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Iyake Lake is a suspended lake that has been the seven wonders of Nigeria, an ancient site founded since 1500 AD with a lake on top of hill in Ado-Awaye, a town in Oyo State, Nigeria.
This lake is accessible by car from Ibadan or Abeokuta for 119.9 km and located up above the Ado Hills. It can be reached by climbing to the top for 25 minutes.
The beauty of this site is the clean turquois color water and the amount remain the same in every season. It is also carefully maintained, not polluted or damaged, even though there is no human activities around the lake.
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The Beautiful Landscape Surrounding the Lake
The uniqueness of this site is not only from being one of the suspended lakes in the world, but also from the beauty surrounding the site.
To discover the nature’s beauty, the journey starts from the bottom of Ado Hill with a terraced climb of 369 rock steps. On this route, there is Obalufon Cave before reaching the top.
After reaching half the hill, there is amazing views of brown rooftops in Ado-Awaye. There is Ishage Rock on the hill that becomes another site which was previously used for praying, asking for local rain and other wishes as well.
Arriving at the top of the hills, the beauty of Iyake Lake with its legendary myth of the lake really blends in with the surrounding nature.
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The Myth of Iyake Lake
There is a legendary story of Iyake Lake about the goddess of fertility who lives under the lake and another parallel world ruled by her.
The meaning of ‘woman’s cry’ was from the urban legend. It is said by the locals, there is a barren woman from Ota, Ogun State, who was migrated to Oyo and she was mocked by the locals, the committed suicide by falling onto Iyake Lake.
They believed the water from Iyake Lake would cure the barrenness woman if they pray and drink the water
According to the myth, no one knows the depth and measurement of Iyake Lake.