Few days to my birthday, my wife standing behind me while i play FIFA whispered something that made me jump up for joy. “Where would you love to go between Santorini and Maldives for your birthday, I want to sponsor a trip”💃
Out of joy, I shouted “Olumo Rock in Abeokuta please 🙏”
She immediately frowned because she was not expecting me to mention that kind of expensive place. She will gladly afford Maldives or Santorini but I went up the ladder choosing a more expensive place for birthday getaway, Olumo Rock. She didn’t know i was only particular about chopping her money, that’s why i picked the expensive Olumo.
Days rolled by and we set out on Saturday. The 1 hour 30 minutes drive was very smooth. We gisted, sang gbedu and listened to Ayefele while we rolled. Aye dun je.
Entering Abeokuta, i fell in love immediately. The ambience. The serenity. The breeze that you can’t experience in Santorini. No traffic at any point. O dun mo mi.
We drove straight to Olumo Rock and quickly paid our gate fee to enter. Parked and ready to run up the rock like Arnold Schwarzenegger. Someone beckoned on us “is this your first time or you have been here before?”
“First time”
The man wearing waist coat with “Tour guide” started welcoming us with sweet words and boom, we became his client. I could sight the green board stating that we are not meant to pay tour guides. Oya let’s go there.
He started giving us the history of the rock, how Abeokuta got the name and everything. I actually know all the stories, nothing was added but it was fun listening all the same. He took us to the burial spot of the first tour guide. He took us to the spot where the people who first stayed under the rock during the Dahomey war hid and how the rock was their safe spot. Only one is standing out of the 5 mud rooms they built there during the war. Incase of World war 3, that’s my spot please. Don’t trespass.
He took us to meet the present Iya Olumo where we met her assistant. She prayed for us and we did little charity there. It was beautiful listening to traditionalists prayers. It’s always deep.
We proceeded towards climbing the mountain when our tour guide made a statement “Everything we do here, people are always showing love to support us, sometimes 10k, sometimes 20k…”, eti mi sare dide.
Ehwey 🙆♀️
We sha went to visit the Baobab tree and the Iroko tree of 200 years before heading to the very top. I saw the whole Abeokuta and it was beautiful. The brown roofs were soothing to my sight. We saw a lot and sang the Abeokuta anthem before our bros demanded his payment. We paid and headed towards the elevator to take us down only to see a messed up elevator.
I wonder the year the elevator last worked. Terrible sight to behold. With the influx of people per day, why is there a lack of maintenance culture?
We headed towards their cafeteria, ordered meals and left for our hotel room.
We lodged in Celia Suites that i rank 8/10 except their complimentary breakfast of Spaghetti that tasted like nonsense, woke up the next morning and headed to Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library.
First thing first, we headed to the Amphitheater that looks abandoned, then we moved to the Zoo. At the Zoo entrance after payment, we got that same line “Is this your first time or you have been here before”
I didn’t even let them land before i replied “this is my second home, i always come here”. We entered and met rabbits first. We kept moving seeing Porcupines, Civet, Geese, Goats, Monkeys and those guys that wanted to kill Simba in Lion King, Hyenas.
We saw the Pythons and Crocodiles. I was okay until I saw their Lion. Haaaaaa, ara mi bu mo aso.
If i shout at that Lion, he will die. That’s the most unhealthy, unfed animal i have seen in a long time. The ribs were showing than the flesh. If that Lion should roar once, orun lala.
I feel they must have been feeding him grasses. Iya nje Lion yen gan. I nearly entered the cage so the Lion can atleast eat fresh meat. 🤡