We began day two with a hike up the hills of Erio Ekiti. This particular town is predominant for religious tourism and at the very top of the hills is a place called ‘The New Jerusalem’. It was established by Joseph Ayo Babalola, the founder of the Christ Apostolic Church (C.A.C) who promoted Christianity within the town in the early fifties.

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We descended the hills after a few hours and made our way to the famous Ikogosi Warm Spring. Before this visit, I had been led to believe that Ikogosi was a waterfall with the warm and cold parts flowing side by side, I somehow ignored the ‘spring’ part…

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So, yeah, It’s not a waterfall but it is pretty fascinating. The image below is where the cold and warm springs meet…

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But seeing Ikogosi alone was a tad bit underwhelming, so taking a 20 minutes drive from Ikogosi to Arinta Waterfalls was exciting for me. I realized as soon as I got there that I have never really seen an actual waterfall and this was so beautiful to watch.

I stayed here only a couple of minutes because it started to rain as soon as we arrived but I was promised a more magnificent waterfall at Erin Ijesha.

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We  left Arinta and headed for our hotel at Erio Ekiti, stopping by at a local restaurant to get Ekiti’s staple meal – Iyan (Pounded yam) and Efo Riro. They proceeded to make the food right there and then and invited me to pound my own dinner.

I have to say, I have met only the friendliest people in Ekiti. Everyone I interacted with was so happy and so full of smiles. I got teased about my yam pounding skills but hey, it turned out good enough to eat!

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I also got offered palm wine, which tasted better than I expected. All in all, it was a day well spent!

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Other articles in this series;

Chasing the Western Nigeria Waterfalls – Day I

Chasing the Western Nigeria Waterfalls – Day III

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