It was a memorable one as the Igbo tourism club set out to showcase Igbo culture during the hike. The tour which took place on 10th of April started with a pick up from our hotel by our own brother Mr Paul Ezeani, CEO Iconnect travels who is an Enugu base tour operator.
We departed the hotel by 8am which was later than scheduled, Mr Sam all the way from Umuahia who was having his car washed added to the time delay, we also waited at Genesis eatery by Agbani road for Mr Wilson the South Eastern Coordinator of Association of Tourism Practitioners of Nigeria with his crew members.
Ebuking also joined us at same spot. We arrived at the nearest compound where we parked our vehicles, exchanged pleasantries, took some pictures and headed towards the base of the hill.
But before we arrived I had long consumed two wraps of Okpa to fortify myself for the hike, but I kept hearing, you would easily get tired during the hike because of the food consumption but I smiled at them because I knew how hungry I was when I hiked 1,000 steps hill.
We were all standing at the base of the hill at about 9am and analyzing it like farmers who are petitioning how their works would start.
At this point Mr Wilson tended his apology to withdraw due to an official engagement he had, but we all refused and asked him to take the lead to the first stage of the hill before leaving and he accepted, here comes Mr Wilson in his occasional attire gingering us with his first step up the hill with Ebuking and I following suite with the rest behind.
Regina who was panting like one who ran 1000 meters in a racing competition continued crawling up with other 3 Ladies to the first stage. Hereafter, Mr Wilson has won the task, so now he was permitted to leave with 2 other men.
The second stage began with Mr John Paul taking the lead and I was behind him with others coming gradually but we both stopped at a point to fill the gap. We came across a rocky picturesque part where we all sat to take pictures and continued to the second stage.
The view from the second stage of the hill was so pulchritudinous that we can’t help it but decided to use that stage for the cultural display but we were also curious to see what the 3rd stage begot, so we headed to the next, but at this stage it was more comfortable because this part has more leveled surface than the rest stages.
The 3rd stage gave us a wow view but the second stage won the bet. Thereafter, we went back to the second stage.
The time has come where the culture has come to play and now the sun is getting to the skin. We quickly changed our outfits, took pictures and headed back to the first stage; the descent was smooth and also took time because the queens took their time to carefully watch their steps down the hill.
We went round studying the stories and histories of what happened during the reign of Odumegwu Ojukwu with pictures, flags, currencies and many more displayed at the center. Mr John Paul Ezeani handed us the gifts from Mr Wilson Uche Courtesy, Ethiopia airline Enugu, ITourTravel and ATPN south east.
As we are about taking our leave, the manager of the center asked us to spare few minutes of our time to give our review of the place and also to take pictures for their own social media update, Mr JohnPaul asked me to give the review which I did.
Goodbye to the center and please take us to the nearest eatery to refill said by us, but someone’s car wants to be exhibited too. Mr Sam’s car developed a little fault and he quickly left us at the center to go get the remedy, so we all waited with our minds on the food.
Mr Sam arrived at about 25minutes later and thank God few minutes after fixing it we left the center to our hotel rooms to freshen up before going to the restaurant, we made a stop at the Unity Park to take pictures because of the attractive gigantic lion monument which drew Regina’s attention.
Thereafter, we all retired to our hotel rooms. It was a fun filled and unforgettable one but I believe the next one would be better; a lot of ideas came up on how to make the next one a fantastic experience. Together, we would upgrade South Eastern tourism.
By UMEOKOLI CORDIS-MARIA
