The Ikogosi Warm Springs is a tourist attraction located at Ikogosi, a town in Ekiti State, southwestern Nigeria. Flowing abreast the warm spring is another cold spring which meets the warm spring at a confluence, each maintaining its thermal properties. These attributes make the spring a tourist attraction in Nigeria. Research suggests the warm spring has a temperature of about 70°C at the source and 37°C at the confluence.
The history of Ikogosi Warm Springs in Ekiti State, Nigeria, includes the discovery of the springs by an ancient hunter and the establishment of a Baptist Youth Camp, and the development of a tourist resort
The Ikogosi Warm Springs in Nigeria are unique because they are the only known confluence of warm and cold springs in the world. The springs flow side by side, each maintaining its own temperature, and visitors can see them distinctly flowing together for some distance.
What makes the Ikogosi Warm Springs unique?
The warm spring at the source is about 70°C, but cools to about 37°C at the confluence and the cold water comes from a nearby hill. The warm water becomes warmer the deeper it travels underground. If the water is forced to the surface through an earth fault, it emerges as a spring.
The warm and cold springs are distinctly different in color, so visitors can see them flowing side by side. The warm waterbed at the confluence also sparkles.
The Story of The Springs
The gods and deities that most Africans acknowledge today are believed to have once been human beings. These were ordinary people who performed extraordinary feats during their lifetime. Such deities include Ogun, the Yoruba god of Iron, and Sango the Yoruba god of thunder.
Several years ago, there lived a man whose name was Ọ̀gánungánun, a brave hunter who left Lukosi compound of Ìlódè quarters in Ilé Ifẹ̀ (a historical town in Nigeria) on a hunting expedition. This was at a time when so many of his people were leaving Ile Ifè to establish their own towns and villages just like their ancestors did. By the time he got to the area now known as Ikogòsì, there were some of his folks already settled down and living in their little hamlets. It was this brave hunter Ọ̀gánungánun who, on a hunting expedition discovered the unusual phenomenon of warm and cold springs flowing side by side. He then rushed into town to inform his people. These brave people then decided to consult the Ifá Oracle in their bid to unravel the mystery surrounding this unusual phenomenon.
Ifá told them that this was no coincidence, and that it was the deity of the Warm Spring – Aọ̀ – that had propelled Ọ̀gánungánun’s footsteps to this discovery, being a brave hunter and, by extension, a blood relation of the deity during his lifetime too. Thus, was birthed the story of Àọ̀pẹ́ẹ̀rẹ́ Ìjẹ̀.
(Ifa is a West African divination system and religious tradition that originated with the Yoruba people. The term “Ifa” can refer to the deity Orunmila, the divination system itself, or the religious tradition.
The Yoruba consider Orunmila to be the deity of wisdom and intellectual development.)
The Source of the springs
According to the Ifa oracle, Àọ̀pẹ́ẹ̀rẹ́ Ìjẹ̀ was a hunter who left Ilé-Ifè several years ago in the company of his friend named Eléfòṣán and some other brave hunters on a hunting expedition down to the mountainous terrains that would later be known as Ikogòsì.
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