My visit to the green Pond in Ikot Akpa Oso, Ibesikpo was my first trip for the ‘exploring nature’s wonders’ series. A series I came up with to showcase how wonderful our planet is and why we should all make an effort to protect it. In this series, I am visiting and exploring beautiful and fascinating natural spots.
To take quality aerial videos and pictures for this series, I have recruited crystal drone services. Crystal drone services is a leading expert in aerial videography and photography. Check out beautiful aerial videos and pictures of so many interesting places and landscapes they have shot on their Instagram and Youtube channel
Arial View of Green Pond (River) Ikot Akpaoso, Ibesikpo
There is a “Green River” in Ibeskipo Asutan?
Which place will I visit first for this series? was the question on my mind. I wanted a place in Uyo or close to Uyo, where I live. The answer came unexpectedly. One day, I was scrolling down my Twitter feed and I saw a post by someone about his visit to this beautiful green ‘river’ in Ibesikpo Asutan LGA, of Akwa Ibom. I was like Voila. This will be the first place I will explore because it is close to me. Ibesikpo Asutan is a neighboring local government to Uyo. It is just a few kilometers from the center of Uyo. It is so close that you can mistake parts of it, to be part of Uyo.
Now, I know this water is in Ibesikpo but where exactly in Ibesikpo? which village in Ibesikpo? Where do I even start from? So, I reached out to crystal drone service to find out if he will knows how we can get proper directions to this water. He told me he has heard about this water before. That in his enquires for beautiful places to take aerial shots of, someone recommended it and even gave him directions to the location. But that was a while ago and he didn’t end up going there. Right now, all could remember, was that, it is a few meters away from Nnung Udo roundabout.
Nnung Udo roundabout is one of the biggest roundabouts in the country and connects the four major roads in Ibesikpo. We agreed to get to the roundabout and then ask for directions. Not knowing the exact directions really piqued my sense of adventure and made the trip even more exciting.
Departing Uyo for Nnung Udoe Junction, in Ibesikpo
We departed Uyo as early as 8 am, partly because we did not know the direction to this place and partly because the early morning light will give us great lighting for our video and shots. My cousin big dean and my friend Inemesit Etim join us for the trip.
We rendezvoused at Nnung Oku junction. At least it used to be a junction. A beautiful roundabout is currently under construction there. Nnung oku is in Ibesikpo but feels like it’s in Uyo. It is the border village of Ibesikpo with Uyo.
We departed Nnung Oku junction for Nnung Udoe roundabout by 8.25 am. They are a few kilometers apart and cross several villages in Ibesikpo. The road is one of the best in the state. It is a tarred double carriage road that gives a smooth ride. You can see the beautiful vegetation and communities on the side of the road as we drive through.
Finding our Way to the Green Pond from Nnung Udoe Junction
We got to Nnung Udo roundabout within a few minutes and entered the last of the four major roads. Looking at a business signboard revealed the name of the village there as Ikot Akpa Etok. I later found out the name of the road is Idu Road. Lines of small shops lined the side of the entrance of the road. The entrance was buzzing with activities and had commercial bikes parked on the side of the road. A few meters into the Idu road, we inquiry for directions and were told we are on the wrong road.
We were then directed to the right one and It was a road before the Idu road called Eket Highway. We turned and made our way back to the roundabout and then drove into the Eket Highway road. A business signpost at the entrance of the road revealed the name of the village as Mbierebe Akpawat.
We still had to get further directions from two locals. The second person now showed us an untarred, bad road that leads into a village where the water is. We got on the untarred road and asked for directions from the people in the first house we saw. After many twists and turns as we were directed, we then found a lady that offered to join us and guide us to the location. She alighted right at the entrance to the road that leads to the water and gave us final directions. After a few minutes of driving, we finally got to a path with a small fence made with palm fronts as the lady told us to look out for.
Meeting the Green Pond in Ibesikpo
Driving into the path seemed like a bad idea, so we parked at the entrance to the path and walked into it. It was a bit sloppy and had unstable loose soil. The fresh tire marks of big sand trucks explained the bad condition of the path. Lucky for us, a young man on his bike drove down the path to take his bath and I figured I can get information about this place from him.
We walked down to the base of the path and were greeted by a stunning stagnant blue-green body of water sitting in a basin of earth. The wall of the basin showed clear markings of large sand excavators proposing that this place is a man-made basin created by sand mining activities. Then it hit me for the first time that this might not be a river as proclaimed on the Twitter post, but more like a man-made pond or lake. I will speculatively call it a pond for the rest of this article.
