My Favorite Things To Do In Ugbo

Ever since i started touring this community, i don’t usually see the need to write about it, i once told myself that i will be making a post once or twice in a month about the community but that never came through. Since i embraced our local tourism i have made effort to discover the attractions within the community and have fallen in love with some of the places i found attractive, so i made it a point of duty to visit them once in a while.

Although Ugbo is not a fancy Town neither is it what can be described as a tourist haven, but when it comes to tourism, it has few thing to offer. Ugbo is just a small town on the hilltop but to me, it is much more than that, one of the things a love most about this community is its amazing landscape. There is this feeling i get each time i visit this community that that makes me want to get lost in it. Because of my love for this community i try as much as possible to visit at least one of my favorite spots in the community no matter how brief my stay is going to be.

Although my last visit was so much different from the previous ones but it was memorable.. Of all my favorite spots which includes

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•Nkume Nshi. •Oji WaterSide. •Ofesi Hill. •Nduno Forest. •Ugbo Dam And recently, Ogba Ngwu. although Ogba Ngwu is not yet official as i just discovered it on this last visit but it feels like a sanctuary. You can read About my Visit to Ogba Ngwu Here. Among all the places i mentioned, I only had the opportunity to visit three out of the five although i also went to some other places which are not on my list but popular in the town.

About My favorite spots

Nkume Nshi is a hill top within the community with stone formations, it serves as a pray ground for some religious group who sees the hilltop as holy ground. The three major reason why i come here is To be alone, To Watch the sunset and cloud watching. Among all the places i like to visit in ugbo, this Nkume Nshi is the second closet to home and the place am most drawn to, although am yet to fully understand why but something about it keeps my soul at peace. when am here, i like to imagine a lot of things, you know, just let my imagination run wild, sometimes i build a whole new world in my head just my overlooking the village from the hilltop.

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Oji WaterSide, Oji is the most popular water in Ugbo community, the water runs through all the villages that make up the town but a little far away from the settlement and that what makes it an ideal and perfect relaxation spot from me. One of the reasons a love hanging out at the waterside is because of its quietness, and also to listen to bird sound as the area harbors different bird species. Just being at the water side is so refreshing and relaxing and it helps me take my mind of everything.

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Ofesi Hill, This hill is one of the most popular hill in the community but far away from the settlement. Ofesi hill is situated between the bother of Ugbo, Obeagu and Mmaku and It takes between 50 minutes to 1 hours plus to get to the hilltop from the community. Because of the distance i only go the ofesi hill when ever am in the mood to hike.. Ofesi Hill is a perfect place to Watch the sunset. If you are on the hilltop in the morning or evening you can be able to see how the Mist covers the entire community and some neighboring town like Mmaku, Ogugu, owelli and Amoli. I fell in love with this place in 2008 when i first hiked the hill and ever since then, i try as much as possible to visit it once or twice a year.

Nduno Forest, You can call me a wanderer because yeah, i am a wanderer.. I have a thing for wild, i love nature and my love for nature sometimes make me wander in the forest for no good reason and this particular forest in one i like to wander in. I dont have any reason why i come here because its it just like every other forest in the community but still am drawn to it..  i just have this feeling of satisfaction each time i walk around the forest so i try to make up a reason why i love here but it doesn’t seem to be true. The only reason why this forest isn’t like others is because this is the first place our ancestors settled when they first came to this community.  well, it doesnt matter why am drawn to this place even though i usually have a reason why.. maybe there is something my heard is looking for that it is yet to figure out but until then, this place with still remain my favorite place.

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Ugbo Dam, Ugbo Dam is an earth dam in ugbo, located in Ugbonabor i have always wondered why this dam was built  but yet to get an answer to that, am certain its not for irrigation but i dont know if it can be used to generate hydroelectric power. I know the dam was built for a purposed but i like to imagine what this place would look like if it would be used for recreational activities such as swimming, boating, fishing and others. Although this place might not be that attractive to a lot of people for now but it is to me, i can just sit here for hours and stair at the water all day without getting bored while building an imaginary recreational park around the dam.

Places i Visited 

Like i mentioned earlier, i wasn’t able to visit all my favorite places but before i left the town I did visit some places that isn’t on my list alongside the places that are on the list. Below are places i visited.

