A TRIP TO ADO AWAYE | Only Suspended Lake in Africa

In my previous post (click here if you haven’t read it), I told you guys about how my friends and I were unable to go to Ado Awaye because we couldn’t get a cab on time. This time we decided to leave Ibadan early and so my friends and I agreed on leaving Ibadan by 10 am. We had the number of the cab driver that took us to IITA and Cultural Center the previous day.

Unfortunately, his number was not reachable when Maryam tried calling him. Could he have given us a wrong number unknowingly? Or maybe he did not want to take us to Ado Awaye for five thousand naira as he felt it was too small? Since we could not reach the driver, Mr Saheed, we decided to meet at UI gate, our usual spot to take any available Micra we find.

University of Ibadan main gate Source: google

I got to UI gate a few minutes to 10 am. I met Maryam and Adam there and the three of us decided to wait for Alao. While waiting, we decided to occupy ourselves with a game of cards. We played the game thrice with each of us winning once. Alao arrived just after the third game.

The exploration team was now complete. We went out of UI campus to board an empty Micra which we got after waiting for some time. We told the driver we wanted to take a drop to Ojoo. Then, on our way to Ojoo, we tried convincing him to take us to Ado Awaye. He hesitated at first but he later agreed to take us when we told him we knew the way and that we would direct him. We didn’t know the way but we planned on using google maps to direct us.

A picture showing the infamous Micra Source: google

Again, google failed us. I don’t know what happened but the map was not taking us through the route we saw the previous day when we checked for directions. It seemed like Google was taking us back to where we came from. Was google confused? Only God knows. The driver who now noticed we did not know the way said he was no longer interested in taking us. He said the only way he could help us was by taking us to the park where Iseyin cabs stayed. We didn’t have a choice so we agreed.

On getting to the park, we realized that our best option was to take a bus. The same bus we tried avoiding the previous day was now our best option. The bus looked old and was also in a poor condition but we had to manage it. The driver was also driving recklessly not caring so much about his passengers. The road made matters worse. We kept on moving from one pothole to another. It was terrible. I sat at the back so every time we fell into a pothole, my bum was hitting the seat so hard it felt like I was directly entering the pothole, my head was also touching the ceiling of the bus simultaneously. My spine almost got ripped off. Ah! I love road trips but I would have enjoyed it better if we had our car. All these happened until we got to Iseyin which has good roads. A little further into the town we got to the final bus stop and alighted. No! we hadn’t gotten to Ado Awaye. Ado Awaye was an entire journey from the Iseyin park.

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We found a driver that was reasonable enough and willing to take us so we chattered his Keke to Ado Awaye. It took us two hours to get to Iseyin from Ibadan and over half of that time to get to Ado Awaye from the park. I noticed at least 3 villages on the way from Iseyin to Ado Awaye. I also saw some men building a mud house. This was my first time seeing a mud house being built. We got to Ado Awaye and the driver took us to the Oba’s palace. We saw the secretary who was also our tour guide. He told us we had to pay 500naira per head which we agreed to. We then followed him to the mountain.

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On getting to the mountain, he told us we had to pay 1000 naira to him that the 500 naira each of us paid earlier was for the chiefs we met when we went to the palace and the 1000 naira was for him taking us up the hill. Would be so foolish of us going back now after such a long journey because of 1000 naira. We gave him the 1000 naira. Our lovely driver also joined us and up the mountain, we went.

Got down from the Keke pumped to hike

Hiking is a mixture of fun and stress. You are surrounded by a beautiful view of nature having the best time of your life at the same time it can be tiring.

Starting off the hiking

We had to take a pause after few steps to rest

Felt so tired at this point, didn't know we still had a long way to go

The first monument we came across was the praying rock. Here, it is believed that every wish made on the rock comes true. When it does, one is expected to tie a plain white cloth around the rock and that the rock lets it lose when it’s no longer needed.

I had to take a photo with the praying rock

After hundreds of steps, we saw Iya Aro (Aro means dye in English). History says that people lived on the Ado Awaye mountain. One of them was a woman who was into tie and dye. She used to dye her clothes in the lake and so when she died the lake was named after her.

Iya Aro still sitting pretty after so many years

On our way up the mountain, we saw several carved holes that looked somewhat like footprints. We were told the inhabitants of the mountain used them for washing and pounding.

Holes used for washing and pounding

Going further up the mountain where the main point of interest lies; the suspended lake “IYAKE” was sitting pretty. According to history, two people have attempted to check how deep the lake was but they both failed (drowned). They are both white men however, one of the dead bodies was later found floating on the lake and the other was never found. Few steps forward, there was a hole known as AGBOMO FUN IYAKE. Iyake means a mother that is crying and AGBOMO FUN IYAKE means giver of children to the crying mother. It is believed that anyone who crosses the hole will drown in the lake.

Cool kids on the mountain

At the top of the mountain

The Ado Awaye suspended lake sitting at the top of the mountain

Stressful but we had fun

The last attraction before descending the mountain was a tree that looked like an elephant. We saw that and descended the mountain.

The elephant tree with names of tourists inscribed on it

Adam and I in front of the elephant tree

We paid the tour guide when we got down and headed home. Thankfully, the bus we took from Iseyin was a comfortable one so the journey back home was a jolly one. I got to Ibadan at 9 pm.

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· Time taken to climb and descend the mountain: approximately 3hrs

· Ensure to go hiking the mountain with at least 3 bottles of water

· Take some snacks along

· Hold enough cash in case of unforeseen circumstances

· Hold enough cash for Kuli kuli and Wara at Iseyin

· Have enough money in your account should in case the cash you held wasn’t enough, you can withdraw using the POS spots available in the town

· Go with a group of friends with like minds to enhance the fun

· Wear comfortable shoes

· Go with a good camera or camera phone (can’t overemphasize this)

See you next Wednesday!

Love,

Naimah Bint Lukman

The Fashion Architect