IGBO OLODUMARE

IGBO OLODUMARE

 

Myself and baba onirungbon yeuke

igbo olodumare village

vegetation on the rock

aafin ogbolu-osin of igbo olodumare

FAFUNWA MEMORIAL HIGH SCHOOL,IGBO OLODUMARE

My arrival into the thick jungle of igbo olodumare located in oke-igbo,ile oluji local government of ondo state was a dream come true.Days ahead of my trip,I had several sleepless nights pondering over the thought of what i am likely to encounter more-so i couldn't lay my hands on much materials about this destination as very little is published about it on the internet.Many questions kept my eyes wide opened and heart beating fast; are there really demons in this forest?, Will I ever get to see one?,what if I do; what will be the outcome?, Can snails really be bigger than tortoise? hmmmmm... Endlessly the questions kept coming but the only place that hold the answers to my questions is OKE –LANGBODO.

Igbo oludumare brought to my consciousness the mysteries that nature has to offer.The mysterious beauty of the landscape captivated my soul. ooohhhh what a beautiful place to be,the thought of the cool breeze and shades of trees which protected us from the sun still takes me back there in spirit.
On arrival, we headed straight to the bale's house(residence of the village chief) who unfortunately was not in town,so we were directed to see the OLU-ODE(Head hunter) an elderly man who asked us about our mission .He asked in yoruba language 'ki ni e fe lo se ninu igbo awon iwin buburu?' which means what were we going to do in the forest where demons dwell.that definitely sent chills down my spine.we told him our purpose of visit and we were cleared to climb OKE-LANGBODO. we were provided with a tour guard,one mr sunday  who is also the keeper of the sacred hill.

THE JOURNEY

After a few minutes of briefing we headed for OKE –LANGBODO ,the place believed to host a thousand demons,and full of mysteries as illustrated in the popular book of PA D.O FAGUNWA.our journey took us through several bush paths where we met people going about their daily activities,most of which were farmers and local palm oil producers.a further 10 minutes walk from the local palm oil factory marked the iconic beginning of our journey as we came across the following;

OMI EGBERI WESE: A stream believed to hold mystical powers. It flows into a water logged area believed to be where IREKE ONIBUDO was located according to the story. The water is said to possess a strong protective power over its people and the entire village. During special festive seasons the water is sprinkled at the entrances of the village to prevent evil people from entering the village.

    ONA ISALU ORUN:literally Interpreted as the road that leads to heaven, characterized by a T-junction or should I say a Y-junction and a mighty iroko tree referred to as (IROKO OLWERE) which stands unshaken. To the left of the Y-junction is the road to isalu orun and to the right is the road to oke-langbodo (Langbodo Mountain) then the tail end of the Y-Junction leads to Igbo olodumare settlement.as at the time of writing this report i sure was not ready to go take that path to heaven

After about 15min hike through the dense forest and different cocoa farms we arrived at oke langbodo whose entrance lies on the left of our path with a broken brown Iron Gate marking the beginning of about 73 steps which ascends oke-langbodo.

ON THE MOUNTAIN

 APATA ADIMULA: Located directly at the end of the 73 steps on oke-langbodo is apata adimula( a place of prayers). According to the stories the akoni meje namely KAKO, IMODOYE, AKARA OOGUN, EFOYE, OLOHUN IYO, OSOFISAN, and ELEGBDE ODE mustered there. People often come to apata adimula to say their prayers and drop a token in cash as a pledge towards their answered prayers. The total sumwe were told is later collected and used for festival organization 



 BABA ONIRUGBON YEUKE: The mysterious elderly wise man who lives in the rocks of oke langbodo. represented with carved stones, legs crossed, long beards and a long pipe sticking out the mouth all put together depict a true representation of the character as it is in the books. At the feet of this great sculpture lies (ejiogbe)which is used in ifa divination especially by the hunters.

 

  
AGINJU IDAKERORO: A place so silent that you can hear a leaf drop to the ground and a place where verbal communication is forbidden.

 ILE EJOLA IBINU: The home of the mysterious giant snake believed to be so big that it can consume a human being. The snake is reported to be seen once in a year and it appears in august.

 After a long day full of hiking and climbing, I kept wonder about the works of God as revealed in the beauty of nature and how close these mysteries are to us.There is little I can write about igbo olodumare so I will advise you go see for yourself as seeing is believing.