Source: [url]showcasenaija.com[/url]
In January, I had planned to revisit and document all the states in the south west as I had either lost previous files or had not documented some places.

The opportunity came when I had to visit a very close friend in Ibadan. I thought, "whatever is taking me to Ibadan will definitely see me touring neighboring states"

So in preps for the trip, I reached out to a buddy (Toke) to get more information on some of the places I'd be visiting and to my amazement, she told me she also planned to tour the south west around the same time I had planned. One of my personal travel watchwords is "never travel without correct information"

Seeing our plans were sort of aligned, we agreed to make the trip happen together.

The Plan: She was to meet up with me in Ibadan as I had to travel earlier to see my close friend who was convalescing.

The trip was to have an interesting start as I coincidentally ran into someone who had documented our first point of call (Bower's Tower). Truth be told, I first saw Bower's tower through Tosin's lens on Instagram so it was fascinating to just bump into him at Shoprite in Ibadan. He was kind enough to share useful tips on how to navigate my way through Bower's tower.

Fast forward, Toke and I started our trip and it was a bit of a discouraging start. We arrived Bower's Tower and the custodian of the facility wasn't around. Bower's tower, Ibadan, has been in existence for about 90years... You can enjoy a full view of the Ibadan from the top of the tower. You can call it a make shift observatory

At this point, I'll like to share a video of my trip to Bower's Tower and the Iyake Lake. Kindly check it out if you have a minute or two

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHwFXddRpmc

Whilst we were waiting on the possibility of the custodian returning, we met some school kids who were quite entertaining. One of them offered to perform a rap song he originally wrote to Toke and I.

After waiting about 25 minutes or thereabout, we decided to proceed to our next point of call. One thing I tried to do while waiting was to read more about the tower since the custodian of the facility wasn't available to give us a tour.

Moving forward, we headed for a park at Sango (if I'm not mistaken). We were to board a cab going Iseyin after which we would connect Ado Awaiye (all in Oyo state)

We were going to see the suspended lake (one of the only two in the world). Yes it is worthy to note that there are only two suspended lakes in the world and one of them is in Nigeria whilst the other is in Colorado.

It took forever for the bus going to Iseyin to get filled up and the same was going to happen from Iseyin to Ado Awaiye so we decided to pay for the entire cab. It was already past 5pm when we got to Iseyin and we were already getting really bothered about arriving the lake late.

We eventually arrived the foot of the moutain housing the lake at Sunset and the view of the town from the top of the hill was quite beautiful. Kindly reference the video for the views

Fast forward, we eventually got to the lake and regardless of us getting there at nightfall, it was beautiful!

The tour guides at the Iyake lake told us of the spiritual qualities possesed by the lake.

They also did show us a spot where no one must dip their leg else they'll find themselves inside the lake (which we were told no one knows its depth)

On our way to the top of the mountain, we were showed a particular rock with white clothes tied around it... We were told that people would usually come pray to the rock for children and whenever they got an answer to their prayer, they were required to bring a white cloth and tie it around the rock.

They also did mention that whenever the rock got tired of wearing a particular material tied around it, it would pull it by itself (and we actually saw some white clothes on the floor beneath it)

One strange experience I had at this lake; after we had finished at the lake, we decided to begin our journey down the mountain. About 2 minutes into our return journey, I remembered the tour guides had mentioned that you could say a prayer or wish and they'd come through. So I turned back, got to the lake, washed my hands and said a prayer. As I turned around to join the rest, I could swear I had someone move in the water because the intensity of the sound I heard was way beyond a toad jumping in. People, I didn't turn back to see what it was o... I took to my heels o. I caught up with the rest but couldn't say a word for fear of something appearing on our path before we reached the bottom of the mountain

We paid our tour guides (N1,000 per head) and thanked them for the experience.

One other thing I can't forget is the dinner Toke talked me into having... For the second time in a very very long time, I bought road side akara and had it with bread. I'm normally very finicky with food so the thoughts of possible allergies or reactions just kept haunting me. Well, I ate it and I'm still alive

I really wish our government will push for this site to become a UNESCO heritage site.

If you will like to follow my adventures and travel stories (not everything will make it to Nairaland, kindly follow me on Instagram @theunofficialomotayo. Thank you for reading.

Source: https://showcasenaija.com
cc: lalasticlala
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvcHs8nRCOk