Chronicles Of My April 12Trip Challenge: My Visit To Idanre Hills

I wrote this post ages ago in the month of April but couldn’t publish it… because network!

I’m serious ehn, the worse thing about blogging here in Ekiti is the crazyyy network.

I really don’t like it.

I have a backlog of posts to publish on my #12TripChallenge and I’m tired of piling them up. But I can’t publish them without the pictures and the pictures take a leg and a half to upload so sometimes I give up.

This morning I climbed a hill crossed oceans (more like side stepped goat poop on the hill) just to upload the pictures. And the pictures really aren’t all I wanted to upload (I have a bit of perfectionism in me in wanting posts to come out like they are in my head), but hopefully, the few pictures and my gist will still give you a feel of what went down in Idanre hills.

I Will also try to publish the chronicles of my July trip tomorrow. Hopefully I don’t have to climb a hill and side step goat poop to do that. *sigh*… I should write a post on the life of a blogger in Ekiti State.

But for now, read the chronicle of my trip to Idanre hills below 🙂

 

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So, let me let you guys into a trick on how I hit off my goal to see 12new places as a single girl this year (see this post if you don’t know about the 12trip challenge for all single ladies yet)
Uhm, I steal trips on trips I go on.
How?
Say for example, this trip to Idanre hills, I went to Akure for a Church conference, I had free time on a particular morning and off I went with my camera and bag.
Yep.
If I don’t do it like that, I will be on a long thing.
So next month I might be in Ibadan for something and I am already planning on how I will steal the trip for June on that particular trip.
Oya oh, go and run with my little trick and hit on your travel goals if you are still on them 🙂

 

I was in Akure for a conference as mentioned when I discovered that I would actually have a morning session free. And off I went to google for places to visit in Akure(my best friend for places to visit in towns)
Idanre isn’t that far from Akure the main town and I had read about Idanre hills online so that was where I settled on seeing.
As usual, I love to give my details with the cost attached because I don’t see such details when I check articles online.
I was at an hotel in Ilesha road and it took me two cabs of 50bucks each to get to Idanre park.
From Idanre park I took a cab to Idanre town(its not far from Akure itself), it cost 250naira and the journey was about 20minutes tops.
Got to Idanre and it’s a small town but the hill can be seen when you just get into the town.

 

I had asked someone about how much gate fee was to be paid and he said 200naira tops, so I went there with that mindset, only to get there and the man said it would cost 1000naira to climb the hill.
It’s fair ba?
I was told that 200naira was what was charged before the renovation was done on the hill.
I asked for a tour guide and thought that it was included in my fee, only for the guy to start asking me how much I will pay him.
Hmm, trust me, I negotiated but won’t tell you guys how much I paid(make I nor spoil market for those guys there)
There were 660 steps to climb for one to get to the hill itself and so the climb began..

As an aside, biko remind me to stop doing all these suffer body sight seeing.
As in, has anyone noticed that my trips are almost always on hills and mountains?
I enjoy them sha but still, the pain eh!
Ok, we started climbing and I realized that omoh, this na solitary place oh.
I mean bushes and bushes and hills on end.

It came to my mind that “what are you doing alone in such a place with a man you don’t know? Anything can happen oh!!”
So I devised a trick to be soooo nice to the man (like I am always 🙂
I asked for his name, chatted with him throughout the climb and even gave him my water.
And of course I steered our conversation unto God and unto relationships…. I think I made a mistake there sha because he started toasting me and even called me to make his intentions known.
Haha, no problem about the toasting, I think I am getting used to getting it on my trips.
I was so nice to the guy, so much so that he apologized for taking my money at the end.
He said “I nor suppose take money from you oh”… but he still collected it..so… *rolling eyes*

 

Anyways, we started climbing and climbed and climbed and Frances was sweating and hoofing and panting… mhen, I gats be fit if I wanna be climbing hills right?
There’s a whole world up there on the hill.

 

We walked past the first primary school built in…Frances has forgotten the date.
We passed by the first court house and uhm, that intrigued me because of the lawyer thingy I have got in me.

 

We also explored the palace of the king.

 

There were some weird images there…
(scary or not?)

He showed me where the king and his wives used to sit and also where the king and his chiefs used to hold meetings.
And then the weirdest one… turns out that they used to sacrifice a cow each year and then keep the head of the cow to mark every year that the king has been on the throne.

Now imagine. me in such an odd place, weird images scattered everywhere, with a tour guide she doesn’t know from Adam…alone in a solitary hill that’s a long walk(or even drive sef) away from other people.
Hmm, na God oh.
I would advise that if you want to go to Idanre hills, go with a friend of as a group to avoid stories that touch.
I went alone sha and God is always my security but still, common sense dictates that you don’t go alone to such a place(just my 2cents sha)
So where was I?
Ehen, after we explored and snapped pictures in the old palace, we went around an around and finally, went on to do my favorite thing to do anytime I climb a hill or a mountain…
But before I get to that, we did pass some huts that ofcourse were built in the olden days.
The tour guide showed me one and said that one powerful juju man used to live there.
He was always wearing a white robe and that when he died, he was buried in the hut too.
Uhm, me, I just walked past.
We also saw what they call “unreadable writings” on a rock and I don’t know, I wasn’t thrilled. Anything at all could have made the mark.
(sorry, it was too small to show on camera)

And yes, back to my favorite thing to do anytime I climb a hill/mountain..
Yep, I go to the point where I can see the whole town from up there and generally just goof around.
So we climbed the hill, went up to that part of it and I jumped…
(or tried to jump, seeing as the guy never caught my jump on camera *sigh*

 

Anyways, I also took a picture with my tour guide …the guy try. But he couldn’t help but try wella for me nah, seeing how I was sooo nice to him and also the fact that he had the mind to woo me in mind.lol.
But let’s forget about that part, he still deserves to be praised.

He told me that most of the tour guides just take the white men to the part of the hill where you see the town from up there, collect their money and take them back.

Kai!
If you don’t do your research before you visit a place ehn, you can be so fooled.
But not me, I was even asking the guy about different places I had read about. I won’t suffer my body and climb all the way for nothing.
So clap for my guide everyone, the guy try nor be small.

And it was finally time to go back down.
Same way we came up, 660 steps to get down.
That done and I just felt like chilling by the pool side with my Bible and spending a bit of time with God…

 

I chilled by the pool side, had a bit of time with the word and that’s where I found the word in 1Corinthians 9 that inspired this blog post.
Ok, and it was time to go, I still had an evening session at the Church conference that same day.
Same way I came was the same way I went back – the same prices too (for the benefit of those who might want to visit)

 

And that my dear people, is how you steal a trip within a trip and hit up your travel goals for the year.
It’s all common sense really.
If we keep saying we don’t have money to spend or time to spare, we would just keep roasting with the same old “stay in my house day or night”
So yes, I don’t have cash to spare but also, yes, I can do two trips within a trip and thus, squash the money excuses.
As for time?
Err, if you really want to do it, you will.(but I am biased sha, seeing as my current schedule is really sort of more flexible than that of most, lucky me eh? 🙂

 

Alright loves, that’s it for today.
Notice how I am just rambling on and on… because it’s a gist kind of post, nothing more, nothing less.

 

Till my next chronicle on my 12trip challenge,
Much love,
Frances.

 

 

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