Climbing The Waters of Ijesha

February 7 and we were yet to decide on where to visit on that red and white day. The ritual had always been a passionate exchange of gifts between sweethearts. Gifts such as
proudly red and white roses, greeting cards with heart warming messages, kisses would fly in the air then a romantic chapter would be opened or rekindled at a relaxation spot, the night club or the after party. But this time around, we invented the idea of doing something different, we decided to visit Erin Ijesa and see how far we could climb her waters.

          My anxiousness to hear the voice of these falling waters made me a catalyst for the excursion. Come February 14, we planned paying Erin Ijesha water Falls a visit. These naturally segmented falls are planted in Ilesha Local government Area of the south western State of Osun, in Africa’s most populous nation, Nigeria. Owing largely to the fact that I came from a different region and tribe, I had a dwarfed knowledge about this spectacle of nature. The hunger for adventure and my thirst to explore nature only but ignited the flames of my desire to at least say hello to the falling waters of Ijesha, for the stories and myths that had entered my ears over the years through books and movies wouldn’t let my eyes sleep until my skin shower in its rain.

          February 13, 5: pm, and we were informed that the paraphernalia for the journey on 14th has been concluded. My heart exploded with joy and the anxiety in my eyes wouldn’t let them blink. The anxiousness to come in contact with the myriad of features that I had read and heard about those falls. How they are naturally partitioned into different floors with each one falling in its desired direction and in a unique force. Also, how the waters at the first floor reacts when people scream in one accord. All these thoughts engulfed my imagination and I couldn’t wait to get on the bus for that journey. Graciously, the day went like a flash of light and I was presented with the D’day.

          February 14, 10: am came the day for the journey to end my ignorance. We left the campus of Osun state Polytechnic, iree in the bus nick named “Aluta rocket”, and our destination was just about 2 hours away. My dream was also about to come to reality. The over crowded bus grumbled in pain as we {excited students} vomited gallons of noise that were heard miles away. Every eye kept rotating in order to catch a glimpse of the sideways as we swam through a pool of hills till we got to Ilesha Local Government Area, the host community of my soon to be natures bride.

          Broadly, the sign post read, “Welcome to Olumirin water falls”, Erin Ijesha. Our already tired bus struggled as it galloped on the untared mouldy road that connects the main street to the entrance of the park where the water fall is situated. As we approached the slowly appearing rusty and dilapidated gate, my joy started dieing and I began to wonder if this was the same much acclaimed natures wonder in Nigeria. Because at the gate, I saw nothing new or spectacular than a gang of ticket vendors who wanted nothing else aside payment for the expensive but cheap looking papers printed in green and white, called tickets. Being members of a human Rights Activist group on campus, we displayed our Aluta wares for other visitors by kicking against the idea of we paying a huge amount of money to access a natures home that the government has neglected by contributing little or  no effort to the beautification of at least the access road and entrance to, only to assemble a group of unemployed youths and punish them with the responsibility of extorting money from the fun seeking public like we who are Hungary for adventure in the name of community tax, fee, levy or what a view. But then, our stock of words on display were about creating a scene that would have germinated into a mayhem so we divorced our fight and succumbed to their demands, then we entered the theatre of oblivion.

          As we walked pass the gate, we were ushered in by a wind of pleasure that blew off our anger and disdain, we fell into a storm of excitement again when we began to see a blend of nature and tradition. Though we were still metres away from seeing what we wanted to see but then the fun had already started. We climbed unto a wide and giant floor-like stair case that would peddle us to the beginning of the euphoria. Beside this stair case are beautiful round huts in African traditional style but constructed with modern equipments. The huts were filled with either new entrants like we who wanted to energize ourselves with some soft drinks before embarking on the journey to climb the waters of Ijesha or those who had just come down from as high as the 7^th floor and probably wanted to refresh themselves. The funfair invited me to take a queue and have a feel of the traditional delicacies.

          While there, I reminisce the incredible facts that I had read about the Erin Ijesha Water Falls.I found myself back on the stair case as I struggled to navigate my way through a sea of traditional singers, drummers, artisans etc who displayed their wares and talents for the gullible visitors to purchase. From afar came chants of excitements and the echoes poured in as the falling waters slapped the rocks down the flowing river. The anticipation of fun only invited my legs to move faster, but the closer I got, the more anxious my hungary eyes became. With every step taken, the stair cases grew in height and diminish in width. After just about two minutes later, the staircase  developed a branch , with the branch at the right having a bold sign post,” first floor” as we diverted to see the first floor, I enquired from my mates how many number of the floors the water has. Seven, they replied. But added that the highest we can climb is the third floor because the seventh floor is about two hours from the first floor, so we descended to the first scene. At the first floor, the scene was like an open heaven filled with a crowd of different colours and tribes that were united by the white waters that were escaping beside the mighty mountain. There were those who came for picnic, those who came to celebrate birthday, those who came for sight seeing, tourists and photographers besieged the arena to capture the episode of fun on display. As many eyes were still harvesting the scene, then came the particles of noise from an upper cave that seemed even more interesting than what we were seeing at the first floor. Quickly, I exclaimed that that must be the second floor, let’s go there! so we  traced our way on the staircase back to its source as we continued up to the second floor but every step up  that we took, the rough and substandard staircase became more dangerous and difficult to climb.

We got to the second floor and met a scene scripted for crowd and noise. The reasons for it were not far fetched for this is the highest point that majority of the visitors can climb hence the need for them to drawn their desires in the waters of the second floor. Going from here upward, it is an unhealthy risk to take, for you will be left with no physical structure to aid you in climbing the risky mountain, not even a staircase as there is from the first to the second floor. Your continuous companions are only the free standing rocks that are ever ready to send someone to the odd list of ‘the casualties of fun’. Carefully and gently, we got to the third floor and it was similar to what we had seen before. So I advocated for an attempt to get to the seventh floor. This statement breathed the air of commotion into our nostrils and tongues began to dance with every ones song according to the music of his heart, strength and stamina. We became divided and some went back to the second floor to wash away their sweat and play with the waters while I lead the other faction upward to continue our struggle in order to feed our eyes with the pleasure of the rarely seen seventh floor.

After every meter, the path became more famished and lonely and it appeared we were the only ones left on this journey to the top. But being a first timer, I kept on encouraging the rest members because I wanted to see everything I had read about the waterfalls especially the last {7^th} floor. One, two hours we crawled through the forested mountain till we finally arrived at the seventh floor that is enclosed by a small local community that lives on the peak of that mountain. Interestingly, the locals assisted us in navigating our way through the forest and even offered us fruits like pineapple, oranges and banana to calm the heat of the angry sun. being fulfilled and happy to have been among the very few tourists to have climbed up to the last floor of the seven water falls, we spent another one hour thirty minutes going down to unite with our colleagues.

 Back in our hostel that night, we stayed glue to our cameras to digest the unforgettable moment we had at the seven waters of Erin Ijesha. Though hidden from the wheel of publicity, Erin Ijesha water fall is a beauty to behold. A rainbow of seven waters with a blend of Yoruba cultural heritage. Here, fun is soaked into stress to test your agility and mental strength. If your favorite delicacies are adventure, discovery or agility test, Erin Ijesha will be the best dish for you. Please try to have a taste of nature by visiting this seven mighty falls of Erin ijesha.