CENTRE FOR ENVIRONMENT AND SCIENCE EDUCATION
LAGOS STATE UNIVERSITY, OJO, LAGOS

REPORT OF A FIELD TRIP TO OLD OYO NATIONAL PARK

NAME:
HUNPE AGUSTINE

PROGRAMME: MSC. ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

FEBRUARY, 2013

BEGINNING OF THE JOURNEY
I had the opportunity to visit one of Nigeria’s National Park (Old Oyo national park) on the 21st of February to 23rd of February 2013.the field trip to old Oyo National Park is a compulsory aspect in the biodiversity course during my master’s program in environmental resource management at Lagos state university.

The field trip commenced from the Lagos state university Ojo campus as our take off point,at about 1:00pm on the 21st of February 2013 from Lagos state.
The trip was one that comprises of masters students in environmental resource management faculty of center for environmental and science education and their lecturers such as Dr. DENLOYE ABIODUN and Mr. AJISEGIRI.
The trip started for Ojo in Lagos state with which all students were boarded on a mini luxurious bus with 21 passengers on board. We journeyed all through Igandoto Isheriwhere we picked up one of our lecturer on the way Dr. DENLOYE ABIODUN. We journeyed further through Lagos to Ibadan were we observed changes in the vegetation.We also journeyed through OgbomoshoSaki, Iseyin, Igboho, Sepeteri, Tede and we finally arrived at the old OyoNational Park at around 9:30 p.m
The ride was beautiful-vast expanses of green savannah stretched out on each side of our bus. We continued on our path to the park full of wildlife and exotic plants that awaited us. As we arrived at the park’s hotel in Sepeteri around 9:50 p.m. we settled down as we took our supper and went to our various hostels.

JOURNEY TO THE PARK 1
At about 8:00am on Friday 22nd February 2013 we converged at the hall within the park were a brief history of old OyoNational Park was delivered by the custodian of the park and our lecturers as Dr. DENLOYE ABIODUN and Mr. AJISEGIRI also buttressed on the history.

Mr. AJISEGIRI and Dr. DENLOYE during lecture presentation
Brief history of old Oyo national park
Old OyoNational Park is one of the National parks of Nigeria, located across northern Oyo State and southern Kwara State,Nigeria. It is rich in plant and animal resourcesincluding buffaloes, bushbuck and wide variety of birds. The park is easily accessible from southwestern and northwestern Nigeria. The nearest cities and towns adjoining Old OyoNational Park include Saki, Iseyin, Igboho, Sepeteri, Tede and Igbeti which have their own commercial and cultural attractions for tourism.
The Park takes its name from Oyo-lle (Old Oyo), the ancient political capital of Oyo Empire of the Yoruba people, and contains the ruins of this city. Oyo Ile was destroyed in the late 18th century by Ilorin and Hausa/Fulani warriors at the culmination of the rebellion of Afonja, commander of Oyo Empire's provincial army for which he allied himself with Hausa/Fulani Muslim jihadists.
The National Park originated in two earlier Native Administrative forest Reserves, Upper Ogun established in 1936 and Oyo-lle established in 1941. These were converted to Game Reserves in 1952, then combined and upgraded to the present status of a National Park.
The park covers 2,512 km2, mostly of lowland plains at a height of 330m and 508m above sea level. The southern part is drained by the Owu, Owe and Ogun Rivers, while the northern sector is drained by the Tessi River. Outcrops of granite are typical of the North Eastern Zone of the Park, including at Oyo-lle, with caves and rock shelters in the extreme north. The central part of the Park has scattered hills, ridges and many rock outcrops that are suitable for mountaineering. The Ikere Gorge Dam on the Ogunriver provides water recreation facilities for tourists.
Within the entire country there previously existed extensive forestation; however, there is less forested area present in the country mirroring a trend in the region. The Old OyoNational Park was previously habitat for the endangered Painted Hunting Dog, Lycaonpictus. However, this canid is now deemed extirpated locally due to hunting pressure and the expanding human population in this region.
JOURNEY TO THE PARK 2
Maybe it was because we set out for the park too late-we left at 9 a.m. and apparently all the animals are already hiding from the scorching sun by then- or we were just unlucky but our journey around the Old OyoNational Park did see one animal,the unidentifiable brown mass that scurried across the road in front of our car does not count. From the comfort of our air-conditioned van we saw a minuscule fraction of the park that spans a remarkable 2,512 sq km (970 sq mi), most of which fall in Oyo State, some extends to Kwara State. The park is named after Old Oyo, the political capital of the Oyo Empire between the 16th and 18th centuries. You can actually visit the city’s ruins inside the park, but we didn’t make it that far. We saw lots of plants used for medicinal purposes (the Yoruba’s call it ago), one river, yam farms and a beautiful river basin that is dried now exposing smooth flat rocks. We toured the park for about 3 and half hours in total. For a journey that took almost four hours, it was worth it for all of the villages, yam/cassava/cashew farms and natural beauty we saw along the way.

Old Oyo National Park spans a shocking 960 square miles across Oyo State, Nigeria. A river in the park.

Some Of The Interesting Side Attraction We Saw Was The Lake Salt,Lion’s Cave
Lion’s Den

When the water dries up, it leaves little plants on the rocks which dry up in the sun and create intricate white patterns on the rocks which I thought was beautiful.

Much of the area of the park we visited looked like this, bush. They had just burned it so many of the tree bark was black but the grass was bright green.

A bird nest standing on Ogun River (Odo-Ogun)

Overview of Old Oyo National Park

Dr. Denloye and students in the park

students during the visit to old oyo national park.