Ghana, formerly the Gold Coast, is located on the west coast of Africa bordering the Gulf of Guinea between Cote D’Ivoire and Togo.  It is more or less the same size as Britain with a population of 20 million and being a former British colony the official language is English, unlike the rest of Francophone West Africa.

The country's warm, humid climate has an annual mean temperature between 26°C and 32°C.  The northeastern, harmattan winds blow from December to March and reduce visibility to less than one kilometre, so photographers should avoid this time of the year!  Rain generally falls during the European summer months of April to September, peaking in May and June. 

It is highly reputed as the first sub-Saharan African country to establish trade links with Europe in the 15th century and the first sub-Saharan Africa country to attain independence from its colonial masters, the British, in 1957.

Well endowed with natural resources, Ghana has roughly twice the per capita output of the poorer countries in West Africa.

For the traveller, Ghana is that latter-day unknown, unexplored and certainly an unexploited tourism destination, which abounds in an unbelievable array of striking attractions, distinctive and peculiar to each of the ten regions in Ghana.

CULTURAL TOURISM
It is a cultural paradise where the visitor is at once charmed by the warm hospitality of its people and by the rich diversity of cultural attractions such as the numerous colourful traditional festivals, the institution of chieftaincy, the rich Kente and gold regalia, the rhythm of the traditional drums and dances, the artefacts and the food among others.

In the region surrounding Kumasi are four settlements known as the craft villages. They are the towns of Ahwiaa, Ntonso, Kurofuforum, and Bonwire, and their inhabitants have been the royal artisans for the Asantehene for generations.

Each craft village has a particular claim to artistic fame. Bonwire is the capital of the Kente cloth, while Ntonso boasts the Adinkra cloth. Ahwiaa produces outstanding carved figures, including Ghana's traditional fertility doll, and Kurofuforum specializes in the casting of brass.

The capital city Accra, is an excellent place to meet locals and buy native Ghanaian art and craftwork, especially at the Arts Centre. Visitors here can find practically anything: sculptures, game-skin drums, exotic beads, and superb examples of the colourfully expressive Kente cloth. The Makola Market, also abundant in goods and bargains, is a fine place to experience a true West African bazaar.

HERITAGE TOURISM
Ghana's role as a focus of the gold, ivory, and slave trade resulted in the construction of an entire string of colonial forts along its coastline, and many remain as picturesque legacies of that era. The forts at Dixcove, Elmina, Cape Cove, and Apam are all open to tourists, and some even offer accommodation and meals. While the forts are reason enough to tour the coast, the area's outstanding beaches are an equally compelling attraction.

The relics of European trading posts or forts and castles that dot its 540 km coastline, declared World Heritage Monuments by UNESCO, attract visitors from far and wide. Most of the slaves that were exiled to America and the Caribbean came from the West Coast of Africa.  Ghana was part of the ‘Slave Route’.  The preservation of the forts and castles used in the slave trade provide visitors with meaningful insights into one of humanity’s saddest chapters, whilst at the same time serving as memorials to those who suffered. 

NATURE / ECOLOGY TOURISM
Lovers of nature will be enthralled by the offers of Ghana’s wildlife resources. An encounter with a live crocodile at Paga, a close view of hippos at Wechiau, teeming wildlife at Mole National Park, an exciting encounter with Colobus and Mona monkeys at Baobeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary, birds and butterfly viewing in the forests and a rare adventure at Kakum National Park…. These are must-sees for the visitor.

Ghana consists of two major ecological zones – the closed forest (high forest or closed canopy forest) zone and the savannah zone.  The closed forest zone occupies the southern third of the country and is home to almost two thirds of Ghana’s population.  The savannah zone has open tree canopies, shrubs and distinctive grasses and occupies much of the interior region, covering the northern two thirds of the country.

Ghana is among the top 25 per cent of African countries with a large number of mammals and birds. The country also provides sanctuary to many species listed as internationally threatened with extinction. These include 34 plants, 13 mammals, eight birds and two reptiles as well as some endemic species.

Ghana has 222 different species of mammals and 725 birds, about four times as many as in the United Kingdom, a country of similar size.

The mammal list of Ghana comprises 13 different primate species, two kinds of elephant, 15 types of antelope, 14 different bats and even manatee.  Elephant are abundant in Mole National Park where visitors can walk up reasonably close to them.  Lions are almost extinct but lucky visitors may spot them in Mole. Ghana’s diverse range of primates is one of the country’s eco-treasures. Ghana boasts a large number of endemic bat species.