I began to inspect the pond and its surrounding as far as my eyes could see. The pond has thick vegetation at its edges and some vegetation inside it. I spotted two different species of water birds sitting in the water and a large flock of ravens playing above it.
At the entrance to the pond were pieces of wood logs used to wash clothes by the locals. The water at the entrance of the pond looked clear while the blue-green hue can be seen in other parts of the water. This has made me speculate that the coloration is caused by algae growth and the washing and bathing activities at the pond entrance have pushed the algae further into the water.
Remember the young man on his way to take his bath? Well, he finally came down to the pond with his bathing items to take his bath. I gathered from him that the name of the village is Ikot Akpa Oso. People shower, wash and even drink from this pond. That sand mining activity happens around the pond.
He told me that there are fishes in the water, so I stooped low to search for them and spotted one. The fish was the tiny transparent kind, I don’t think it’s edible. Are there other species in there? I don’t know.
While looking for fish I noticed some floating plastics in the water. They appeared to be mainly single-use plastics sachet of washing agents. I presume it’s discarded in the water by people who use it to wash and/or shower. Thankfully, it was not much but goes showing the menace of marine plastics in our waters.
Arial View of the the Green Pond in Ikot Akpa Oso, Ibesikpo
It was time to bring out the big guns. Crystal drones fired up the drone to give us an aerial view of the pond. The pond looks to be at least a km in length and has a narrow and irregular width. The pond is bordered on the side by a palm fruit plantation.
You can see excavator marks on the basin walls as you traverse the length of the pond. You can also see a couple of sand mining points along the sides of the pond as well. The water seems to have termination points at both ends, further fueling my speculation that this is a pond or lake.
Exploring Other Sections of the Green Pond in Ikot Akpa Oso, Ibesikpo
It was time to give the local man space to take his shower, so we went to explore another access point to the water, he mentioned to us. Dean left ahead of us but we were less than two minutes behind him. The path to this access point was similar to the one we came in through. It was unstable and loose, with marks made by excavators’ chain tires. There were several mounts of recently dugged-up sand on the sides of the path. We caught glimpses of the pond through the vegetation as we walked down the path.
We heard Dean yell about being trapped in a ‘quicksand’ and we panic rushed to assist him. We were greeted by a valley made from sand excavation, at the end of the path. Turned out, He was only being dramatic, it was no quicksand, he stepped on a clayey area of the valley but quickly got out. His shoes and lower legs were covered in thick clay.
Dean walked down to the pond to wash the clay off his legs. I walked down to the pond too to have a clear view of the water from this section. The water looked equally stunning from here. It also seems to end here in the thick vegetation. The pond appeared deep, muddy, and thus unsafe to wash in. So, we agreed to go back to the previous access point for Dean to wash up.
We noticed a small water stream that seems to come from somewhere up uphill, making its way through the valley and then into the pond. Could this be one of the supplies for the pond? I almost got stuck in clay too while trying to trace the stream to its source. The stream mixes with the clay in this valley and makes this area a trap, so one needs to be careful here.
Leaving the Green Pond in Ikot Akpa Oso, Ibesikpo
We made our way back to the first access point for Dean to clean up. Inemesit went on another round of dipping in the pond. The drone video showed another pond access point at the other end of the pond which we would have explored. But we decided to call it quits for the day and head back to Uyo because Dean and Inem were uncomfortable in their soggy clothes and shoes.
We got a bit worried about how we will get to the tarred road that led us here (Eket Highway), considering the many twists and turns we took to get here. Google Maps came to our rescue. Using Nnung Udoe roundabout as our destination, it showed us a route out. This route is actually the best and shortest route into and out of the Ikot Akpa Oso community.
Thoughts about my experience visiting the Green Pond in Ikot Akpa Oso, Ibesikpo
Overall, it was an amazing experience. We got to see the amazing serene Ibesikpo Asutan local government and Ikot Akpa Oso community as we drove in search of the pond. We had fun as we explored this beautiful and wonderful green-blue body of water when we finally found it.
However, we came there with a lot of questions and left with speculative answers to some and no answers to others. green, pond Ikot Akpa Oso, Ibesikpo Questions like, How long has the water been in existence? Was it a natural water body that was now widened and deepened by sand mining activities? Or did it form as a result of water collecting in the basin created by sand mining activities? What species live in and around this water? What causes its beautiful distinctive green coloration? Is it a pond or lake or even something else? Only real experts can provide answers to these questions and more.
Watch the video of my visit on Youtube:
Green Pond (River) Ikot Akpaoso Ibesikpo Asutan Akwa Ibom State