Ghana: Mole National Park & Larabanga Mosque
high on the list
High on the list of many but not so easy to reach is the Mole National Park. At least, back in 2003 the roads were terrible, causing long traveling times and accidents as well. But as I was passing through Tamale anyway - where I had a look at a real mystery tree - it was not a big effort and more than worth it. It was the first place in Ghana I came across that was set up for larger scale tourism, with swimming pool and bar at your convenience. On the way there, you'll pass Larabanga, where you should see the strikingly beautiful tiny mosque!
Mole National Park
The main purpose to visit the Mole National Park is probably to see the animals. By far not as spectacular or varied as the East African plains, you nevertheless can see lots of elephants, baboons and antelope, amongst others. The nice thing is that these can be observed during quite exciting walking safaris. The park lodge is an attraction in its own, situated on a high cliff overlooking part of the park, and if you have a good set of binoculars you may observe elephant groups from its terrace. The elephants also roam near the buildings in the early morning in search of some food. Fortunately there are a lot of guards. Also there's a small museum and a research center. The lodge is set up for luxury tourism as well for backpackers.
Larabanga Mosque
In the village of Larabanga (near Mole NP) you can see a striking 14th/15th century mosque, which might be one of the oldest of religious buildings in all of Ghana. Also there's a "mystery" stone that you may or may not want to see, I believe the story was that it always returned to the same spot even when it was moved to make place for road construction. People in Larabanga see busloads of tourists passing by to the NP and taking pictures at "their" mosque, still see no one spending anything. I found it understandable that hassles and begging was far more present than elsewhere in Ghana and I hope there will be a lasting community based ecotourism project developed up here in future. Note that travel writer Philip Briggs has expressed that the village might have overstated the characteristics of their tourist attractions a little, and I wouldn't be too surprised, still for me it didn't really matter if this mosque was 100, 200 or 500 years old. It's a fine structure in an authentic setting in any case
Tamale Mystery tree
At the Tamale regional hospital grounds there's a tree with an interesting story. The story goes that at some point this tree was cut down while constructing the new hospital here. However when the construction workers arrived at the grounds next morning the tree was erected again healthy and all! So it was interpreted as a sign that it should be respected and the building was redesigned around the tree. You can freely enter the hospital and have a look!
Visited: Aug 2003
Tips & Impressions originally posted on Virtualtourist.com