The total bird list for Ghana is 725 or so species of which 494 are known or thought to be resident and 176 are regular seasonal migrants, including 100 from the Palaearctic.  There are no endemic species in Ghana.  Africa has approximately 2300 species so this is a sizeable number for a country that only occupies 1.25% of Africa’s landmass.

Ghana has plenty of bugs – an entomologists delight!  It is home to the biggest bug in the world – the Goliath Beetle, one of the largest of all scarab beetles.  Goliathus beetles are so large that when in flight they actually sound like tiny helicopters.  Madagascar and Ghana are the two premier countries to see the jewelled scarab beetles.  Ghana is also home to the largest scorpion in the world, the Emperor Scorpion weighing about the same as a hard boiled egg with a length of over 20 cm. Emperor scorpions are impressive animals yet despite their size they are docile creatures with a weak venom which usually only causes minor localised reactions. 

It is only in the last decade that tourists have discovered Ghana as one of the best places in the world to observe large butterfly populations. About one in eight butterfly species in the Upper Guinea region is endemic.  They range in size from little Blues of 2cm to giant Swallowtails of 20cm.  There are over 850 species of butterflies in Ghana.  Within Kakum alone there are more different species than in all of Europe.   Bobiri is home to four hundred species of butterfly including shimmering blue, green and purple Euphaedras, the stunning Lilac Beauty and the curiously named Morose Sailor!

Ghana has over 200 species of tropical hardwood of which 72 are exploited in timber operations.  One of the best places to see the forest giants is at Kakum National Park where there are trees towering over 60 metres.  It is common to see lorries on the road loaded with massive trunks and logs destined for the sawmills and ports for export to the First World.  Baobabs are found in the north as well as outside Accra in the Shai Hills.

Ghana is blessed with a climate conducive to the growth of numerous species of tropical fruits, nuts, cocoa, coffee and other such staples in the Ghanaian diet.  Ghana is the world’s third largest cocoa producer and Ghanaian chocolate is world renowned for its quality.  Tourists can visit the cocoa farms and factory as well as the chocolate factory in Tema, just outside Accra.

Lake Volta is the world's largest artificial lake with a length of 400 km’s and a shoreline measuring almost 5000km.  The first president of Ghana, the late President Nkrumah believed its construction would help Ghana’s economic development. 

