Omu Resort (Lagos), Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove (Osun),
Idanre Hills (Ondo)
With the four-day weekend early this
month (October 4 to 7) a great opportunity for a road trip presented itself,
and so road tripping we went.
Lagos
We started off on October 4 with a
visit to Omu Resort in Bogije Town, off
Lekki-Epe Expressway. The resort is a couple of minutes after Ajah. If you're
visiting Omu Resort for the first time, keep your eyes peeled. The resort has a
small easy-to-miss sign at the junction where you're supposed to turn off from
Lekki-Epe Expressway, and if you’re not careful you will miss it, like we did.
Looking at Omu Resort from the
outside you might think for a moment that you’re in the wrong place. Within the
compound are two large rectangular buildings, painted grey, that made me think
of a warehouse or some other kind of storage facility. The expansive compound sits
by the water, but I was disappointed to find that the resort makes no use of
the waterfront – there’s just tall grass covering the shoreline and blocking
the view.
Our tickets cost N3,600 per person –
a discounted price because there were ten of us. Platinum tickets, which we got,
cost N5,000 per person (without the discount) and allow access to all the
attractions. The Gold ticket is cheaper at N3,000, but does not allow access to
everything.
Omu Resort has a zoo, a Go-Kart
course, quad bikes, small pitches for football and volleyball, a Seaworld with
aquatic life, a few amusement park rides, an archery point, indoor games like
snooker, and a mini golf course. The zoo was quite exciting, with an impressive
variety of animals – a (lonely) lion, a (friendly) hyena, baboons, ostriches,
emus, geese, a crocodile, tortoises, jackals, peacocks, a donkey that is
allowed to roam the compound freely.
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The lion, 'Simba' |
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Baboon |
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Hyena |
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Donkey roaming the grounds |
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Ostriches ignoring my attempts at friendship |
Their lion is (not ironically) named
Simba, and our guide described how he’s fed. Every day the resort gets a live
goat which the zookeeper releases into Simba’s den through a latch, and then
Simba ‘hunts’ the goat. On our way out we saw the unfortunate goat that was to
be Simba’s lunch that day. It was quite young and I felt sorry for it.
Zoos leave me with mixed feelings. I
enjoy seeing the animals, but I also wonder what they do all day, worry that
they get bored with their caged lives.
Omu
Resort does not have a restaurant on site, so you will have to call (probably
days) ahead and order your food. This is the only way of getting food at the
resort besides bringing your own, which you are allowed to do. You might be
able to get snacks like biscuits and popcorn at the resort, but not much else. Omu
Resort also does not have provision for lodging, so you’ll have to make it a
day trip.
Osun
We said goodbye to Omu Resort at
about 3 pm and headed to Osun, where we would be spending the night at MicCom Golf Hotel and Resort in
Ada. We got into Osun early in the evening, but getting to Ada took much longer
than we had anticipated. As we weren’t exactly sure where we were going we had
to navigate using a combination of smartphone maps (which our driver did not
trust) and the good old stop-and-ask. We reached MicCom Golf Resort at about
9.45 pm.
We paid for our reserved rooms, collected
our keys and were ushered out of the main building and toward a rectangular
block that reminded me of the hostels at my old secondary school. As we stepped
through the entrance to this block I noticed a sign on the wall that said ‘Hotel
Annex’. I did not like the sound of this. We later learnt that this block
contained the hotel’s older rooms.
I’m reluctant to badmouth MicCom Golf
Resort. To be fair, we did go for the cheapest option available – the ‘Studio
Room’, which cost N5,980 per night. Prices for other rooms range from N6,670 (Double
Room) to N34, 500 (Royal Suite).
So we took the cheapest rooms; still,
I don’t think it’s unfair to expect a few basics from a place like MicCom –
working water heaters for hot showers (none of our rooms had this), 24-hour
electricity (apparently the hotel needs to reach a certain percentage of
occupancy before they can run the generators through the night). The good thing
was that PHCN electricity was pretty stable the whole night.
I enjoyed the food at MicCom, at
least. Their rice and efo riro was a delight and cost N1,500. Food prices at
the resort range from around N1,000 to N2,000 per plate.
With
sunrise the next day we were able to appreciate the resort’s well-kept grounds
– acres of green spread over a rolling landscape, with trees dotting the space.
