A brief guide to sightseeing in Abeokuta

Visitors climbing stairs leading to the top of Olumo Rock (Photo by Adedeji Olalekan)

By Pelu AWOFESO

Last August, while travelling on the Lagos-Ibadan train service, I observed that more families, friends and professional groups were visiting Abeokuta than I had previously seen.

Granted, it was a holiday season, but I was delighted watching the lively conversations between parents and their children as they feasted on the food, drinks and snacks they’d packed for the journey.

Thanks to the music from their Bluetooth-enabled speaker, I also couldn’t help but notice a group of friends (possibly colleagues at work) shuffling and humming to the songs; they were lost in their world and comfortable standing at one end of the coach I was in.

It was a Friday, and there was no doubt in my mind that most of the passengers on the train were heading to Abeokuta (and Ibadan) for the weekend. Some, going by their Ankara Aso Ebi, were going to an Owambe. I was travelling to the ancient city on a field trip that would last at least two days, and I had my itinerary around town well-mapped out.

If you live in Lagos (or Ibadan, for that matter), you should visit Abeokuta on a day trip or a weekend getaway. With two train services between Lagos and Ibadan, it’s now easier than ever to arrive in the ancient city in the morning, sightsee for five hours and be back on the train at 4 pm for the return journey home.

“Nigeria is beautiful,” one elderly man exclaimed as he admired the vast green fields that stretched endlessly to our right. And as the train glided along the tracks, stations and neighbourhoods — I kept reflecting on the abundance of tourist assets around the city.

Another view of Olumo Rock (Photo by Adedeji Olalekan)

The next morning, I took a ride to the Olumo Rock Tourist Complex. While the complex is the city’s primary tourist draw, there are a couple of others that are less well-known but offer even more scenic views from their peaks. A good example is the Emere Hill, which is just a 30-minute drive away. The place also has a massive, abandoned reservoir from the 1920s, as I learnt.

Before you arrive at Olumo, you’ll drive past the Adire Mall, a charming fabric market that opened in 2015. Stop here on your way out and revel in the tie-and-dye universe. Many of the clothes are affordable.

Also on that same road, you’ll see a monument to Chief Sodeke, famed warrior, hunter and leader of the Egbas, whom he led to this part of town in the early 1800s, one of the very turbulent times in Yorubaland.

Elsewhere in the city, you can choose to visit any or all of 3 museums:

1. The National Museum, Idi-Aba

2. The Presidential Library (OOPL)

3. The Egba Museum, inside Alake’s palace.

While at the palace, you can choose to take a tour (N2000) of the premises, a very enriching experience.

A group of media professionals listening to a guide at a rest stop on Olumo Rock

The Centenary Hall, gleaming with a new coat of yellow paint, is just across the road from the palace. It’s a shame that it’s almost always locked, so you can only admire its exteriors.

And a stroll away is the Cathedral of St Peter, where the earliest European missionaries planted a chapel-cum-church in the 1840s.

For food and drinks, you can find a range of restaurants and bars for all budgets. I’ll easily recommend Wetland Gardens & Lounge, which is built into a rock outcrop and offers fine views. It’s a stone’s throw from the Moshood Abiola stadium — you can’t miss it.

If you enjoy watching films on the big screen, there are at least two active cinemas in town: (1) Capricorn Cinema (June 12 Cultural Centre) and (2) The OOPL Cinema.

There is also nightlife. And to the best of my knowledge, the hub for all the vibing is inside the Iwe Irohin complex. There are two bars: the bigger, rowdier one is partly open-air. The smaller one (Nova’d) is more exclusive and has a VIP section. Good music. That’s where I hung out.

I’ll stop here. We have a series of group tours to Abeokuta every Saturday in September. I’ll share the details soon.