Arinta Waterfall in Ekiti State offers exciting time to visitors wishing to savour the grandeur of nature

Ipole-Iloro Ekiti is a sleepy but fascinating rural community. Surrounding the rural settlement are alluring mountains, thick green forest and flowing rivers. It however seems that the most appealing element, tucked in the community, is Arinta Waterfall.

The waterfall located in Ekiti West Local Government area of Ekiti State has long steep valley, rolling ridges, tall trees and green bushes, striking insects, birds including a mass of water gushing against the rocks. The site provides visitors with refreshing touch of nature.

It also offers tourists beautiful sight and sound. Visitors to the community begin to savour the splendour of the waterfall from the road leading to the fall from Ipole-Iloro. 

 From the slope, one can see the wonder of nature as fresh water rushes along the rocky channel.  It takes less than four minutes to walk to the foot of Arinta Waterfall.

The Arinta Waterfall is 6km North-West of Ikogosi. It is accessible only through a secondary road from the Ikogosi warm spring.  The chilly feel of the fall could be felt about 10 metres away.

 The waterfall, apart from being a tourist attraction, is also a source of water supply to the people of Ipole-Iloro Ekiti. The Ipole-Iloro Ekiti Water Treatment is situated about 200metres from the waterfall.

A research conducted by an unnamed Afro-American indicated that the water fall could generate electricity (Hydro-electric power). But from all indications, it is glaring that the economic potential of the waterfall has not been fully explored.

Commenting on the history of the waterfall, the Olupole of Ipole-Iloro Ekiti, Oba Babatola Oladele, said, “Ipole-Iloro was founded in the 14th Century by Oba Alapa-Ajalorun, a grandchild of Oduduwa. We met the water here. When our forefathers were coming from Ile-Ife, they resolved to settle close to the water source so as to have water for drinking and domestic use

What is mysterious about the Ikogosi Warm Spring

In the heart of Ikogosi, a small, quiet town with rich, local customs, in the Western part of Ekiti State (Ekiti Tourism Corridor), lies a warm spring which has now catapulted Ikogosi-Ekiti to national and international limelight.

What is mysterious about the Ikogosi Warm Spring is the fact that, flowing side by side the warm spring, is another spring, a cold one. According to experts, it is a geological wonder to have such occurrence out of the same rock formation and this Ekiti flagship tourist destination is said to be the only one of its kind discovered anywhere in the world. The warm and cold springs of Ikogosi originate from a close proximity, come to a meeting point, and flow onward together with each spring retaining its thermal identity. It represents another uniqueness and is the first of such occurrence in the world. The warm spring has a temperature of up to 70oC at the source and 37oC after meeting the cold spring. The meeting point of the warm and cold springs is a unique attraction to tourists.

The springs sprout out and flow with a constant temperature and volume up to 150 litres/seconds from morning till night, at all seasons, all-year round. The whole environment of the spring has been deliberately left untampered with, for eco-tourism appeal while the source of the warm spring has been provided with a viewing structure for easy spotting by tourists. Strangely also, there is a tree and a palm growing from the same source at the meeting point area of the warm and cold springs. A wonderful work of Mother Nature!

here are a few legends surrounding the origin and discovery of the Warm Spring and have been passed down generations for centuries. One such myth says that the warm and cold springs were the two wives of a great hunter. One of his wives was said to be temperamental while the other was a quiet woman. One day, the two wives had a fight and after being rebuked by their husband, the temperamental wife changed to the warm spring while the quiet one turned to the cold spring.

Another legend has it that a powerful hunter, while hunting for animals in the forest, first found the warm spring. After the discovery, he went to town with the story and the townspeople on learning about curative powers of the spring, started to worship the spring.
Whatever is the true situation remains to be found out as the story of the Ikogosi Warm Spring is told elsewhere and nothing might be compared to taking a trip to this serenity place to see things for oneself.