Tourmates Visit The SouthWestern Nigerian Plains and Waters of Ikogosi Warm Spring, Erin 'Jesha and Arinta Falls Part 2

Yea yeah, there we were at the Erin 'Jesha fall and had our nice time. Hope you enjoyed the post as reported here. Now, can I shock you? Erin 'jesha was not supposed to be a part of our destinations. It was only added up only after one of us @truly_zizzy made the suggestion, you can imagine what we would have missed out from if Ada the explorer hadn't agreed to include that in the package. Not to talk ofthe fact that each tourist got a goodie bag (the uniform back pack)

^{TOURMATES IN THE POOL AT IKOGOSI WARM SPRING RESORT}

Our journey to Ekiti was a swift one and we got to Ikogosi warm spring resort around 6pm. The initial plan was to visit the spring and swim in the warm waters for the night, but due to the fact that there were students from a tertiary institution who came to party at the pool side and have therefore made the place unkept, we had to settle for just checking out the spring.

It was majorly like a walk in the dark and I do not have many clear pictures for that. However, we revisited the spring in the morning especially because everyone was not present for this one. Night fell and it was time to have dinner. Although we had the premonition of a ponded yam dinner, the hopes were dashed when our hosts offered us Semovita and jollof rice instead. Pounded yam as the name implies is a product of sliced and cooked yam( without salt) and gently pounded to form a smooth mould and usually served with Egusi soup. This recipe is one very important to the people of these part of the country. Some of the people from this part of the country do claim to be able to have pounded yam three times in a day...that's the extent to which they love the recipe.

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Okay, we made do with what we had for dinner and everyone went to bed. Some of us, however, stood back to discuss (spontaneously, what was supposed to be a games evening became a marriage talk night) and do some team bonding, networking, and little drinking ...lol

In the morning, we decided to visit the warm spring again. There is a boardwalk that leads one to the spring. While walking, one would notice some cage-like structures which suggests that some animals had been kept in this reservation in the past.This can only depicts the lackadaisical attitude the nation has to tourism and it's development. After about 10 mins of walk, we were at the spring. Although I was expecting to see some 'mighty waters" but what I saw still was worth the surprise. A cold and warm spring occurring naturally was a nice thing to behold and feel.

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^{VIDEO: GOOD MORNING IKOGOSI}

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Just as one would have it for any naturally occurring feature, there is usually the various version of the story that comes from the religious, scientific and traditional perspectives. While the scientific evidence states that the warm springs occurs as a result of a body of water passing over an extinct volcano. A distinction was given between what an extinct,dormant and active volcanoes are. While the extinct is one that could never erupt, the dormant ones would erupt when no one knows while the active ones are the ones with an active and continuous eruption. The religious believes it to be that mighty act of God that you can not explain while the traditional/oral tradition believes that the waters are sourced from the stories of two wives of a warrior. The first wife being the cold/cool one and the second and younger wife being the hot and lousy one. It's a funny story and you can get the full gist from the video below.

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^{VIDEO: THE STORY OF IKOGOSI WARM SPRING}

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Trust you enjoyed and learned from the video above. Leaving the spring, it was time to plunge into the waters...haha. This was a period I had been waiting for. I had been here some 8 years ago and I could still feel the warmth of the waters the last time I was here. There is a pool at the resort in which the naturally flowing water is directed (harvested) into the pool and allowed to over flow and continue its flow.

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^{VIDEO: THE POOL AT IKOGOSI}

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Then These

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^{MY TEAM WON THE TUG OF WAR;IT'S NOT BY SIZE}

It was a nice time at the pool. It generated some really nice shots and much fun for us. I never knew I could actually do some little swimming..haha. With this being our last activity, it was time for breakfast and then, the movement to the next stop which is ARINTA falls. Now, because we couldn't say a good welcome and take pictures when we came into the Ikogosi resort, we made up for this when we were leaving as you can see from the video below.

^{VIDEO: THIS WAS HOW WE SAID GOODBYE TO IKOGOSI WARM SPRING}

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HERE WE ARE AT ARINTA FALLS

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Here, we didn't spend much time as we were returning to Lagos soon, but we made sure we felt the waters. It's a waterfall not too far from the Ikogosi Warm Spring and not so big but one thing I enjoy about its location is the fact that we had to go through what looked like a bush part to get there. This made it enjoyable for me as being a nice adventure and exploration. There is a myth about the waters too which I'm not sure I was able to prove. It was said that the water increases in volume when humans are around and making some noise and reduces in volume when the people are gone. You can catch up with our experience from the video below.

^{VIDEO: TOURMATES AT ARINTA FALLS}

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And then, these for some other natural features

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^{THESE BUTTERFLIES FOR @truly_zizzy, SHE MADE ME NOTICE THEM}

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^{I END THIS BY GIVING A SHOUT OUT TO OUR TOUR PHOTOGRAPHER, @Olisaemeka on Instagram}_

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^{THE END}

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Meanwhile, Do you love what we do? Tourmates by Ada the Explorer is an initiative by a young travel enthusiast. She plans trips for people and helps them have a nice time out; far from the turmoils of the land. Below is a calendar of the planned tours for the rest of the year.

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For more info, contact @adatheexplorer on Instagram.

Aside the main travel callender, there are some pockets of tours in between, one of such is the mini Zanzibar coming up in a week time Hangout with tourmates