For those still in doubt why Cross River State is the most visited tourism destination in Nigeria, the reasons abound. Of course, the state is not tagged ‘The People’s Paradise’ for nothing. It is truly nature’s paradise.
Apart from hosting 50 percent of the remaining rainforest in Nigeria, and being one of the world’s great biodiversity hotspots, the state has abundant natural and man-made attractions that appeal to diverse visitors. But the attraction, a mysterious one for that matter, which keeps wooing global visitors, especially adventurers and researchers, is the monolith; unique standing stones found in Alok and Ikom, both in the northern Cross River. It takes a visit to discover that while Stonehenge in the UK ranks among the most famous stone sites in the world, the mystery and inscriptions on Alok and Ikom monoliths, Nigeria’s standing stones, have deferred modern interpretation and scientific inquiry.
About 40 kilometres north of Ikom, the popular commercial town, and only 30 km from the border with Cameroon, lies sites in abundance with these standing stones that are worth the feats and allure of Stonehenge in the UK. The monoliths, standing stones or Akwanshi (living among the dead, as the locals call it), are distributed among over 30 communities. In each community, the stones are sometimes found in perfect circles, facing each other and standing erect, except where they have been tampered with by weather or man.
The stones, which stand between 1 and.