This week’s featured UNESCO World Heritage Site is Nigeria’s Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove, the last of the sacred forests of the Yoruba people. Previously, every Yoruba settlement had a sacred grove beside it, decorated with shrines and temples to the many gods and goddesses of the Yoruba religion. Today, only Osun-Osogbo remains.

The grove is said to be sacred to the Yoruba fertility goddess Osun. Adorned with 40 shrines, 2 palaces , sculptures and other sacred artwork, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2005.  Some of the artwork is by Austrian artist Suzanne Wenger, who converted to the Yoruba faith and worked with local devotees to restore the grove and ensure it remains protected.

Every year in August, the sacred grove is the site of a large festival for devotees of Osun and other Yoruba deities.

To enter Nigeria and visit the grove, you do need to apply for  a Nigerian visa in advance, before you leave the US.  Nigeria will not issue you a visa when you arrive at the airport. Here are the steps you will need to take to get your visa:

• Complete a Nigerian visa application form online. A confirmation page will appear once you have submitted the online form. Print the confirmation page.
• Pay the $112 visa application fee online, and print the confirmation form for the payment.
• Submit a copy of a recent bank statement. The statement should show that you have enough money to support yourself while traveling in Nigeria.
• Submit a copy of your round-trip plane tickets along with a hotel confirmation or letter of invitation.
• If you are staying with a private citizen instead of at a hotel, include a copy of your host’s Nigerian passport.

RushMyTravelVisa can make getting a Nigerian visa easier. We walk you through the application process, step by step, and then submit your application for you to the appropriate embassy or consulate for the fastest possible processing.

Apply for your Nigerian visa today!

Tags: Africa, Nigeria, Nigeria visa, Nigerian visa

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 8th, 2010 at 10:44 pm and is filed under World Heritage Site of the Week. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.