Being a lover of ancient art and artifacts, the osun-osogbo sacred groove is definitely one of my favourite places to visit.  Sadly I missed the annual  festival, so planned a trip with a couple of friends and let’s just say it was worth it, The groove is located in western Nigeria within osun state surrounded by medicinal trees, shrines, idols and monkeys.

Arrival

We arrived at the groove at noon on a Wednesday to prevent meeting a crowd, at the entrance we were asked to pay an entry fee of 200 naira and also a 1000 fee for either our camera or camera phone after which we were handed over to a tour guide.

Statues, gods and goddess

Our tour began on the spot because believe it or not, every area of the groove is covered with meaningful art.   Firstly we were taken to a wall that have these awesome statues of masquerades and drummers that play important roles in the osun festival. The wall also has a statue like description of what goes on during the annual osun goddess festival. We then went further to another part of the groove that had the Ifa shrine, the osun goddess, and esu.  Along the way we came across a large number of monkeys, one of which is believed to have been in the groove for over 15 years and get this, the monkeys will stalk you if you pass by them without showing them the contents of your bag.

The suspended bridge

Just above the Osun River is the suspended bridge that I and my tour compadres fearlessly went on to get my readers the full groove experience.

Susanne Wenger (also known as Adunni Olorisha)

She is the late Austrian Artist who became the Osun river goddess high priestess and also the guardian of the groove. She is responsible for most of the statues and artifacts that are housed by the groove.

Conclusion

Visiting the groove was very insightful so it is not surprising that it is a UNESCO heritage site.

The cost of visiting the groove is relatively affordable plus you get a tour guide with no extra cost, more reason this should not be your next travel location.

For visitors coming from far you can check websites like hotels.ng and jumiatravel.com to book for hotels nearby.

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more photos from my trip;