July - September 2017 •
The Lion King
• 61
Travel
though, our sojourn ended at the 5th
level because it was getting late and
too dark to continue the navigation.
DAY 2:
We departed Zenababs for the mag-
nificent Idanre Hills in Ondo state. The
journey from Ilesha to Idanre took
about 2 hours. Like the Erin-Ijesha
experience, the beauty of this natural
landscape can be seen and felt from
miles away. Tipping mountains kissing
the clouds and tall vegetation reach-
ing out to the skies doted the entire
scenery and boy is it beautiful! The
sight is breath-taking!
Our guide led us through the 667 steps
to the top of the hills. There are about
5 resting spots en route. Historians say
these hills served as a refuge for the
people of Idanre during ancient wars
and the hills were named after their
rulers and warriors. The most intrigu-
ing of the hills is named after a queen
(goddess, if you will) called Orosun.
Myth has it that she hides herself in
the cloud in the early hours of the day
because she's believed to be having
her bath. Later in the day, when she's
done with her bathing ritual, the cloud
clears up to reveal the beautiful hills
nested among green vegetation.
There are also bodies of cold water on
the top of the hills. One of them called
Arun water is touted to have amaz-
ing healing powers. We swam in the
water and I must tell you that it was
truly refreshing.
Some of the structures on the hill sug-
We didn't experience this occurrence
as we got to the water sources in the
heavy rain and could only feel the
warm water springing out of the rocks.
Legend has it that the warm and cold
water are the wives of a famed man
and the varying temperatures repre-
sent their different temperaments.
We left after watching some tourists
swim and play in the large swimming
pool but not before we played a bit of
snooker. We headed for our next stop
at the nearby Arinta Falls but it was
closed by the time we got there so
we departed went back to Zenababs
resort, rested, had dinner and still had
a fun night of games before retiring to
bed. We headed back to Lagos the
next day after exploring Ilesha town
for local delicacies, pounded yam
with Egusi soup and Ogufe.
gest it was inhabited by a very active
community in the past. There is a
dilapidated primary school which was
built in 1896, a civil court house, a
prison, mausoleum (where all dead
kings in Idanre are laid-in-state before
burial), market stalls, as well as queens
and staff quarters amongst other relic
buildings.
Next stop was the Ikogosi Warm
Springs in Ekiti state which we linked
via a turning off the Ife-Akure express-
way. Ikogosi warmsprings has a beau-
tiful resort along the central tourist
road leading to Arinta Falls (which was
unfortunately closed when we got
there). The Warm Springs has warm
waters gushing out of the under-
ground spring and cold water spring-
ing out from another point. They even-
tually meet at a point but do not mix.
Ostrich in the aviary at
Zenababs Half Moon Resort
Sleepy Ekiti town
Olumirin falls
Photo Credit: www.ytourafrica.com
Photo Credit: www.ytourafrica.com
Photo Credit: www.ytourafrica.com
