I bet you didn’t know that there’s a beach in Ondo State. Don’t lie oh, you did not know. Evidenced by the host of queries I got from Whatsapp, with some people generously calling me a liar (Google is your friend dears, use it), I can fairly ascertain that a lot of Nigerians, even Ondo State indigenes, do not know this. Makes you wonder if people either did not do Geography, or they just don’t know what the Nigerian map entails. I mean, someone once argued with me that the river Niger did not pass through Edo and Delta States, and that I just love sounding smart. He’s not wrong though; I do love sounding smart, just not at the risk of being wrong.
To the point of today’s long essay. The beach in Ondo State is called Araromi Beach, located right there in Araromi Sea-side, Igbokoda, Ondo State. According to the locals, as backed up by obvious map sketches, following the Atlantic Ocean all the way from Delta, there’s a direct route to Ondo, Ogun, and finally Lagos. Bikes ply this route, and Ondo to Lagos is an hour and thirty minutes.
Anyway, let’s begin my travel blog, shall we?
On Tuesday, December 28 2021, at 7:46am, we took off from Araromi street, Akure, and began our journey to Araromi beach.
From Araromi to Araromi. I’m so witty, yes, I know 🤗.
Map told us we had roughly four hours of sitting in a car ahead of us. Six of us went on this trip, all members of the Don Bosco Online Radio family. We have Br. Sam, the director and our designated driver (😝), David, the studio manager, Femi, the guy that makes it all happen..codes, websites, etc, Breeze, host and anchor of Link Up, Lope, host of Ladies’ Hangout, and yours truly, host of Read With Bea.
The ride through Akure to Ondo town was mostly uneventful, except Lope and Breeze spent the time being at each others’ throats (they did that the entire trip). Their arguments are usually so funny. Imagine two stubborn people, both right on their own grounds, trying to win over one another.
Anyway, at Ondo, we made a little pit stop at Captain Cook for their bread, and then started looking for akara, so we could make the perfect sandwich. We found one before we drove out of the inner city gate, and it was quite the experience. She let me serve and fry akara with her, while gisting with us. It was really nice actually.
We left Ondo and continued our journey through Odigbo to Ore and straight to Okitipupa. Trust me, I realised why its called Okitipupa after I saw the sand in this town. Very dark red. The Okiti is really pupa (the hill is red).
10:58am found us on the outskirts of Okitipupa and we saw the Olusegun Agagu University of Technology. Formerly known as Ondo State University of Technology, and popularly called OSUTECH. Nice gate sha.
Right after we left the Okitipupa axis and crossed into Ilaje territory, I got my first glimpse of sand change. The red earth was suddenly not only clearer, but stark white. I mean pearl white, like those you would find close to the Sea. The Alape bridge close to this spot, marked the beginning of the Ilaje territory.
One funny thing about the beautiful road to this beach is that we crossed from Ondo State into Ogun State and back into Ondo State again.
P.S. The roads are smooth, not lonely, and just too scenic. On all sides of us, we could see endless bodies of water, with young and old alike fishing on them.
Some villages had us covering our noses though, because all we could perceive was fish.
At exactly 12:06pm, we entered Araromi Sea side village. Small, beautiful, quaint, and welcoming. We were directed towards the Palace, where we found a tour guide who led us to the beach.
Majestic palace, yeah, I know.
Now, the adventure begins. Cue the dramatic music.
Okay, from the junction to the beach, there’s a 15 minutes walk on a super, and I mean really super, sandy road deigned with ponds, coconut trees, and beautiful homes. We were forming super man cuz we had a hillux, why should we have to walk? Well, we learned the hard way.
Halfway to the beach, our car got stuck in the sandy mire and refused to leave.
Join me on the next update to know how we got out, and how much fun we had on the beach.
Laters…..
