Akamkpa National Park
12:18 AM
Hi guys!
So yesterday, my friends and I visited Akamkpa
National Park, located at Akamkpa Local Government, Cross River State.
The drive to the place took about 1hr and 15mins and when we
got there we saw it was not the actual park but the head office of the park.
There were some offices and a lifelike sculpture of an ape. The man we met
there said he would call a guide who would take us to the park itself. We
calculated that the guide would charge us for this so we just asked him for
directions to the place. Funny enough, we met the guide on the road and told
him we decided not to go anymore hahaha
So we drove back the way we came and went in at Nsam
Junction on the Calabar/Akamkpa road. Its another 15 minute drive from the
junction to Nsam town.
From Nsam town to the first signpost of the park is
10minutes and then the signpost says the park is 75km ahead which takes another
15-30 minutues depending on how fast you’re driving. It was like an endless
road because there were no other signs and no forms of life so we were getting
a bit scared.
Finally, we got to the park and we were welcomed by one of the guards, he went in and before we knew it about 7 other men had
come out looking all tough.
They asked us for a receipt or note from the head office and
said we should have come with a guide, speaking a lot of grammar. At the end their
boss said we had to pay 500 naira per head, 500 per camera phone, 500 for the
car and 500 for the tour guide. There were four of us so everything came to about
5000naira.
We started speaking our own grammar that we were corpers and
we had to pay the person that drove us and we came unsupervised and scared and
that we only had 1000 naira, since it was getting late he collected the money
and our tour guide came out with his gun and rainboots.
We were not sure what to expect as we followed our tour
guide into the rainforest but it was a HIKE, a very tedious one at that. So if
you’re asthmatic, unhealthy or unfit I would not advice you go on this trip
because there is a lot of walking, running, climbing and falling involved.
After about 10 minutes, we got to a T-juntion and our tour
guide told us that one road lead to another part of cross river and the other road
led straight to Cameroun. We also saw a rock formation but it was getting dark
already so we couldn’t really appreciate its beauy. We were also told that some
animals slept there at night.
We did not get to see any animals although we heard the
sounds of the apes. Here are a few tips if you decide to go:
- · Wear rubber shoes/rainboots
- · Go with water because you can get dehydrated
- · Try not to touch any strange leaves/branches some of them might be poisonous
- · You can wear shorts apparently there are no mosquitoes
- · Go in a group and try to keep up with the tour guide because its easy to get left behind/get lost.
Compared to Kwa Falls, the national park is actually very developed. There are rooms where you can lodge for 2,500 per night and the atmosphere is very calm and peaceful
Quick shout out to my adventure buddies Odun, Peter and Mayowa. I practically forced them to go on this trip and it seemed like I was the only one who enjoyed the hike so thank you guys for putting up with me lol.
I hope you guys enjoyed my National Park Experience, more to
come soon!
10 comments
Welcome back! Good to see you blogging more. Capable seems to be good to you lol
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to finally come there and do some exploring too
Cassie Daves Blog
The One Makeup Product I Can't Do Without.
Welcome back! Good to see you blogging more. Capable seems to be good to you lol
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to finally come there and do some exploring too
Cassie Daves Blog
The One Makeup Product I Can't Do Without.
Thanks Cassie,
Deleteyes Calabar is awesome you need to come and explore!
I'm not going to lie girl I'm actually quite disappointed with how the park looks. I had planned to go but didn't make it and I was actually bummed out. Looks like you had a nice time though.
ReplyDeletePrincess Audu
500 naira per phone! Lol! What does that even mean? Cracked me up!
ReplyDeleteGrammar-speaking is a skill to survive in Nigeria.
This is quite the adventure, the guide also has a gun! What type of animals are usually seen there?
I would consider this trip just because there aren't any mosquitoes! I hope that applies all year round. Lol!
Cool blog, Mide. Love the photos!
www.pagesbyike.com ... Nigerian Girl in the Alps
Amazing Blog
ReplyDeletei really can't wait to visit Calabar.
Nawa o, never even heard of this place.
ReplyDeleteWhat time was it when you went?
Can you cross over to Cameroon from there?
How come he had a gun on him? Would he shoot an animal if it was approaching you guys?
Tuke's Quest
Oh wow ��. I will be terrified but thanks for this blog post. I hope you enjoyed your tour though. https://meilifisayo.wordpress.com/2016/12/23/504/
ReplyDeleteWow, miss these types of adventures, my current job does not allow me anymore. Would kill for a one week just visiting exotic places.
ReplyDeleteIt looks cool. Thank you for sharing. i have some plans for the next few days too. I hope to try something truly new!
ReplyDelete