Ghana: Ten Attractions and Natural Wonders

The Gold Coast

Ghana, on the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, was the first sub-Saharan colony to win independence, in 1957, and takes its name from a medieval empire further north. It is one of the region's most stable and welcoming countries, English- speaking, with a coast of forts and fishing towns, a forested and cocoa-growing middle belt, and a drier savanna north. More than 30 European forts and castles were built along its coast — the grim infrastructure of the transatlantic slave trade, and a place of pilgrimage for the African diaspora.

The ten below run from the coast up through Ashanti country to the northern savanna and the Volta Region. The main dry season (November to March) is the easiest time; and the coast is warm year-round.

1. Cape Coast Castle

Cape Coast Castle, begun by the Swedes in 1653 and expanded by the British, became the headquarters of the English on the Gold Coast, with dungeons that could hold as many as a thousand enslaved people. Guided tours lead through the dark holding dungeons, the "Door of No Return" opening onto the sea, and an affecting museum. Barack Obama, and many diaspora visitors during Ghana's 2019 "Year of Return", have made the same walk.

The town outside is a lively fishing port; the castle and its neighbours are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in 1979.

2. Elmina Castle

Just west of Cape Coast, Elmina (São Jorge da Mina) is the oldest of the forts, raised by Portugal in 1482 to trade gold and later people, then held by the Dutch and the British. Its whitewashed bulk sits above a busy fishing harbour, a chaos of colourful pirogues. Tours cover the dungeons, the church, and the governor's quarters.

The two castles are usually visited together on a day from Cape Coast or Accra.

3. Kakum National Park

Kakum, about 33 kilometres north of Cape Coast, protects a tract of tropical rainforest with forest elephants, bongo antelope, more than 600 butterfly species and over 260 bird species. Most visitors come for its canopy walkway — a 350-metre chain of swaying bridges linking seven treetops, one of only three in Africa. Guided walks on the forest floor add wildlife and birdlife.

It combines easily with the coast castles into a full day.

4. Accra

Ghana's capital is a sprawling, energetic city of markets, highlife and hiplife music, and street food. The set-pieces are the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, on the spot where independence was declared; the huge Makola market; the Independence (Black Star) Square; the W. E. B. Du Bois Centre; and the fishing and stilt district of Jamestown with its colonial lighthouse and annual street festival.

The beaches further east, at Ada and around the Volta estuary, are the usual weekend escape.

5. Kumasi and the Ashanti kingdom

Kumasi, the second city, is the heart of the Ashanti (Asante) kingdom, still a living institution with its own king. The Manhyia Palace museum tells its history and its wars with Britain; the enormous Kejetia market is the largest in West Africa; and craft villages nearby include Bonwire, known for kente weaving. Ten surviving Asante shrine buildings near the city form a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in 1980.

Kumasi is a long day's drive or a short flight from Accra.

6. Mole National Park

Mole, in the north, is the country's largest wildlife refuge — about 4,600 square kilometres of grassland and woodland with around 800 elephants, antelope, hippos, buffalo, warthogs, baboons, and more than 340 bird species. It also has West Africa's first luxury safari lodge.

A sharp escarpment forms the park's southern boundary.

7. The Larabanga mosque

A few kilometres from the Mole park gate, the village of Larabanga has the best-known of Ghana's ancient Sudanese-style mud mosques — a small, brilliant- white structure of earth packed around a timber frame, its founding traditionally dated to 1421. It is the oldest of eight ancient and highly revered mosques in Ghana.

It has been restored several times, most recently in 2023.

8. Wli Falls and the Volta Region

The hilly Volta Region, along the Togo border east of Lake Volta, is Ghana's greenest and best hiking country. Wli (Agumatsa) Falls, reached by an easy forest walk past colonies of fruit bats, drops in two tiers and is the highest in the country; nearby, Mount Afadja (Afadjato) is one of Ghana's highest mountains, and the Tafi Atome monkey sanctuary protects a troop of sacred mona monkeys.

Ho, the regional capital, and the mountain village of Amedzofe make good bases.

9. Nzulezo stilt village

In the Western Region near the Ivorian border, Nzulezo ("surface of water") is a village of raised wooden houses, a church and a school, all built on stilts and connected by plank walkways over a lake. Its people trace their move here to a migration guided, they say, by a snail. Visitors reach it only by canoe, a journey of about an hour.

It is usually visited from the nearby village of Beyin.

10. Lake Volta

The damming of the Volta at Akosombo in 1965 created a lake that stretches some 520 kilometres up the middle of the country — by area, the largest artificial lake on earth. It generates much of Ghana's electricity and most of that used in Togo and Benin. Day cruises from Akosombo run out to Dodi Island; the Yapei Queen cargo vessel sails up the lake to Yapei in the north; and the hills around Akosombo are a popular weekend break from Accra.

The dam and the botanical gardens at Aburi, on the drive up from Accra, are common add-ons.

Ghana is friendly, English-speaking, and reasonably easy to travel, though roads can be slow. A week covers Accra, the coast castles, Kakum, and Kumasi; adding the north (Mole, Larabanga) or the Volta Region needs 10 days or more.