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Tourism is becoming one of the most popular industries the world over which
every country cannot afford to neglect.
Its economic power The Government is now identifying tourism centres, developing the centres and equally enlightening the world on many of the various traditional festivals that enriches the Yoruba culture and make Ondo State a melting pot of various expositions of our life, faith, norms and taboos. TOURISM OBJECTIVES: 1. To open the state's rich historical endowment for the rest of the world to appreciate. 2. To generate both foreign exchange earnings and internal revenues 3. To generate employment 4. To encourage even development of Tourism based rural enterprises through private - sector participation. 5. To accelerate rural-Urban integration and cultural exchange. 6. To preserve our cultural heritage and historical monuments.
7.
To create and supervise Local
Government Tourism Committee. To supervise and register Hotel, Motels,
Restaurants, rental and all allied Hospitality Industry in the State. FESTIVALSOGUN FESTIVALOgun the god of smithy and lord of Iron is celebrated annually in almost every town and villages in the state. The celebration is an annual remembrance and worship of the god of Iron who was believed to be a hunter who migrated from Ile-lfe to Ire-Ekiti on game search, but he ended up living permanently at Ire-Ekiti and disappeared into the ground when some people of the town deceived him with an empty keg of palm wine. He beheaded all of them with his cutlass according to oral history and disappeared into the ground. In Ire-Ekiti, the main festival in remembrance of the deity comes biennially and usually during the month of August. Ogun is believed to be the god of all those using Iron in their professional work therefore; the deity must be worshipped in order to receive his favour. Ondo Town equally worships Ogun deity. In fact Ekimogun festival is fast assuming the status of a key festival of national interest. And in many towns and villages in the State, ogun festival is usually accorded with masquerades of different designs. During the festival the people also worship their ancestors and with the believe that the ancestors are on earth again to greet, inspect and bless their siblings. These masquerades are regarded as imitations of the ancestors. Dogs, Palm oil, Roasted yam, Palm wine, Cold water and cola nuts are the materials used by Ogun devotees to worship the deity. OBITUNObitun is a bridal dance in Ondo Town. This dancing ceremony is supposed to be performed for every maiden in the town before she gets married. The people believe that if the ceremony is not performed for any particular girl, she might end up being childless. However, these days, very few families do perform these ceremonies for their daughters.
OROSUN FESTIVAL, IDANREAccording to oral tradition, Orosun was a woman and that she was one of the wives of Olofin Aremitan. When Olofin left Ife and got to Ipetu Ijesha where he stayed briefly, he met Orosun who was said to be very beautiful. Aremitan married her at Ipetu. After some years Aremitan left for Oke-Idanre which he founded. Because of the strong tie between Olofin and Orosun she came to Idanre where she was welcomed to the palace. She stayed in the palace for many years but unfortunately, her marriage was not blessed with any issue. Her position in the palace was enviable. She was held in high esteem by the King to the annoyance of other wives. This developed into a domestic intrigue and Orosun fled the palace and entered into a cave near the present Orosun Hill. The people of Idanre decided thereafter to appease her in exchange for fertility, peace, progress and health. She is worshipped every year. The festival is performed on 15th May of every year.
IGOGO FESTIVAL, OWOThis is an annual festival in Owo which lasts a total of 17 days featuring a number of ceremonies including the blessing and release of new yams. During the period of celebration, drumming is banned in Owo and instead, metal gongs (Agogo) are used. This was where the name 'IGOGO' was coined. The Olowo, who during the festival usually dresses in Coral Beaded Crown, plaits his hair like a woman with Olowo's dressing. It could be seen here that Owo has some traditional linkage with Benin. The Olowo leads his people including the Chief Priest and the male youths from Iloro quarters to dance round the whole town it comes up in September annually.
OLOKUN, IGBOKODAThis is an annual worship of the Olokun deity who is the goddess of river and seas. The goddess is held in high esteem among the people of riverine areas of the state. This is because the deity has jurisdiction over nearly every important aspect of power to give children to barren women. She is also believed to be in control of ocean waves and could capsize, at will, boats of riches; she is believed to have the power to enrich her devotees. LIST OF MAJOR TOURIST CENTRES IN ONDO STATE(a)
Idanre Hills - Idanre
IDANRE HILLS RESORT CENTRE, IDANREThe historic Idanre Hills are another marvelous Tourist attractions in the State. Idanre Town, the location of these hills is about 24 kilometres southwest of Akure the state capital. The town is divided into viz, the new settlement which is at the foot of the hills and Oke- Idanre the old settlements on the top of the hills. There is the hill top sanctuary of Idanre, which consists of about 640 steps. These had necessitated, in addition, the construction of five resting posts along the steps to the top. At the top of the hill, there is an intriguing footprint, which is widely believed to enlarge or contract to accommodate every foot. It is as well believed that anybody whose foot does not exactly fit into the footprint is considered to be a witch or a wizard. The cultural relics in term of gods, goddesses and traditional arts can still be seen in addition to the old palace built around the 17th century. The panoramic view of the new Idanre never fails to fascinate first time visitors.
