Exploring Idanre’s Ancient Hilltop City

In a quiet town in Ondo State, a massive granite hill has been standing for over 500 million years. But what makes Idanre Hill remarkable is not just its age. It once carried an entire city on its bac...

Idanre Hills

Getting there
The road into Idanre looks very ordinary at first. Flat stretches of farmland, scattered houses, then suddenly the hills appear, rising around you. Everywhere you look, there is rock.

For centuries, people lived on those hills. The ancestors of the Idanre people built a community there and remained for nearly 800 years before moving down to the plains in the year 1923, when life became more modern and accessible below. But the old settlement remains above, almost frozen in time.

The journey begins beneath the Iraye tree, an ancient tree that marks the entrance to Ibi Akaso, the famous stairs leading up the hill. Not far in, the climb still feels manageable. That is part of Idanre’s trick.

By around step 75, you reach the first resting point and realise the town below already looks smaller than you expected. There’s an old bar carved into the rock here. It no longer serves drinks, but the chairs still remain there.

As you continue climbing, the steps become less predictable. Some are smooth concrete, others uneven stone. During the rainy season, they can be slippery; under the dry season sun, they seem to absorb heat.

Around step 222, you reach Dagunro, which was once the gathering point for warriors defending the settlement above. Standing there, surrounded by rock with endless greenery stretching below, it becomes easier to understand why generations chose to build their lives here.

Then comes the point where your legs begin to feel it. Around step 361, the climb is steeper. You start feeling your muscles strain, and for some people, thirst for water kicks in.

But somewhere near step 473, you arrive at a resting point where the landscape opens up, and Idanre town spreads below, surrounded by the same dramatic hills you’ve been climbing. It is one of those views that makes people stop talking for a moment.

The last stretch is from step 580 to 682. Here, breathing becomes louder, and most people simply focus on putting one foot in front of the other.

Then you arrive at a plateau. And on that plateau sits an entire old city.
There is the Owa’s Palace with separate entrances for the king, the queen, and visitors. A courthouse dating back to the 19th century. St. Paul’s Primary School, established in 1896 and believed to be the first school in Idanre, is still standing on the hilltop. Burial sites. The clear waters of the Arun River flow across open rock, and it is believed by locals to possess healing qualities.

All of it sits roughly 3,000 feet above sea level.

Idanre Hill was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage Tentative List in 2007. Even Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka found inspiration here and wrote one of his most celebrated poems, Idanre, after visiting.
That says something.

Before you climb the stairs