MY DELICIOUS ITINERARY

I really don't know how this came to a reality, and is now a memory to be looked on at from my
perspective, living in the present. My mother never wanted me to go on this excursion for no
specific reason-maybe probably because it was a 2-day journey and on a long distance.What
actually happened was this: after begging her incessantly to allow me partake on this excursion
her reply was " o di ebe i je" which means "you are going no where". When she saw that I was
keen on going on this excursion she told me to call my Father and if he gave me his consent
then I would go. So I called him, but , he didn't know the excursion was a 2-day trip, so he
consented as me to go. I was in cloud-9. Being a child who hardly travels, there was this kind of
excitement in me. And that my friend and seat partner (in the front seat), Gift Phillips and myself
had anticipated on the items to bring along with us for the upcoming excursion. Unfortunately,
she didn't join us on the excursion but I did. And these are my memorable experiences:
On Saturday morning, my mother, her driver and my elder sister, Aunty Cherechi dropped me
off at school. My mother came into the school with me inquiring about the arrangements: the
vehicles, the drivers and other preparations for the trip on that morning. When she was satisfied
with the preparations laid down, she left me giving me a gaze of peace. We waited on the floor
near the assembly ground which was plastered; awaiting when we would be called into a queue,
calling our names as we entered into the 'tear rubber' bus. As planned, we got into the bus,
looking stagnantly and inhaling the odour of the newly-bought-bus. After everybody got into the
bus, we had a short prayer which was said by Mr Fashina, my class teacher,then our pilot (the
driver), Mr Tope, ignited the key, fired the engine and drove off.
However, our excursion was to Ife through Ibadan. We got onto the Lagos- Ibadan expressway
heading towards Ibadan. On the way, our teachers told us to sing rigorous songs which I didn't
see as an A-okay. We were really uncomfortable because we were more in number than the
seats in the bus. So we had to lap ourselves ( most especially those of us seated at the
backseat). I happened to lap Victor Olasupo, our computer teacher's son, the smallest boy in
our class then, along with our class captain, Ayomide Popoola.
Furthermore, the journey was a long one, most especially when we headed towards Ibadan.
Finally, we entered the urban area of Ibadan where we have the zoo and opposite, the
museum. The ambience of this city was really delighting. We came down and walked into the
zoo. At the entrance, we saw an antelope who we were told was to be killed for the lion in the
evening. We were told to hold our hands in pairs of two before entering the zoo. We did,and
moved on. First, we saw a trio of hyenas, chuckling as usual. Next, was a kind of monkey that
was kept in a deep pit. So we, sharp students, used our discretion to get that it could jump.
Then we moved to the cages of the lions, the crocodiles, the ostriches, the pythons, the cubs,
the elephant and lastly, the turtle. I know we saw other animals but these are the ones I can
remember.
In the nick of time, when we were done seeing the animals and lectured on their botanical
names in which I wrote every part of, we walked to the museum, which was abaft the zoo.
There, we saw the skeletons of the dead animals which we could not see in the zoo, embalmed.
We were told not to touch anything but just take a cursory look and walk on. We moved into a
room which was a laboratory-cum- study. Erstwhile, we were shown the artifats of the Oyo-
Ibadan culture and the images of the colonialist who made tremendous developments in the city
generally.
Also, having to go on an excursion with a Proprietress who was an explorer, made us to go to
more places than we thought, before going on the excursion, was ever possible.
We got into the bus and continued our excursion to Ife. when we arrived the urban areas, we
headed straight to the palace: the Ọọni of Ife's palace. We were shown the graves of the past
kings, their achievements and who they were. Their graves were painted in blue.
As if having gone to all these places, as mentioned above, was not enough, we went to the Ifa
shrine. There, we saw a long pole-like structure on which a white linen was tied unto. We were
lectured a bit by the chief priest of the shrine.
In conclusion, it was already evening and we unanimously decided to rest our excursion-filled
heads in a motel. At the entrance of the motel, there was a balcony which was a rendezvous for
people (most especially youths). Entering our motel, we had a short prayer then we were served
a savoury and delicious meal.
To cap it all, the next morning,we were woken up very early to pray after which we were called
out for workouts by our gymnastics teacher who we fondly called 'coach'. After workouts,, we
were all tired to the extent that we managed to walk into our motel. We bathed, ate and moved
into the bus dressed. On our way back to Lagos, we stopped by the gate of the University to
take some pictures as a way of remembering this escursion. Up till now I have not seen any of
the pictures we took. There and then, I told myself that after I became a lawyer (my dreamed
profession), I would return to Ife after staying in Ibadan for a while.