decision we made during this trip. We had enough space to stretch and be comfortable for the 9 hours we spent on the road, it would’ve been about 5 hours if the bus did not break down 4 times in 3 different states. Coming back to Lagos was different and better, the journey lasted only about 5 hours.

Accomodation

I used Hotels.ng to book a standard room at De Jewels Apartments  in Ado-Ekiti, I was skeptical because I’ve had not-so-pleasant experiences with Hotels.ng in the past. However, the hotel was not bad, they lied about having wi-fi and their breakfast menu, the bathroom drain was clogged and they took away the tea package without any notice but the staff was courteous and tried to offer solutions to problems we encountered. There was a nice pool I thought I would take advantage of the morning we were to go back to Lagos but they refused me entry side-eye

• Ikogosi Warm Springs

This is probably the most popular tourist destination in Ekiti. Legend has it that two quarreling wives turned into the hot (a.k.a troublesome wife) and cold (a.k.a peaceful wife) springs that meet at the point where a Simber and Palm tree share roots. The warm part of the spring has a temperature of 38 degrees Celsius while the meeting point is 32 degrees. Many years ago, Ikogosi Warmsprings boasted of a zoo but all the animals were moved to the Ibadan zoo because a lion killed a security guard. There’s an entry fee of 500 Naira per person and 1000 Naira per camera (two heads maybe?)

• Egbe Dam 

This was the most fascinating place we visited, even our cab driver was in awe as he had never visited in all the time he had been living in Ekiti. The most surprising thing about Egbe Dam is that the people living in areas close to it do not have portable water, imagine being surrounded by a dam and lacking water, tragic. I was both fascinated and scared while looking at the dam. We paid 500 Naira entry fee for our car and our tour guide was most helpful.

• Erijiyan Sacred River

This place is 2km from Ikogosi and is pretty easy to miss because there are no signs but Mr. Deji pointed it out to us. There are stories that the fish in this river are the children of a goddess. They cannot be boiled as they would remain hard like stone and whoever attempts it would face grave consequences. I wonder if anyone has tried roasting them. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any because we didn’t have bread or biscuits to bribe them with. Yes, you need to bribe the fish to come up to surface.

The first brilliant decision we made on this trip was retaining Mr. Deji after he dropped us off at our hotel when we got to Ado-ekiti, we were able to negotiate a reasonable fare for him to take us round all the places we wanted to visit. We almost ran into trouble at one of the numerous police checkpoints but he talked his way out of it. We were also supposed to visit the sacred Oroke Ewo War Centre but we had to take permission from a Chief and a King. On getting to the chief’s court, we explained our reasons for being there and he made an offhand remark about keeping me behind as one of his wives, Mr. Deji literally hurried us out of there and sped off, I thought it was a joke and didn’t grasp the severity of the statement till much later. Overall, the trip to Ekiti was memorable but I know I definitely wouldn’t be making it back there anytime in the future except for business or other important reasons.

P.S: You can reach Mr. Deji on 08066566939

Have you visited any of the sites I mentioned, especially Ikogosi? What was your experience like? Would you like to visit? Do let me know in the comment section.

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