Mmaku has for long been on my list of places to visit and explore but those who know me might ask why? Mmaku as a place isn’t new to me as it is my home. This is a place i lived most part of my life in but yet there are lots of place i never knew existed in this town, I know that when it comes to tourism mmaku has a lot to offer but most of these attraction are unknown to people both in and outside mmaku, those. the few that know about them don’t appreciate them.
On my recent visit to mmaku, i decided to start from the know to the unknown, but exploring Mmaku alone will not be fun so i asked a cousin of mine to be my companion.. to him, what i was doing seemed crazy but that didn’t deter him from accompanying me.
First, we headed to the most popular destination in mmaku, the u8 hill also know as Ekwe Eju, this hill in 2009 hosted the popular Nigerian Tv adventure show, The Gulder ultimate Search ‘The Lost Chronicle‘ Edition. This hill has for long served as my “places of refuge“, When ever am in town but want to be alone without disturbance i take a walk to the hill. My soul is always at rest each time am at the hilltop, but this time it was different, on getting to the hill i was saddened by what i saw, my once beautiful and peaceful hill has been violated.
The construction compaying handling the construction of the road that ran through the town are currently leveling the hill. Even though i was sad because of what they did to the hill i didn’t allow it to ruin my experience…
While taking a walk around the hill the weather changed followed by a little light rain that lasted for about 15 to 20 minutes.
when the rain was over we went to isi mmanu, the source of mmanu river but work was going on there so we didn’t explore that axis as much as we should have. When we left the isi mmamu area, we headed to a stream called Inyi Achi.
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I decided to go to inyi ichi because as a young boy my grandma always love it when i fetch water for her from that place but these days people hardly visit there anymore. The environment was as chilly as it use to be and the water was also as chilled as always. Inyi Achi, even though it’s far from the residential area, people from Ezioha still prefer to go there to fetch water even though there are more closer streams around.. As tranquil and chilly as the environment was i didn’t see the need to leave, If you love nature as much as i do, you will find beauty everywhere.
Although i wasn’t in a hurry to leave but i had to but before we left, i decided to Sip from the ever chilly Inyi Achi.
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After our visit to inyi achi, we went to Omoo in Afam mmaku, Very Peaceful and serene place. Omoo is the most revered and sacred spring in mmaku, the fish of omoo are sacred and cannot be kill. Believed to have healing powers it is said that if a sick person enters the omoo stream and got bitten by the fish of omoo, the person receives instant healing. The trees around omoo provides a perfect shade can never be cut down.
Omoo is swimmable even though we didn’t swim, After exploring and taking some photos a heavy rain started while we were on our way out.. At that point we couldn’t talk about visiting any other place even if there is still time to do so. Going home was our only option because we were very soaked and catching a cold in Mmaku wasn’t part of my plan..
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We could have continued the next day but we had series of traditional marriages to attend so we had to reschedule but the day we were supposed to go my cousin who told me he will come over to the house by 9am didn’t show up, i waited for him till 12 noon and yet he didn’t come.. i had considered going back to Enugu because of the meeting i had the next day but if i had done that my mind couldn’t have been at rest, as angry and frustrated as i was i had to stay put.. I thought of what to do but there wasn’t any, no light and no internet service and couldn’t sleep with all the anger in me… Around 3pm the gate opened but i thought it was someone who came to say hi to an aunt, after a while i heard my aunt say ” your brother is in his room” that was when i realized it was him so i pretended to be sleeping just to calm down first because i didn’t want to lash out at him for disappointing me because he might have a good reason and besides i didn’t expect him to put his life on hold because i came back. When i was calm i acknowledged his presence and he apologised for keeping me waiting and told me how his work took longer that he expected and how he discovered a waterfall know as Obialu Ofuu in Afam, and made some video for me.. When i saw the video and the environment it looked incredibly amazing so i added it among the place to visit, he said he took the picture and made the video so that i wouldn’t say we should visit there. Obviously he thought it’s about the picture, but how can i miss the chance to behold such beautiful and magnificent waterfall, something i never knew existed. Oh! no way. While we agreed on continuing our exploration the next day i asked if he he made some inquiries about the cave which was said to have harboured our people during the Nigeria-Biafra civil war but he said he couldn’t because he wasn’t able to get intouch with is friend from Enugu Mmaku where the cave is said to be located.
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The next day before 7am he was already at the house and without wasting time we headed out.. We decided to visit Nwaekpu first because of its distance.
You can read all about our Nwaekpu experience here: Nwaekpu Natural Environment: The Hidden Oasis of Mmaku. After our visit to Nwaekpe we made our way to Ogba Nwaude Nwaorji(Nwaude Nwaorji Cave) but on getting there my cousin refused to come close to the cave, while trying to find my way to the cave i discovered that soldier ants, those little monsters had taken over the whole place but i eventually managed to find my way to the cave..
We were told by my cousin’s mother and few others that a Python dwells in the cave and usually come out to receive the sun once in a while but good thing it wasn’t sunny that day and beside i thought i had before that wild animal can’t harm people from the community or was that a lie?.. Standing in that giant rock of more than 6.5 meters covered with trees and grasses trying to figure out how to go inside my cousin came to where i was, apparently he didn’t want me to be eaten alone by the python or maybe he came to see how everything will go down to be able to narrate the story well.
While he kept pleading with me not to go inside i noticed that the only way for me to go inside is to crawl and that will be looking for trouble, but even if i wanted to, water was dripping from every part of the rock and we don’t have a touch light and also don’t know how the inside looks like, what if truly there was a Python inside and i was attacked, it wouldn’t be a fair fight if there isn’t much space in there for me to stay and defend myself.. because of my cousin disturbance i couldn’t find the main entrance to the cave which seems to have been covered by weeds.. If only the area is cleared, only then will one appreciate the beauty of the cave and rock. After we left, we head to Obualu Ofuu, the journey from the cave to the waterfall was far but we followed the bush part through omoo until we got there.
The place doesn’t seem to receive much visitors like omoo but to me it look more majestic than omoo, the environment seems very peaceful. The rock that lined up towards the entrance of the waterfall also enhanced the beauty of the environment.
The waterfall which is about 3 meters high has the heaviest force among all the water waterfalls we visited in the community and unlike other this one is within the residential area and since it was going to be the last place we will be visiting there was no rush, i asked my cousin if he want to enter the water but he said no so i did.. although the fall didn’t create a pool where one can swim like that of Nwaekpu i had to just received some splash that eventually gave me headache, the force of the water was too much that i couldn’t raise my hand up while inside.
After Enjoying the water for close to an hour we had to call it a day…
My visit to mmaku was awesome and memorable, all thanks to God and Noo-Noo for making it so. I received some messages telling me of some places i should consider visiting when next i come home so i might be doing this again..
The Adventure never Ends: Coming up next is Enugu Geo walk……….