26-Aug-2004 -- Judging from the old Russian military map, the confluence 7N 4E lies on the outskirts of Ijebu Igbo, and as the Nigerian population is increasing, I assumed that it would be in built up area and as such an easy visit.

Several weeks later on 26 August 2004 I was in the area. I travelled from Lagos-Victoria Island to Epe, then to Ijebu Ode, crossed the highway, and then onto Ijebu Igbo. I proceeded through the town and just outside I found a small way, which leads to a very small village called Eriwo, and was as close as 650 meters to the Confluence. There was not much activity going on in this small settlement and I followed a small path more or less in the direction of the Confluence, but the path soon petered out and I found myself in the middle of thick bush. I managed to get as close as 240 meters to the Confluence but then could go no further without a cutlass. I decided to go back to the village and get some help.

Having lost the way in the thick bush it took me a while to get back to the village. At the village there were only a couple of women who were cracking palm kernels. Adeyinka was the only one who could understand a little bit of English. I asked her to follow me and help me to find the Confluence. She obviously did not understand the reasoning for this but was inquisitive enough to join me. At this stage it started to rain but Adeyinka and I left armed with our cutlasses.

I tried to find the previous route but soon lost the path in the thick bush. Now the cutlasses were put into good use and for 200 meters we cut our way through the bush. We got as close as 120 meters to the Confluence and came face to face with a patch of thick rainforest where we could not get any GPS readings but were running around in a circle of about 30 meters. We got out of this forest and found a small path, which we followed for the next 70 meters and arrived at a cleared piece of land. The locals had cleared the bush and had prepared a field to plant cassava. The last 20 meters were also spent in clearing our way with the cutlasses. At 4 pm we were at the Confluence.

The way back to the vehicle was much faster and we followed a small path leading us back to the village. I took a couple of pictures and went back to Lagos. This time I drove at Ijebu Ode onto the highway which led me back to Lagos.