EBOMI LAKE, IPESI - AKOKOEbomi Lake is located at Ipesi in Akoko South West Local Government. The length of the lake is about 1.6km and 40 meters wide. This lake is referred to as the bottomless lake. It is between Edo and Ondo States. The people of Ipesi, according to oral history, met Ebomi Lake at Ipesi. The word Ebomi is an adulteration of a Yoruba word ABAMI which literarily means mysterious. The lake, according to the villagers, has spiritual and guiding power for protecting the villagers during wars. The lake has unseen soldiers (according to oral history) that fight wars for Ipesi people. The lake's deities give the villagers different gifts like fish, children and fowls. Economically, the lake is very viable especially to farmers in the village. It also encourages irrigation in the area. Apart from this the villagers fish on the lake. To encourage them however, the Akoko South West Local Government bought a flying boat on the lake. There is a special priest for the lake charge with the responsibility of appeasing it in time of trouble and for general protection of the town.
OKE MARIA, OKA - AKOKOThe Oke Maria, Oka Hills provide attractive scenery for visitors and tourists to the area. Oka town is located North-East of Akure, state capital. It is in Akoko South-West Local Government it is about 113 kilometers away. The Roman Catholic Mission had occupied one of these hills for sometime now. This hill is labelled St. Mary's Hill and there is a Catholic Shrine dedicated to virgin Mary. A statue of the virgin Mary is conspicuously erected on the top of the hill. Christians of different denominations visit this resort centre in the second week of February every year. Over 500,000 pilgrims visit this centre yearly. This St. Mary's hill was spotted in 1916 by Rev. Father Cerminath. This beautiful virgin Mary statue was donated by the family of Dr. Olivomi
IGBOKODA WATER FRONT, IGBOKODAIgbokoda Water Front is another important tourist Centre in Ondo State. This is situated in Ilaje Local Government Area. It is one m-the longest territorial water in Nigeria. At this water front, however, there is a fishing terminal which would definitely interest tourists.
OWO MUSEUM OF ANTIQUITIES, OWO Located in the front of Olowo's Palace, the building houses a number of sculptures excavated at Egberen Street in 1971, by Dr. Ekpo Eyo. The sculptures show strong affinity with the naturalistic art of classical Ife, but have emphasis which relate also to Benin. ALAGBAKA CENOTAPH, AKUREAlagbaka Cenotaph is located at the front of the Ondo State Cultural Centre. The statue is that of an unknown soldier. The cenotaph tells Tourists on how Nigerians respect and shower love and care on their fallen heroes especially in the two world wars and Nigerian Civil War. The ceremony accorded this is performed in January 29th of every year.
CAVE OF ASHES, ISHARUNIsharun - Ile Owuro twenty-four kilometers of Akure, the state capital and lying between Igbara-Oke and Ilara-Mokin in Ifedore Local Government Area. It is the cradle of the West Africa's oldest pre-historic man. Some kilometers north of Isharun lies the ancient cave of ashes which was acclaimed as the original home of the people of Isharun, and from where the skeleton of the oldest pre-historic man was excavated in 1016 by Professor Thurstan Shaw, an archeologist from the University of Ibadan, following a directive from the Nigerian Antiquities Commission. At the end of the classification and analysis of the skeleton of the man excavated from the Cave of Ashes, the radio-carbon dated the skeleton as 9991 years old now having lived at about 8,000BC. Also found at the Cave of Ashes were fragments of pots and grinding stone dated back to 1,000 BC. Parts of the skeleton of the man of Cave of Ashes are kept at the University of Ibadan and Owo Museum of Antiquities while a cast of the skull is in the British Museum of Natural History in South Kensington, United Kingdom. The man of the Cave of Ashes confirmed the theory that man lived in West Africa before the Neolithic period i.e before man started to settle in village groups. Cave of Ashes has had an invaluable impact on the growth of West African historiography and it is indeed a tourist potential in Ondo State in particular and Nigeria in general.
The palace of Deji of Akure has been declared the second National Monument in Ondo State by the Federal Government. The mighty palace located in the heart of Akure, the state capital now contained eighteen court-yards namely: Uha lila, Uha ajukoto, Uha Ogoga, Uha Mese, Uha Ibura, Uha ado Aya, Uha agboro, Uha Agaba, Uha Layo, Uha Leke, Uha awa Gun, Uha Jimifonnun" Uha Ikomo, Uha ado lie, Uha Orile, Ula Agbeto, Uha Ori Ojuto, Uha Ogoro. Each of the court-yard is used for specific ceremony or for the living of the Oba's household. For example 'Uha lila' is used for ceremonial occasion such as reception for important dignitaries while 'Uha Ojukoto' is used for the installation of chiefs and Uha Ibura' for oath-taking. It is interesting to note that the massive palace were knowledgeable in, what is described as, the art of modern landscaping, because each of the ground floor of courtyards is higher than the other, allowing the free flow of the rain-water from one courtyard to the other, and finally emptying itself into the main courtyard, known as 'Ua Nla', and from there to the city's main drainage system. The Unique drainage system of the massive Palace has prevented the collapse of the walls of the courtyards unlike other Palaces in --Yoruba land, whose courtyards lacked proper drainage system thereby resulting into water-logged courtyards and basement of the walls after any drainage. There are three main entrances to the main Courtyard, 'Ua Nla' facing the main road; one for the males, one for the females, while the central one is for the Royalty i.e. the Oba. The egungun festival is a very popular one in Akure wherein masquerades considered to be spirits of dead ancestors entertain the people.
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