My Journey To Opi Nsukka And Nkpolugwu
As part of my quest to discover and document all potential tourist attractions in Enugu State and Nigeria at large, I took a trip to Nsukka Part of Enugu State. Initially, the idea was to go and photograph Nkpologwu Community but I decided to kill two birds with one stop. Since Opi has always been in my list of places to visit, I decided to visit both communists the same day. Apart from the amazing hilly terrain Opi, the community is home the a waterfall ”The Opi Waterfall” and Lakes ”The Opi Lake System” which I was made to believe is a chain of lakes. My plan was to visit and photograph both Opi Waterfall and Lakes before heading to Nkpologwu to photograph the community especially the silicon Hill which is said to be one of the most popular hills in Enugu.
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Well, my journey to Nsukka took me from Enugu through the New Enugu – Nsukka road and brought me to Opi Junction where I boarded a bike that took me to Opi Agu where the the Ozzi Lake, which is one of the lakes that make up the Opi lake system is located. Ozzi Lake is a fresh water lake located in Opi Agu, the lake is said to be the largest of the lakes that make up the chain of lakes refereed to as Opi Lake System.
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Before heading to Opi Agu, from Opi Junction, I approached a Bike guy and asked him to drive me to the lakes and the waterfall but he said the distance is too much that he cant drive that far. Since I will still be going to Nkpologwu that day I decided that i will only visit the ozzi Lake at Opi Agu, the bike man then took me to another junction where I boarded a second bike that took me to the lake.
The main reasons why I chose to visit the ozzi lake instead of the waterfall was because the bike man told me the lake was closer than the waterfall but most importantly, I still want to make it to Nkpologwu that same day as my tour guide was already waiting for me. After reaching an agreement with him, I hopped on his bike and we took off. Since I was told the lake wasn’t that far, I though the ride was going to be about 15 to 25 minutes but it seemed unending. The journey lasted about an hours, at a point I started regretting why I made the decision to visit both communities the same day, if I had known, I would have dedicated a whole day for the tours and to make matter worst, the bike man didn’t make the journey fun for me but at the end, we got to the lake.
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The environment was really beautiful but I didn’t enjoy it as we didn’t waste time there, I just went to the lake side and took some pictures. Within the lake are different species of seabirds that I have never seen before, just felt like the day I went to Nike lake but I think that of Nike has more seabirds than ozzi. Since I was in a hurry, I didn’t have time to relax so I made up my mind that I will be exploring Opi Again.
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While leaving, Opi Agu community, I noticed that there are beehives in almost all the trees in the community, I didn’t know why I could have missed that before, am usually observant especially when am visiting a place for the first time but I guess the the journey scrambled my brain.
When we eventually got to Opi Junction, I took another vehicle to Nsukka town where I boarded a vehicle going to Nkpologwu and Adani. While I was in the park waiting for the vehicle to move, I met this young man who I had a very funny conversation with, anyway; I dont want to make this post unnecessary long by talking about my chat with him.
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From Nsukka to Nkpologwu was about 35 to 40 minutes, we had a smooth ride as the road was tarred. When I got to the community, I called Godsmark, the young man that was supposed to take me around the community and he gave me a direction to his house, on getting there I noticed he could barely walk, when I enquired about what happened I was told he had an accident. I dint know what to do, I haven’t been to the community before and it was really getting late, I felt it would be selfish of me to just leave so I sat with him and we started talking, we haven’t really met each other before so we had a lot to talk about, he told me about all the places he could have taken me to if not for what happened to him. After about 30 minutes of chatting with him, I have already lost hope of touring the community but couldn’t imagine going back to Enugu without at least visiting just one place, and there wasn’t a hotel in the community where I could lodge and continue the next day but even at that I needed to be in Enugu that same day because of the appointment I have the next day. While imaging the next step to take, a friend of his; Charles came in to say hi and I talked to him about taking me around, at first he was skeptical about it but after a little persuasion he agreed, although we didn’t cover much due to time..
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We first went to a nearby hill refereed to by the natives as Ugwu Aja meaning ”Hill of Sands” or Sand Hill”, when I asked him about the silicon hill which happened to be the main reason why I came to the community, he said he doesn’t have any idea of the hill know as the silicon hill but it might be any of the many hills in the community. According to him, the sand hill is the only place he knows that receives most of the visitors he sees in the community, probably because of its proximity to the settlement area but a a lot search organisation that are into Soil Sampling and Soil Testing both within and outside the country often visit the community, Also, the students of Applied Natural Sciences and Social Sciences, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) has their campus in the community.
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Although he promised me that he was only going to take me to the hill, half way to the hill top, he left me and went back to get his bike after a friend he called to come and take us to Adada said he couldn’t go by that time. when he left, I continued climbing till I got to the top, its was beautiful up there even thought i couldn’t get a proper view of the community and the environment due to the Harmattan, all the green glasses the makes the hills so attractive has all been burned as a Harmattan culture.
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When he came back, we left for the Adada River. As silly as going to that river at that time might have seemed at first, it turned out to be the most memorable thing i did that day. it was really fun, took few pictures of the river, watch the sunset and took amazing sunset pictures after which i decided to check out the project that was going on over there. Well, i couldn’t deduce what they were trying to build there but what ever it is, it looked nice. If the government can build a part around the river it would boost tourism in the state.
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After having a really nice time, Charles drove me to the junction where I entered a vehicle going to Nsukka, from Nsukka I took a cab that brought me back to Enugu that Night around 9:58pm. The journey I though was going to end in regret turned out to be one of the best.
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Your sunset pictures are so cool! It’s great to know that someone is writing about the beautiful places in Nigeria. I’m now considering to visit it in the near future.
Sounds like your trip worked out well despite the issues with your tour guides. I love your sunset photos…they are so creative!
Such a wonderful place and It looks so peaceful I love the sunset view Awesome photos!
Those landscapes are very nice. Continue to share them. I am enjoying to see new things in your place.
I would have taken off running after I saw the beehives. I’m so scared of them. It’s part of the reason I don’t like going to some of the more outdoors locations
All the clicks are amazing. It must have been a nice and adventurous trip.
Nice read. Glad you didn’t regret the trip. Next time dedicate at least a day to visit a community so you can enjoy every bit of it. Lovely pix by the way.