Went on a weekend trip with some family to Idanre. Idanre is an ancient town located in Ondo State in the South west of Nigeria. My family originally comes from there.
Idanre is surrounded by hills and its people used to live up in the hills for over 100 years. Their town was fortified on the hills during wars and they lived there until they migrated down to the valleys after the death of a king. Up on the hills you will still find remains of their early settlement which includes; schools, a palace, and mud-houses. This settlement 3000ft above sea level is called ‘Oke Idanre’. Today many festivals are held up there.
According to our guide that day, it takes a days trip to get to the old town; to make it up there we had to be at the foot at 7AM…We got to the foot of the hill at 12pm, so seeing the old town was not an option. Did you see some of the camping tents I saw along our climb…Fancy camping out there?
It took us 660 steps to get up the hill. There were resting points along and the views were breathtaking; littered between the hills were brown roof tops in the town and the higher we climbed the smaller they became. Of course I had to jump at the top! 😀
This is one of Nigeria’s treasures…so much income can be generated from tourism if managed the right way. I hear it is listed as a UNESCO heritage site. May be one day I will return and be at the foot at 7AM to make it up to the old town…It was beautiful, and if you fancy seeing a magical foot print(Aboogun Footprint) that shrinks to fit everyone’s size except witches or the supposed ‘Noah’s Ark’ you should too…haha!
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