We began day three – our last day of the tour – quite early, starting with a visit to Erin Ijesha waterfalls. The road from Erio-Ekiti was okay for the most part but there were several bad spots that made my stomach churn. We arrived our destination early, paid the entrance fee and got set to hike the terrains leading to the various levels of the falls.
I started clicking away, determined to take as many pictures as my SD card could contain. It wasn’t long before I noticed something moving in the rocks. I zoomed in to find this little guy enjoying an early morning shower.
My first instinct was to make a run for it. In fact, I was almost discouraged from going further and the guides didn’t help much either. They kept on reminding us that this was a season where we would come by a lot of snakes! Luckily, we continued our hike with no more surprises along the way.
The Erin Ijesha trail has definitely got to be one of the most scenic hiking routes in Nigeria. As we walked through the forest, we were greeted with the distance sounds of waters hitting rocks, birds chirping, streams flowing from rocks underneath. It was almost magical.
We trudged on, hiking a mix of fantastically steep steps and rocks. And I thought Idanre was hard! In any case, I preferred the rocks to the steps. I was told that the management of this site has been handed to a private firm. I’m hoping that they fix the hand rails for the stairs that already exist and leave the remaining part of the trail the way it is.
We got to the first level after several minutes. By this time, some of the guys weren’t really keen on going higher. A few of them remained on this level while we moved higher.
Unfortunately for me, everyone else decided to stop when we got to the second level. I really wish I could have continued but I guess I’ll do that if I get to visit again.
We descended the hills and began our journey back into Lagos via Ibadan. Back in Ibadan, we made a quick stop at the University of Ibadan Zoological Garden. I’ve visited this zoo in the past, when I was much younger and I was impressed to see it still functioning properly.
And with that, my tour of south western Nigeria came to an end…
See Day One & Day Two
