TS Contest | My Worst Ever Travel Experience

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The car stopped dead in the middle of the winding path of the 5200 feet mountain of the obudu cattle ranch mountain. It was 9pm in the night. A mixture of fear, anxiety and uncertainty gripped us as we came down from the car stranded in the middle of the steep mountain surrounded by thick bushes on the left and on the right with no noise but the eerie sound of different night insects crying in the distance breaking through the deadness of the night.

Welcome to my blog and today am telling us the story of my worst travel experience. Thank you @bonaventure24 for this contest to share our travel experiences. I do hope you sit back and enjoy the ride.

Share with us your worst ever travel. What scenario or incident made it your worst ever travel

It’s like the day knew it was going to be a bad one hence it started spoiling from the morning. We were suppose to leave for obudu cattle ranch for a conference. We agreed that we would leave as early as 7am because the journey was far and we’ve not been there before. The day started on a bad note because I arrived very early as we agreed only to spend hours waiting for others.

You can’t imagine my frustration and tiredness as a journey that was meant to begin by 7am began by 1pm. I was already hungry and tired even before we started. As if that’s not enough, the car we were supposed to used developed fault barely thirty minutes into the journey. We had to go to a near by mechanic to fix the car and spent extra two hours.

By the time we left for calabar, the day was far gone and I need mention that the car was over heating on the road hence we had to add water at intervals and then wait for it to cook off before moving. What a journey indeed. I had never been so frustrated in my journeying experience.

We arrived at obudu and when we though we have reached our destination, little did we know that we are to start another hour journey just to get to the foot of the mountain on which the cattle ranch was built. We arrived the foot of the mountain by 8pm in the night and we saw a sign that said “mountain climbing begins now”.

We were excited and thought finally but little did we know that our ordeal was just about to begin. We have never been to the cattle ranch before. We heard the mountain was steep but we didn’t have a smidgen idea of the type of steepness we were going to face.

Remember the car was over heating, how are you going to drive an over heating car up a 5200 feet steep and narrow mountain with winding path. We thought it was maybe a ten minutes drive and decided to give it a try.

We drove the first 5 minutes and the car began to over heat. Mind you, it was late and we were strangers in this land. We stopped at a side of the mountain and poured the last two bags of pure water we had into the car radiator, waited for it to cool off a bit and began the journey again. After another ten minutes up the mountain, the car began to over heat again because of the firing, this time around, the car stopped dead in the middle of the winding path of the 5200 feet mountain of the obudu cattle ranch mountain.

It was 9pm in the night. A mixture of fear, anxiety and uncertainty gripped us as we came down from the car stranded in the middle of the steep mountain surrounded by thick bushes on the left and on the right with no noise but the eerie sound of different night insects crying in the distance breaking through the deadness of the night.

A lot of strange thoughts started going through my head. What is wild animals jump out of this bush and attack us, what is this car roll backwards down the mountain. We were stranded in the middle of no where in a strange land. I wanted to cry but tears at this point won’t be helpful. We decided to stay in the car till day break. I couldn’t even stay comfortably because I kept having the thought that the car may roll backwards.

The weather was very cold, I tried to sleep but could not. It was a night of fear and anxiety as we prayed for the day to break. Every of us was scared but we were trying so had to conceal our fears and be strong for one another. We could not make calls because there was no network to call anyone. Some of our colleagues had already gotten up the mountain to the conference place because they didn’t go with that car. They went with a different car and they arrived on time . As early as 5am, our leader decided that we should start walking up the mountain to see how we can get help be we were literally awake all through the night.

We walked for over an hour and as the day began to break. We were looking for the slightest sign of life but none aside the rolling mountains and the bushes. I was tried, gingery and thirsty. We thought it was a child’s play. After an hour walk, I was tired and said I wasn’t going again. Meanwhile a car carrying some persons was Making its way up the mountain. We begged the drive to come and pick us later. He agreed. Because I was already tired, I refused to continue walking. I stayed back on a side of the mountain with some of the ladies waiting for the car to come pick us up.

My older colleagues decided to continue walking. They thought it was just a stone throw walk. Little did they know they were in for the walk of a life time. The car came and picked us up and made it way up the mountain. After we arrived and told our ordeals, our colleagues had great pity for us. The other of my colleagues who decided to walk up the mountain arrived two hours later. They walked for over three hours from where the car stopped to the top of the mouth. What a bizarre experience. By the time they got up the mountain too, they were knackered and speechless. It was a story we couldn’t finish telling in a long while.

Did you for once regret going for that journey, tell us about your opinion.

Yes, I did. It was supposed to be a conference and a tourist attraction sight but the frustration we passed through took away every joy we had in going to that meeting.

Infact as of the time we went to the ranch, the ranch was already delapidated. The management has mismanaged the tourist attraction site that there was nothing to write home about the place. All the things that made the ranch exciting like the electronic cable cars, horse rides and all the recreational activities, none was working anymore.

They said the ranch was once being managed by white men but since they handed over to Nigerians, the whole place spiraled downwards. There was nothing to write home about it. We didn’t get the experience we wanted and yet had a terrible journey. The journey back wasn’t as terrible as the going but the trauma of that experience has stuck with me.

Tell us what made you went for that travel, Did you achieve it?

We went for a conference and also for tourist attraction purposes. We held the conference but the other fun side of the meeting was not achieved because of the reasons I stated earlier. It wasn’t all a flop because half bread it better than none.

Anyways I was glad that I visited the obudu cattle ranch even though it wasn’t when it was still in its full glory but I had the experience and I have an idea what it is like. The memories of the travel has been etched in my mind and may not be going away any time soonest. So far so good, it stands as my worst travel experience.

I do not hope to have another. Thank you for reading through, what do you think about all the ordeal I passed through? I ask @ugoesther, @bessie20 and @kidi40 to contribute their thoughts about this narrative of my worst travel experience.