The bright sunlight, the brilliant blue of the sky and the people out playing
golf made for a very pretty picture.
We found the swimming pool, and a
lawn tennis court right beside it. The pool was unimpressive and the water did
not look as clean as it should have. There was a pale little frog chilling on
the pool’s wall, like it was sunning itself after a leisurely dip and had as
much right to be there as any human.
We left MicCom early on Sunday
afternoon and decided to make a quick stop at the Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove just
outside Osogbo. The Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove is set on forestland along the
banks of River Osun. The quiet road leading to the gates is surrounded by trees
and vegetation, and several small black and white monkeys appeared on tree
branches and the roadside to stare at our bus. Something about the place made
me want to talk in whispers and walk on my toes, to cause as little disruption
as possible.
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The road to the grove |
The Osun Osogbo Sacred Grove was
designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 2005 and is the venue of the yearly
Osun Osogbo Festival that takes place in August.
At the gate we paid N100 each to get
in. The attendant said it would cost an additional N2,000 for every camera we
wanted to take in. We ended up paying N3,000 for three cameras.
Past the gates and all the way to
the shrine you will see many surreal sculptures.
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These carvings stood right in front of the shrine |
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These little black and white monkeys were a constant companion. This one sat watching for a while from the entrance to the shrine. |
There’s an old suspension bridge that
takes you across a part of the river. The bridge is a tad unsteady so we did
not attempt to cross it.
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The old suspension bridge |
Ondo
We said goodbye to the Osun Osogbo Sacred
Grove and set off for Akure, where we would visit our main destination, Idanre
Hills. The plan was to get into Akure by evening, spend the night at Royal Birds Hotels, Agbalaka,
visit Idanre Hills early on Monday and then head back to Lagos.
Just outside of Akure our bus broke
down, and so we had to split up, find transportation and make our way to the
hotel in two separate groups. It did not help that it started to rain, and that
the second taxi my group took broke down a short distance from the hotel!
We all eventually made it to Royal
Birds and it was pretty amazing. Our rooms were large and spacious, and we had
a charming view from our balconies. Plus the showers ran hot water and we had
electricity and a good internet connection. Our rooms cost N9,000 each, the
hotel’s least expensive. I did not get to see much of the hotel’s food menu,
but their peppersoup was good and came at a reasonable price – N750 to N800 per
plate. Breakfast was complimentary for one occupant per room.
We left Royal Birds for Idanre around
noon the next day. Idanre is just about an
hour’s drive from Akure. We had to stop and ask for directions a few times, but
we made it there okay. The site was officially closed to tourists the day we
visited – apparently the town was preparing for a festival and there were
rehearsals going on within the compound. But, thankfully, we were able to
convince the attendants to let us go in.
We paid the entry fee (N500 per
person) and were assigned a guide who advised us to buy drinks from the sellers
at the base of the hill. He assured us that we would need the drinks for the climb,
and he was right.
About
660 steps take you to the tourist summit of the hill. According to our guide,
the main summit cannot be reached in one day. There are four rest stops along
the stairway to the top, so you can take a break and catch your breath if you
get tired.
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A portion of the stairway. The hut-like structure is one of four rest stops along the way. |
There’s also a small lodge at the
tourist summit where I think people can spend the night. It doesn’t look too
inviting from the outside, though, and it did not look inhabited at the time.
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The lodge |
Climbing Idanre Hill was relatively
easy as a result of the stairway – 660 stairs seemed like child’s play compared
to our
Erin Ijesha experience. The views are amazing. You don’t even have to
reach the summit to start enjoying them; just look behind you as you go up.
We reached the tourist summit and the
town lay sprawled beneath us, a perfect picture.
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Higher peaks |
Our guide took us to see some of the
attractions at the tourist summit – the old primary school building, which was
in use from 1896 to 1928, the old prison built in 1906, and the old court.
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The old primary school |
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The old prison |
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The old court building, as seen from the side. Notice
the round patch of grass just by the verandah? According to our guide, it’s
forbidden to step on it. He said the ‘ancient crown’ landed on this spot when
Oduduwa descended, and that at the coronation of every new king sacrifices are
made there (or something like that). |
There’s also an ancient palace, but
we didn’t get to see this as we were running quite late. It was time to leave
for Lagos after a long weekend very well spent.
Photo credit: Yellow Mitsubishi