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Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove
Osogbo, Osun State, south-west Nigeria
Nigeria
Active (annual Osun-Osogbo festival)
Single grove
- Location
- Osogbo, Osun State, south-west Nigeria
- Coordinates
- ~7.75°N 4.55°E
- Size
- ~75 ha forest + ~47 ha buffer zone
- Age / Founded
- ~Several centuries (Yoruba; UNESCO listed 2005)
- Status
- Active (annual Osun-Osogbo festival)
- Deity & Religion
- Osun (Yoruba river goddess) & Yoruba pantheon; Yoruba traditional religion
- Community & Guardians
- Yoruba (Osogbo people); priests/custodians
- Vernacular name
- Igbó / Oró grove
- Record type
- Single grove
Cultural practices & uses
Festival, worship, shrines, sculptures; tourism; taboos (no farming/hunting/fishing/felling)
Plant species
Mature riparian rainforest (UNESCO last virgin high forest of its kind)
Biome & fauna
Lowland tropical rainforest along Osun River
Threats & protection
UNESCO World Heritage Site; traditional taboos potent vs encroachment
Source
Adeyemi & Oyinloye 2020, Plant 8(1):1-9; Adeyanju 2020 (UBC MSc thesis)