As always for the past two months, my weekends as spent surveying potential sites for wildlife Preservation and Ecotourism in Ekiti State, Nigeria. This week, i and my survey team were at the site of the Esa cave in Iyin-Ekiti.
This cave has been discovered for centuries by the ancestors of the people of Iyin who are of the Yoruba speaking ethnic group and like all Yoruba towns, they have a high level of spiritual significance attached to this cave. Before arriving the town from the Capital, we sent an emissary to notify the Chief of our intended visit and why we were coming over, because like most spiritually conscious traditional custodians, you dare not trespass on their sacred ground uninvited.
For a start, when we got there on Friday, we first paid a courtesy visit to the Oba(Chief), the Oluyin of Iyin, to notify him of our presence and still confirm the reason for our visit. He accepted us warmly and told us also of his love for nature and his support for conservation of natural landscapes and biome. He gave us the permission to proceed with our survey.
We met the custodian of the cave and he told us on arrival that the cave is not one to be entered casually or uninvited. He said some traditional rites, not protracted though, is to be carried out to appease the spiritual guardians of the cave to allow for an undisturbed entrance into the cave. The items required for this rite are not expensive, a bottle of schnapps and a cock, which is to be killed on site.
The vegetation around the cave was fairly dense which gives the area the right atmosphere to meet it status as a sacred site.
On entering the cave, it structure was a kind of wonder to behold, although we could not take pictures at some stages of the survey, yet, we were glad we made the trip and our eyes and minds served us as photographs for the pictures we could not get.
The cave was made in a circular form, there was a gigantic rock laying overhead and resting on some other smaller ones that were completely detached from it. You can see it as a fire place with a tripod stand of rocks and a big pot resting on them giving room in the middle.
The interior was considerable cool, the few vegetation around and the cutting off completely of the penetration of the Sun's direct rays saw to that. When you are inside and quiet, you will have that feeling of being in the presence of a superior authority.
We took the necessary details, relaxed there for a while, took in a many lungs-full of the fresh, natural air before leaving to see the Oba(Chief/King). I really had an exciting outing this weekend.
We will return there soon again to do a proper demarcation of the area and i hope to take as much pictures as i can because like it is often said "A picture is worth a thousand words".