Bare granite domes push up through the green around Akure, grey rock shoulders rising over rust-red roofs. In the old center the ground flattens around Deji's Palace, whose courtyards once hosted oaths and naming ceremonies, while traders fill the stalls of Oja Oba next door. A short drive away, Idanre Hill holds an old town above the plain.
Students crowd the roads near the Federal University of Technology, and lunch is often pounded yam with efo riro. Rain falls most of the year, peaking in September and easing from December to early February. A Local Friend can sit you down at a small canteen you would never have spotted, where the yam is pounded fresh.