Places of Interest

• Wli waterfalls and Mount Afadjato in the Volta region – highest waterfall in West Africa, located on the Togo border in the east.  Mount Afadjato is Ghana’s highest peak with prolific bird and butterfly life.
• Kakum National Park (acclaimed tropical rain forest) Canopy Walkway. The award-winning Kakum canopy walkway, unique in Africa, leads visitors through the treetops of Ghana's Kakum National Park, offering a spectacular, unmatched view of the rainforest ecosystem. The suspended walkway is composed of 1,000 feet of swinging bridge and six tree trunk-perched platforms, which reach heights of 100 metres. The walkway was carefully designed to depend upon trees for support; no nails or bolts were used. Instead, steel cables were carefully wrapped around trunks to provide the necessary stabilization. Kakum received the Conde Nast Ecotourism Award and the British Airways' Tourism for Tomorrow Award in 1998. The walkway has received Ghana's Tourism Attraction of the Year award consistently.
• Castles and Forts - The forts and castles of Ghana form a unique memorial to a pre-colonial period when representatives of European trading companies bartered as equals with African merchants. It was a colourful episode of world history spanning four centuries, from the fifteenth century. The coast of the present day Republic of Ghana is littered with the highest concentration of forts and castles than any other coastline in Africa. Some of the most important ones are Elmina Castle, Cape Coast Castle, Christianborg Castle, Fort Crevecour, James Fort, Axim Fort etc. others were factories or baracoons. For over three hundred years, the slave trade was the main issue in the relation between Africa and Europe. It is not clear how many people were transported out of Africa. Historians have calculated the number to be anywhere between twenty-five million to seventy million, including those who died in the wars and those who perished in the middle passage, as well as those who survived and landed in America. It affected Africa politically, economically, demographically and culturally its impact is still very much with us today.
• Boti Falls - 30m high waterfalls in the Boti Forest Reserve, best seen in the rainy season from June to August.
• Lake Bosomtwi - A beautiful inland lake, which was formed as a result of a meteorite impact rather volcanic.  The surface area is 25 square kilometres and the depth is 90 metres. It is encircled by raggedly mountains and thickly vegetated crater walls with an altitude of over 600 metres.  Boating, cycling, walking, swimming and are all popular activities.  A pretty and convenient base from which to visit Kumasi and its craft villages.
• Larabanga Mosque – The Larabanga mosque is one of the oldest mosques in West Africa and is the oldest mosque in Ghana. It was supposedly established in 1421.  It is built from mud in a style similar to the Grand Mosque in Djenne (Mali).
• Mole National Park – Ghana’s largest national park (4840km2) situated in the heart of Guinea savannah woodland ecosystem. It has the greatest variety of game in Ghana and is home to 93 mammalian species, 33 reptiles nine amphibians and an estimated 300 birds species.
• Baobeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary (Brong Ahafo region) A highlight for any primate lover.  More than 400 Mona monkeys live in troops of 15 – 50 animals in and around the two villages.  The 200 or so black and white Colobus monkeys are seen in the surrounding forest.  The villagers regard the monkeys as sacred and it is illegal to hunt the monkeys within a 5km zone of the villages.  When a monkey dies it is given a formal burial and funeral service by the villagers. Visitors may visit the monkey cemetery and the local fetish priest.
• Makola Market in Accra is one of the continent's most colourful. It is very big and very busy.  The powerful women who run this market, sit under huge straw hats, with babies strapped to their backs, behind piles of tomatoes, yams, beans, plantains, peanuts and rice and basins of dried fish or meat.  You can buy anything from fresh medicine, tools, clothes, shoes, pots and pans.  This place is good for the soul as its energy and humour will recharge your batteries.  
• Paga Crocodile Ponds at Bolgatanga – Locals buy live chickens and feed them to the sacred crocodiles and their children ride on the crocodile’s backs!
• Accra Highlights - the National Museum, with its splendid display of exhibits that reflect the heritage of Ghana from prehistoric times to modern times; the National Theatre with its distinctive modern architecture, National Cultural Centre, Independence Square, the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum; the fishing port at James Town and Makola Market.
• Kumasi, the ancient Ashanti capital, Highlights - The Manhyia Palace was built in 1926 and is still in use today.  The palace houses an interesting museum.  Best time to visit is between 1030 and 1300 on Adae festival days, on every sixth Sunday.  The Adae is when the Asanthene receives homage from his subjects, as well as from subservient chiefs – a truly spectacular occasion with a variety of traditional dress on show, great drumming displays, traditional horns blaring and so on.  Dates are pinned on the tourist office notice board in January every year.  Kumasi Fort – where the British troops were trapped for several weeks during the Ashanti Rebellion in 1900.  Oldest building in the city.  British military cemetery lies 200 metres away and contains the graves of the British casualties of the Yaa Asantewaa War.  Kejetia Market is reputedly the largest open market in West Africa.  10 000 traders operate within this 12- hectare market and sell everything from clothing to food to building supplies, metal etc.
• A night in the old Portuguese fort (Metal Cross) at Dixcove on the coast in Ghana’s western region.  A compact settlement of run-down alleys and crumbling colonial era buildings.  For over two centuries Dixcove Fort was the only British property on the Dutch controlled part of what is now the Ghanaian coast and is said to have survived more attacks than any other fortress on the Gold Coast.
• Aburi Botanical Gardens – founded by the British in 1890, an hours’ drive from Accra, its lush scenic setting with 65 hectares of exotic and indigenous trees is a welcome retreat from the bustle of Accra.  The nearby Aburi Market is an excellent place to buy curios and West African artefacts.   Ghana is the world’s third largest producer of cocoa and the first cocoa farm in Ghana is also close by.

AKWAABA! Welcome to Africa’s friendliest country for a golden experience!

Up coming events:

• 2007 - 50th Anniversary of Ghana’s Independence and 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, ‘The Joseph Project’ – Ghana reaches out to the Diaspora.
• 2007 - PANAFEST (Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival) and EMANCIPATION DAY CELEBRATIONS
• 2008 - Hosting of Africa Cup of Nations 2008

Ghana Tourism
P O Box GP 4386
Tesano Nsawam
Road Accra
Ghana

Tel: +233 21 666 314
Fax: +233 21 666 182

website: www.ghanatourism.gov.gh