GOD LIVES HERE
Seventy-one years ago, a Scottish rancher named Mr M. McCaughley first explored the mountain ranges of the Obudu Plateau, having camped on the mountain top for a month. He returned in 1951 with Mr Hugh Jones, a fellow rancher; subsequently, Dr Crawfield, another rancher, joined the team. Together, these English men developed the Obudu Cattle Ranch. They cohabited peacefully with the seven villages already living around the Obudu Mountain. The villages are Anape, Okpazange, Keji-Ukwu, Ukwamu, Apah-Ajili, Kijol, and the Balege. These ranchers grew their livestock; mainly, cows developed the lower ranch with accommodations, restaurants and bars. The lower farm also had a medical and general relaxation centre.
These buildings were all constructed by the British in 1952, and today, they are collectively known as the Old Ranch or Lower Ranch, standing 1,576 meters above sea level, now called ‘The Obudu Mountain Resort’.
The people are known to be generally friendly, kind, accommodating and willing to start a discussion.
Abundant and astonishingly diverse is the culture of the Obudu mountain dwellers, and religion is one of its main characteristics. This feature influences the arts, music and dance of its people. Ukana, a unique dance of the Becheve people, is always on display during the indigenous Elum festival, a cleansing period of no stealing, fighting, and quarrelling, with a special Olumu meal. This festival takes place in February of every year. Becheve community in Balege Village is where you would find the famous Becheve Natural Reserve, home to the 20.5 feet high Tower, located at the end of the 60 metres canopy walkway.
(things to know)This Natural Reserve was the 2005 Gulder Ultimate Search venue- a once-popular Nigerian Television reality show.
Things to know: The Becheve people say “Wu Va” in their Icheve dialect meaning ‘welcome’, and ‘Zaeee’ meaning ‘goodbye’.
Fun Activities – Mountain Tour
A tour of the mountain resort reveals the beauty that led the early missionaries to settle there in the first place. The people like to refer to the Mountain Resort as a place where God lives, probably because of its high peak location piercing through the cloud. Between the bottom of the hill and the mountain top is a road network. Made up of 20 U-shaped bends popularly called ‘U-bends’ and two elbow-bends also refer to as ‘elbow bends’. It makes it a total of 22 bends of 11 km from the resort gate to the Mountaintop, with the resort’s highest point standing at 2,500 meters above sea level.
#FLIGHT: Ibom Air operates over daily flights from Lagos and Abuja to Calabar, where you can easily connect to Obudu Mountain Resort by road or helicopter.
The mountain is called ‘Holy.’
Obudu Holy Mountain is breathtaking in its appeal. The Holy Mountain is in Kigol Village, about 1km from the main road. Interestingly, the Kigol community is just a one-hour forty-five-minute motorbike ride away from the Republic of Cameroon’s Kaumu village under the ‘Awaya’ subdivision. It was the first place that the British missionaries camped out when they explored this plateau with the earlier ranchers. It is now symbolically perceived as a prayer mountain.
#FUNFACT: Did you know that Obudu Mountain Resort is a significant source of honey?
THE GROTTO
A spectacular Grotto is another part of the mountain, a natural cave with inviting sparkling cool water. Visiting the Grotto is an unforgettable experience, the natural swimming pool and waterfall location is beautiful to tourists and families for picnics during a getaway vacation or holiday. It is a 1km walk down the hill to this fantastic innate beauty.
Water park
The water park in the old Ikwette community is the original settlers of the Obudu Mountain Resort. Obudu Water Park opened in 2005 for recreation activities, with this time an artificial swimming pool. From the mountain resort, top to the base of the plateau is a distance of about 870 metres Using the Resort Cable Car. The park’s location at the bottom of the table is due to the highly cool temperature at the top. It has a love garden suitable for parties. It has played host to several gala nights held after each Obudu Mountain Race, an international event with visitors and participants drawn from various sporting countries.
#Do You know! The Ikwette people say: ‘Wojend’ meaning ‘welcome’ and ‘Zowol’ meaning ‘goodbye, safe travels to your various destinations.
#TRAVEL ALERT: Travel Lab Nigeria Limited, in partnership with Naija 7 wonders; www.naija7wonder.com and Remlords Logistics, organizers of quarterly tourism visits to Obudu Mountain Resort.
Fear factor? No, way! During your visit to Obudu Mountain Resort, do not miss out on an authentic taste of Africa intrinsic beautiful stopping point. These natural mountain ranges and fascinating landscape is the resort’s crowning glory.
Nsikak Akpan; Editor Fulcrum Ibom Air Inflight Magazine.