•Ogba Ngwu. •Nkume Nshi. •Mgboko Ogba. •Ogba Agulu. •Ugbo Dam. •Nduno Forest.

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What makes my Last visit different from others.

Usually, those places are like a sanctuary to me, a place of refuge and escape, somewhere i can go and be alone with my thoughts. Although those places seems different, but they all represents the same thing. 

A day after i came back to ugbo, as usual; i headed to Nkume Nshi to relax but was approached by my cousin on my way to the hill and he insisted on going with me, according to him, i want to understand me and what i do better. I know i couldn’t persuade him not to follow me so i allowed him, while on our way, i felt like i was in an interrogation room, because he asked me question all through the time and even when we got there he never stopped. well, i did answer all his questions the best way i could. While he was interrogating me, i handed over my camera to him and asked him to capture anything that caught his attention, anything that he felt is worth capturing while i went and stood on a spot overlooking the villages at the valley and those at the hilltop. After spending close to an hour and half at the hill we decided to leave, i usually send between 2 to 4 hours over there if i was alone but i couldn’t allow him to just stay that long with me because he wouldn’t have enjoyed it and i know i wouldn’t either but i did like the fact that he came with me because it gave us a chance to really talk and hangout together for the very first time ever.

The next day wasn’t about visiting a familiar place so i made a different post about it. Click here to read about it.

The next place i was supposed to visit was Oji waterside and Ofesi Hill. My plan was to just go and sit at the bank of Oji for few hours and also wander around the forest after which i will hike the ofesi hill through the water way. since one of the tributaries of Oji is the Inemota which passed through Ofesi i thought it would be adventurous to hike the hill through the waterway, i have tried it once about 9 years ago but couldn’t go through with it as some part of the water was so deep that i chickened out and since then i never thought of doing that again. I know the water can’t carry or drown me as the depth isn’t continues, while some part are deep, some are shallow except within the ugbonabo and owelle axis where the water level is high. The only time the water level within this axis increases drastically is during rain fall so i have nothing to worry about as long as i didn’t rain. Well, unfortunately i wasn’t able to go through with it until i let the community.

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Two days before leaving the community i decided to go chill at the Ugbo Dam even if it was for just 30minutes and also take a walk around the ugbonabo, I wanted to know what they have done with the place and also enjoy the tranquility of the place. This is the only please i like to visit in the community that i have actually not visited alone because of the distance, Most of the time the person who dropped me off usually decided to stay and sometimes i meet people there but that haven’t happened in a while. I know i wasn’t going to the Dam to relax this time around because of the engagements i have, i just wanted to stop bye and take a little stroll around the community and head back. While leaving the house one of my cousins offered to accompany me, so we rode on his bike. On getting to the dam we took some shoot, relaxed for a while before heading out, i know i still have a lot of time before my appointment so i asked him to take me to Mgboko Ogba in Ugbo Okpala, while on our way, we where stopped by some of our elderly kinsmen who asked him to take an urgent message to Oyibo, so i used to opportunity to take a walk around Ugbonabo Village, when he came back we continued our journey to Mgboko Ogba.

Mgboko Ogba, which literally means Cave Cliff isn’t a place i will normally go for sightseeing or hangout but it has it own story. Ogboko Ogba is a big rock with stairs creating a part way to the top, the rock is said to be as old as the community and the stairs are believed to be naturally formed but its hard to believe, i think our ancestors are the ones who created the stairs as a partway for the people of the community who lives at both sides of Oji. Over the years the stairs at mgboko ogba has received some reconstructions but since an alternative road has been created people hardly use the the road except the ones it is closer to and the hunting activities that goes on in and around the rock has really contributed in damaging the Mgboko Ogba  stairs. Well, my visit to the rock didn’t take much as we just took some picture and left afterwards.

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This is just me trying to discover my backyard and enjoy that which nature has given us. There are still places am yet to visit and thing yet to be discovered, so i will keep exploring.. who know the next thing i will stumble unto. Like My People always say “Ugbo Amaka” Meaning Ugbo Is Beautiful, So try and put Ugbo in your bucket list whenever you decide to tour Enugu.