What it is
Dense forest on both banks of the Osun River at the edge of Osogbo, Osun State, with shrines, sanctuaries and large sculptural works in cement and iron. Much of the present sculpture was made from the 1950s onward by the New Sacred Art movement, in which the Austrian artist Susanne Wenger, who took the name Adunni Olorisha, worked alongside Yoruba artists. UNESCO listed it in 2005.
Why go
It is the last substantial intact sacred grove of its kind in Yorubaland and an active place of worship rather than a ruin. The Osun-Osogbo festival runs for two weeks in August and ends with the Arugba, a votary maid, carrying a calabash from the palace to the river, followed by a very large crowd.
When to go
August for the festival, which is crowded and tightly policed and needs accommodation booked months out. Any other month for a quiet walk through the grove with a guide. Osogbo is reached by road from Lagos in around four to five hours, or from Ibadan in two.
Most people stay 1-2 nights.