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.
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…
So, yeah, It’s not a waterfall but it is pretty fascinating. The image below is where the cold and warm springs meet…
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.
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!
I also got offered palm wine, which tasted better than I expected. All in all, it was a day well spent!
Other articles in this series;
