Olumirin Waterfall, also known as Erin Ijesha Waterfall, can be found in the center of Erin-Ijesha, a peaceful town in Osun State, Nigeria. Every year, more than 30,000 people from all over the world visit the amazing waterfall.
Erin Ijesha waterfall sees more visitors than usual during the popular Osun-Osogbo festival celebration. After the festival, the majority of visitors stop at the waterfall to experience its natural beauty.
The entrance fee to Erin Ijesha waterfall is N500 and does not include the fee for a guide. The seven layers of Olumirin Waterfall are arranged in a way that is both artistic and beautiful. Water flows between the rocks and then crashes to the bottom with a loud roar. Tourists are always taken aback by the way the waterfall’s cascading waters blend into its idyllic natural setting.
Rock climbing is yet another thrilling aspect of visiting the Erin Ijesha waterfall. The irresistible beauty and perfection of each of the seven layers convinces one that nature is life.
According to Erin Ijesha’s history, Akinla, the town’s founder and daughter of Oduduwa, discovered the waterfall in 1140 during the natives’ migration from Ile-Ife to their current location. The Olumirin waterfall is sacred to the locals and serves as a spiritual, physical, and mental cleanser.
The incomparable Akinla was the main little girl and a princess of Oduduwa, father of the Yorubas, who left Ile-Ife in the twelfth 100 years during the wild years that saw the dispersal of all main beneficiaries and beneficiaries of Oduduwa.
According to oral tradition, a disagreement regarding the custody of a religious symbol known as Iro, a Yoruba goddess of fertility and procreation who Oduduwa used to pray for his children, led to the establishment of Erin. At Ile-Ife, a disagreement about who should be in charge of the religious effigy and emblem known as “Iro” turned nearly violent.
This took place at a time when Oduduwa was too old to physically manage his kingdom anymore. Princess Akinla, Oduduwa’s only daughter and eldest child, claimed exclusive custody during this conflict.
She was forced to leave Ile-Ife with a group of loyalists to a place where she could live in relative peace because of the quarrel that ensued. The gathering originally settled at a spot called Ugbo-Oja, which can be tracked down today at Iperindo/Odo region in the present-day Atakunmosa East Nearby Government Area of Osun State. They discovered that due to a lack of water, they could not remain at “Ugbo-Oja” for an extended period of time.
As a result, they continued their search in the direction of the north in order to locate a more favorable location where they could settle, particularly one with easy access to water. They found a constant waterfall from the hills after a long search that initially gave the group an eerie and terrifying image; They called it “Olumirin or Oluwa miran,” which means “another goddess,” because people were amazed by this kind of “mystery.” They eventually settled there and began to worship it as a different goddess than Iro. It is accepted that the cascade brings assurance, downpour, immaculateness of psyche and soul, and independence from infections.
From the time Princess Akinla and her group left Ile-Ife, they traveled for seventeen days through thick forest and mountainous terrain in search of a new settlement and the new home of the waterfalls, Olumirin. Because of this, the new home was given the name “Erin-Itadogun,” which comes from the Yoruba word for “seventeenth day trek,” “irin Itadogun.” Erin-Itadogun, which is now Erin-Ijesa, was established around 1140 AD.
Since the Erin Ijesha Waterfalls are still one of Nigeria’s top tourist attractions, no tour of Nigeria is complete without a stop at them.