Mole National Park

The beauty of wildlife

Mole National Park is Ghana's biggest wildlife. The park is situated in northwest Ghana on grassland savanna and riparian ecosystems at an elevation of 150 m, with sharp escarpment forming the southern boundary of the park. The park's entrance is reached through the nearby town of Larabanga. The Lovi and Mole Rivers are ephemeral rivers flowing through the park, leaving behind only drinking holes during the long dry season. This area of Ghana receives over 1000 mm per year of rainfall. A long-term study has been done on Mole National Park to understand the impact of human hunters on the animals in the preserve.

The park's lands were set aside as a wildlife refuge in 1958. In 1971 the small human population of the area was relocated and the lands were designated a national park. The park has not seen major development as a tourist location since its original designation. The park as a protective area is underfunded and national and international concerns exist about poaching and sustainability in the park, but its protection of important resident antelope species has improved since its initial founding as a preserve. 

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The park is an important study area for scientists because of the removal of the human population from within the park allowing for some long-term studies, in particular, of relatively undisturbed sites compared to similar areas of densely populated equatorial West Africa. One study on the resident population of 800 elephants, for example, indicates that elephant damage to large trees varies with species. In Mole, elephants have a greater tendency to seriously injure economically important species such as Burkea africana, an important tropical hardwood, and Butyrospermum paradoxum, the source of shea butter, over the less important Terminalia .

Tourist at the park

Burkea africana is a member of the Legume Family that is common throughout Tropical Africa including Ghana's Mole National Park.

                      KWAME NKRUMAH MAUSOLEUM AND MEMORIAL PARK

 

walk way at the park

Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, also know as the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park KNMP is the last resting place of the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. It is dedicated to him for his outstanding campaign to liberate Ghana by then Gold Coast from colonial rule in 6th March,1957.

The entrance to the site is from the 28th February High Street just along the coast from Independence Square. It is located directly opposite the old Parliament House now known as the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice CHRAJ.

I visited the Kwame Nkrumah museum and memorial park one fine Saturday. The museum was quite small, but had some interesting articles from his life, even a bookcase he used while studying at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

 Kwame Nkrumah was the first president of Ghana, and its liberation hero. He studied at Lincoln University and the University of Pennsylvania as a youth. He was exiled after serving several years as president, when a military coup forced him to leave. He stayed in Guinea another West African country, where he was named co-president. link http//en.wikipedia,org/wiki/Ghana for more information

About twenty years after his death, Nkrumah’s remains were transferred to the memorial park in Accra.

 The site of the garden has particular significance. Not only was it once a polo field that only European expatriates could play on, it was also where Nkrumah declared Ghana’s independence in the 1950′s.

The museum and some of the statues had the word “Osagyefo” before Nkrumah’s name. It means “redeemer” in the most prominent traditional language in Ghana, Twi.

fountains at the park

 It is a nice place for travelers to know more about Kwame Nkrumah ,i like every thing on that site.

Kwame Nkrumah, (21 September 1909 – 27 April 1972) was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast from 1951 to 1966. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President Of Ghana and the first Pime minister of Ghana. An influential 20th-century advocate of Pan-Africanism.

                                                 video link youtube.Kwame Nkrumah the redeemer

 To get a real feel and understanding of this amazing country, a visit to Kwame Nkrumah Park and Museum  is a must. I gained a better understanding of Ghana, its journey to independence and its hope for freedom and African unification through peace. Kwame Nkrumah, though his actions and influence, has left a lasting mark on our world.

EFUA SUTHERLAND PARK ENTRANCE

Accra with such a large population and relatively large coverage of physical development has only a negligible proportion of planned recreational activities.  In fact open spaces constitute about 5% of the urban land structure out of which only a fraction is actually planned. 

There is a diversity of activities in the few available recreational resources – inland activities both passive and active as well as coastal/beach activities.  There is an emerging interest in beach resources while tourism in general is on the increase at least in Accra.

Accra is still a virgin area as far as development of recreational and tourism facilities are concerned.  The entire coastal front remains under-developed with large tracts of land from Osu to Jamestown being derelict.  The most deprived areas as far as recreational activities are concerned are the low-income communities including the communities in the catchments area of the Korle Lagoon.  In areas such as Jamestown and Bukom, there is simply no space to provide for recreational facilities.  Despite the potentials of development in the recreation and tourism sectors, the yield may not be sustainable due to uncertainties surrounding the tourism industry.
               

PARK WITHOUT GREENS

However Accra is still leading  destination for tourists in Ghana at least as the gateway into the country.  The recreational centers are left in a very bad condition, the sanitation problems are terrible, when i visited the Efua Santhurland Park, i saw that the place was left very untidy but speaking to the caretaker there explained that the recreational center had cleaners who take care of the place ,so one who ask how come the place is always dirty? I pass by the place all the time and each time it is the same. Is someone refusing to pay the workers or are they just being lazy.

I made time to visit the Legon Botanical garden and Nationalism Park to get answers to the question in my 1st post.

Nationalism park in Accra

Walk way at the Nationalism park

The Nationalism Park is located right beside the Accra sports stadium now the Ohenedjan sports stadium. It is a very serene and beautiful environment. The uniqueness of this park is its clean,peaceful nature and the fact that it is located in the center of town which makes its users see cars and people that pass by .Another delight of the Nationalism park  is its nearness to the people.


It is easy to get there by public transport like mini buses popularly known as "trotro" or even taxi's, from circle its less than  15 minutes drive.Driving your car is even faster. Aside its serene and beautiful nature the park has Washrooms for both male and female dust bins and cleaners who maintain the place.

 

A video of the serene Nature of the Nationalism Park

At the Nationalism Park I saw just a handful of people,some who were praying (having a quiet time) studying ,sleeping and others having a chat with their partners.It was the same scenario at the Legon botanical garden, Except that i was told by the Manager of the botanical garden that it is mostly packed on Saturdays because it is rented by for wedding receptions.
 I finally spoke to a lady who expressed her opinion about whether Ghanaians use the little parks and gardens we have and why ....

 

 You heard a Ghanaian expressing her view 

Do the other parks and gardens have proper maintenance? because i must say the Nationalism Park is properly maintained and has a very clean environment.

Parks and Botanical gardens in Ghana

Pond at Legon Botanical Garden

Parks and botanical gardens are beautiful,green, peaceful and serene environments .They are cool outdoor places where friends, family or a group of people gather for various reasons.These environments have a natural feel and scenic atmosphere with trees and play grounds for children.

Gardens are one of the most beautiful,peaceful and fascinating places in Ghana.The tranquility of gardens and parks makes it an ideal place for the stressed who want relief, the writer who wants solitary to write,the thinker for reflections, newlyweds for honeymoon, campers,nature lovers, recreation and an excellent place for picnics and wedding receptions.

Aside it’s use for social activities; they also have exotic trees of global importance and medicinal properties. The Legon Botanical Garden is one of its kind and a must experience for all Ghanaians and visitors.

Legon Botanical Garden walk way

One of the city’s largest park is the 12 acre green space in Accra central directly opposite the national theater known as Efua Sutherland Children's Park. This is a recreational center that used to be very attractive playground for children but in recent times it has become a habitat for weeds and insects.

The beauty and uniqueness of these environments is expected to attract a lot of people but unfortunately on sunny, comfortable weekends it’s actually very quiet and empty. The reason being that, the Efua Sutherland park for instance is not open to the public on regular basis but rather opened for planned programs. Ghanaians complain that the country doesn’t have enough parks or gardens for recreational activities but the question is Do Ghanaians make use of the little that we have?