During my last visit to Mmaku, I stopped by at ugbo to see my people, while chatting with some of my friends, Olisa started teasing me, I know he was only doing that to get me to spend the night in the town, but i told him i had an engagement the next day, he was curious to know what the engagement was all about so i told him about my Mmaku tour and how i intended to visit some tourist attractions in the community. He told me he knows all the caves and waterfalls in Awgu and promised to take me to two within our community the next day if i agree to spend the night in the town, I wasn’t sure if he was serious because i haven’t heard of some of the places he mentioned but thinking about if, i figured he might be telling the truth because as a hunter, he has virtually been to almost all the forest in Awgu and beyond but i have already plans with someone in Mmaku and i didn’t want to disappoint him.
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After i left i couldn’t get my mind off what he said but how can can there be caves and waterfalls within the community that i don’t know about, I have visited all the know sites in the community but the thought of having some waterfalls within the community that i dont know about kept bugging me, I have been compiling lists of all the waterfalls in Nigeria but it never crossed my mind that anyone could be within my community. I wanted coming back to Ugbo after my tour of Mmaku bu had some urgent things to attend to in Enugu and Abuja and since i have some events scheduled for two months time in Ugbo i didn’t bother.
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I eventually came back to Ugbo again and made arrangement for Olisa to take me to those places but he was adamant at first, he said he only promised to take me there with the condition that i spend the night in the community the last time i visited but we eventually reached an agreement. When my cousin found out about where we where going he decided to join us.
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The distance wasn’t that much but the place is located in a forest, deep in the Valley of Oyibo and Obeagu. After we got ready, we headed out. From Oyibo, we made our way to Okpolo Okwu, and headed East towards Obeagu, not too long after, we made it to the forest. It took us about 35minutes to get to the forest. While heading down into the forest, the first thing that caught my attention was the rock formation. You know Awgu topography is basically hilly and rocky, and i guess that is why they are lots of caves this area. Even though one may not be able to notice and appreciate the true beauty of this forest but it was truly beautiful, reminds me so much of Nwaekpu as both look so similar.
While i was capturing the environment and my moments that the forest, my cousin also seems to be having a good time but that cant be said of Olisa who kept asking my cousin what i intend to do with the pictures i was taking.
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Exploring the Forest.
We got into the forest through its eastern entrance and found our selves in the middle between the first Waterfall and the second, while exploring the place i followed the waterway hopping to get to the other side of the forest but noticed that the water went underground through an opening in one of the rocks, we couldn’t move northwards because of the rocks too and we weren’t sure if there was an exist at the other end of the rock as the entrance was dark and we didn’t have light. yet again we couldn’t still move westwards because of the slope of the hill. while still trying to figure out our next move, because there must be a way for us to explore the forest and get to the waterfall without leaving and entering through another section. After a while Olisa told me he found a way, I know he said that because he thought i wouldn’t have the courage to pass through there, they still see some of us that didn’t grow up with them as some delicate being so he wanted to challenge me..
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Even though i didn’t see that as a challenge but one wrong move from that cliff and any of us could land our skull on those rocks, and because of the grasses we could barely see where we were putting our leg but we managed to get to the other side of without falling off and finally made our way to to the waterfall area. Judging by the way this place is, it doesn’t seem like a place people visit anymore unlike when the people if Obeagu still live in their old site(Ndi Uno) as the whole site is covered with bamboo leaves.
While exploring and taking some shots of the environment, i thought of entering the water, but both Olisa and my cousin thought it was a bad idea, although the pool isn’t wide but it was very deep. While Olisa and my cousin where still trying to determine the dept of the pool at he fall area, i headed south to take a peek of the whole environment before coming back to take a dive into the pool but unfortunately i wasn’t able to go back as Olisa lead us out of the place through another root.
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Since i wasn’t familiar with the forest i just had to go where ever he takes me to, while he headed northwest, i asked him where he was taking us to but he said i will see when we get there so i just had no choice than to follow him, At first i thought he was leading us out of the forest not until we got to where he was taking us to, the second waterfall in the forest which happened to be the first one we could have gotten to if we had followed the main entrance to the forest, i guess the main entrance isn’t the right word since its a forest and any entrance can be seen as the main one depending on which part you are coming from but if we had followed the northwesters section of the forest, we could have landed at this place first.
On getting to the waterfall, we first explored the area, the rock formations are one of the things that makes the site beautiful, after taking few photos and checking out the numerous openings on the rock which by the ways isn’t wide enough to contain a human being aside from one which seems so deep but i couldn’t know for sure how deep because we had to touch light and the bah that lives there also makes it impossible for me to go in.
While i was exploring the place my cousin was also doing the same as he seemed exited, Olisa on the other hand went and sat at a corner waiting for us. After taking some shots i went down to the waterfall area to receive some splash and cool off my head. As the water fall through the rock, i went right in..
The splash was refreshing and relaxing that i didn’t feel like leaving again. All my effort to get my cousin and Olisa to come in and enjoy the water proved abortive as they both vehemently refused, Olisa didn’t even come close to the water but my cousin eventually changed his mind and went in for a while after which we all headed out.
The arrangement i had with Olisa was that he was going to take me to anther waterfall and cave in Obeagu believed to be the highest Fall and Biggest cave in Awgu but he said he was tired and the distance was too much.
Even though we didn’t get to visit and explore all the places he promised to take me to but we all did had a nice time, Yeah! we all did, I could have said i and my cousin had a nice time but Olisa also did according to him. He said he never though he would enjoy the outing but he did and he promised to be my official guide to any part of Awgu i wish to visit.
Well, there is always thing to see and places to visit and explore, i all make sure to explore more places when next i visit. May next destination should have been Obudu but its not something i would love to experience alone, so when my friends are ready, we will be heading to cross river again.