Idanre Town A Scenic Treasure In The Mountains

Idanre is an ancient historic town located on a scenic hilly area. The town is located about 20 km southeast of Akure and is one of the major towns in Idanre Local Government Area of Ondo State in Southwest Nigeria. It falls within latitude 9o8’N and latitude 5o5’ of equator and Greenwich meridian respectively.
The headquarters of the local government area is located in the town of Owena.
The hilly town, which is one of the highest Cocoa producers in Nigeria, was formally called “Ufeke(Ife Oke)”. It is a few kilometers away from Akure, the capital of Ondo state and about 335 kilometres from Lagos. Idanre hill is one of the most awesome and beautiful natural landscapes in Ondo State and Nigeria. Added to its beauty which fires human curiosity is the fact that the entire people of Idanre lived on these boulders for almost a millennium.
Since emigration down hill in 1923, the topography, vegetation as well as the fauna and floral life have remained undistributed. However the festivals provides occasions for reconciliation of the low-landers and their natural environments as well as reenactments or .historical episodes in local Idanre history and its wider Yoruba ideology, mythology and confederacy.
There is the Ogun festival, which is partly celebrated on top of the hills during October and Ije festival, which spread over seven days.
Apart from the festivals, which make the site a living tradition, the flora and fauna of the hills are also unique. There is a special species of tailless animal called Hyrax that lives on the rocks which because of hunting are becoming extinct and there are special monkeys sported near Orosun hills. The town is enclosed by hills that rise up to 3,000ft above sea level, and houses a unique ecosystem upon which the cultural landscape is integrated. The hill is also plays host to a group of scientists and field researchers. The site is home to a group of bats and the people hold a unique festival of bats every year. The hill is being used by filmmakers as location for many of their films. In addition, the one and only Nobel Prize Winner for Literature in Africa Professor Wole Soyinka wrote his longest poem titled "Idanre and other Poems".
It has an area of 1,914 km² and a population of 129,024 at the 2006 census.
The Idanre Cultural landscape has been added to the UNESCO World heritage tentative list


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