Larabanga is the oldest mosque in West Africa

Northern Region

The largest and least populated region of Ghana is home to Mole National Park, Ghana’s largest wildlife refuge.  You’ll see elephants, antelope, bushbacks, monkeys, warthogs, baboons and other smaller wildlife.  There are also lots of historical and mystical things to see and do in the region, including the Sacred Grove, a nature reserve created around shrines.  Another landmark  is the Mystic Stone, an immovable stone that diverted construction of a road.  The Northern route also played a prominent role in the trading of enslaved Africans. If you are brave, you can sit on a crocodile at the Paga Crocodile Pond.  Visitors to Salaga Slave Park can see wells built by enslaved Africans  for their own bathing and drinking water.  Close by is a 500-year old Baobab tree where enslaved Africans were chained while waiting to be walked 600 miles south to Assin Manso. Though Islam only constitutes 18% of the population in Ghana, that number rises to 80% in the Northern region.  Mosques and traditional round homes dot the landscape.  No visit would be complete without a stop at Larabanga, the oldest mosque in West Africa (pictured to the left), and don’t forget your Shea butter, also famous in the region.

• Mole National Park

• Paga Crocodile Pond

• Larabanga Mosque

• Mystic Stone

• Hippopotamus Sanctuary

• Kintampo Waterfalls

• Buabeng Fiema Monkey Sanctuary

• Salaga Slave Market

• Sacred Grove

• Gambaga Scalps

• Waterfalls at Nakpanduri

• Tamale Craft Centre

• Kukuo Pottery Village

• Tamale Chief Palace