#KemiFilaniTours My trip to Olumo rock in Abeokuta (photos, videos)

After I embarked on a trip in 2013 to Jos (HERE), I decided to kick off the #KemiFilaniTours, but my busy schedule and bad procrastination habit (which I am working on) stood in my way.

#KemiFilaniTours is more like a travel journal, where KFB visits tourist /historic/fun centers (locally/internationally) and gives you the gist. I intend to make it a biweekly column if all things work out well, but if otherwise, then it will be monthly. 

After several months, the dream has finally come to
live and the first tourist centre KFB visited is the Olumo Rock in
Abeokuta, Ogun state.

Olumo rock (a name which means ‘under
the rock’), one of the most popular tourist destinations in Nigeria,
sits in the ancient city center of Abeokuta.

I went in company of four friends: Penzaar of Penzaarvilleafrica, Erad (a graphics designer), Adetola (a baker) and Moji Oshindero (a sweetheart and DJ).

We visited the tourist centre in the wee hours of a Thursday, so that
we could be exclusively attended to but even then, we weren’t early
enough, some students were already having their excursion there.

The entrance:

The gate fee into the premises is 700
naira per person for normal climbing or stairs, however for use of the
Elevator, the fee is 1,500 naira. We used the stairs because the Elevator wasn’t working.

A video of when we talked about our expectations…I wanted to blown away by the stories from the tour guides.

#kemifilanitours So what were our expectations?! We @eradunltd @mjayosindero @budsheaven wanted to be told #magicalstories …@penzaarville wanted to see the #plump rock move while @kemifilani wanted to see the rock disappear but @penzaarville wasn’t ready for that, loooool…:-) but were our expectations met? You shall find out soon 🙂 #travelblogger #abeokuta #kemifilaniblog

A video posted by kemifilaniblog (@kemifilaniblog) on Nov 3, 2015 at 11:07pm PST

First look at the rock

And the climbing began.

The stairs didn’t go all the way to the top of the rock, it was only a first stage of climbing.

The first stop was the Lisabi Garden. The first tour guide we came across was this light  skinned woman and she told us that we just climbed 120 stairs.

You could imagine our surprise, we didn’t know we had climbed that much.

#kemifilanitours A #photocollage of some of our MANY…as in many #photomoments we had. All will be uploaded on the blog this weekend 🙂 #whoosh #kemifilaniblog @penzaarville @eradunltd @budsheaven

A photo posted by kemifilaniblog (@kemifilaniblog) on Nov 3, 2015 at 11:37pm PST

#kemifilanitours And here goes our first #tourguide for the #olumorock …funny woman. Imagine our surprise when she told us that we had just climbed up #120 stairs to the #lisabigarden on the rock. According to her, the #lisabigarden was named after #lisabi , a warrior who fought for the freedom of the #egbas in the #earlydays #history #abeokuta @penzaarville @eradunltd @budsheaven

A video posted by kemifilaniblog (@kemifilaniblog) on Nov 4, 2015 at 12:14am PST

#kemifilanitours And our first guide tells us about the #Dongoyaro tree at the #lisabigarden. She says it is a medicinal tree and it’s leaves cute #malaria. Oh by the way, we just had to hum rapper #olamide`s #dongoyaro song…#abeokuta #kemifilaniblog @penzaarville @eradunltd @budsheaven #olumorock

A video posted by kemifilaniblog (@kemifilaniblog) on Nov 4, 2015 at 1:45am PST

We were told that Abeokuta was originally inhabited by the Egba people who found refuge at the Olumo rock during the inter-tribal wars in the 19th
century. 

The rock provided sanctuary to the people as well as a vantage
point to monitor the enemy’s advance leading to eventual triumph in war.

Olumo means “all the troubles and sufferings were
over” .

Below is a video of us in the scary cave….we didn’t stop shouting ‘Blood of Jesus, Blood of Jesus…” lol.

#kemifilanitours Oh the #cave where the past #warriors of #egbaland used to live in…We didn`t want to go in at ist but on a second thought we (the ladies @mjayosindero @kemifilani @budsheaven) decided to brace up and let go our fears…so scary…We didn’t stop saying #Jesus sha o…@penzaarville and @eradunltd were not bold enough to come in #tonguesout #ladiesrule #abeokuta #olumorock #travelblogger

A video posted by kemifilaniblog (@kemifilaniblog) on Nov 4, 2015 at 1:55am PST

Then the real rock climbing began:

#kemifilanitours And the climbing of the #olumorock begins 🙂 @penzaarville @budsheaven @eradunltd #abeokuta

I decided to take a break here 🙂

We were asked to take the ancient route to the peak of the Rock but we decided to pass through the modern route because of Penzaar…he was scared of heights…durr.

#kemifilanitours So were we blown away with the stories we were told about the #oluomorock by the #tourguides? 🙂 well, you would have to find out on the blog…but we sure had Fun, fun fun! 🙂 @penzaarville was so scared…loool #kemifilaniblog

A video posted by kemifilaniblog (@kemifilaniblog) on Nov 4, 2015 at 10:08am PST

 
We finally got to the peak and it was awesome.

Once on top of the Rock, the view was breathtaking and
certainly worth the effort for the trip. 

#kemifilanitours When we got to the very very very top of the #olumorock …this was our view of the whole of #abeokuta #kemifilaniblog

A video posted by kemifilaniblog (@kemifilaniblog) on Nov 4, 2015 at 9:37am PST

#kemifilanitours We be having fun on the #olumorock …@kemifilani wanted to climb further but dem @penzaarville @eradunltd didn’t let her 🙁 @mjayosindero well done…sound track or better still, soundtrack by @jay_mikee…beautiful song!

A video posted by kemifilaniblog (@kemifilaniblog) on Nov 4, 2015 at 9:42am PST

A closer view of my cute face …to think that i woke up with a minor boil on my left eye that morning, lol.

And then we bade the Rock bye 🙂

In all, the Olumo rock is a beautiful tourist site but i wasn’t exactly ‘blown away’ with the stories i was told by the tour guides.

Thanks for reading through.

I am totally open to ideas from you to make this #KemiFilaniTours more fun…so please tell it all via the comment section, thankyou.

You can also keep up with our updates on instagram, it is a newly opened account @kemifilaniblog..whoop!