Exploring tourism potential of the Upper East Region -—NCRC shows the way

Article: Benjamin Xornam Glover
17/03/08
THE Upper East Region abounds in several tourist attractions, which are potentials for investment. Despite those potentials, the region lacks the necessary infrastructure, such as hotels, restaurants and other services to support and market the industry. 
The general belief is that investment in that sector of the region’s economy with its well-known multiplier effect, as well as backward and forward linkages, would help create job opportunities in areas that had such tourist endowments.
Examples of Natural Conservation sites in the Upper East and the Upper East Region are the Widnaba eco-tourism site, the Paga Crocodile Ponds and the Tongo hills and shrines.
 Widnaba is a fascinating Kusasi cultural site that also offers the Red Volta River Valley's many natural rewards.
The story of the Widnaba people began long ago on Kusanga land in Burkina Faso. When the chief landlord died, the very numerous Kusanga clan overburdened the land. His surviving three sons and a daughter decided to search for new lands with the eldest son's horse. The youngest brother remained at Zooga, where there were good harvests and delivery of two baby, signs of good luck.
The eldest brother settled on the next land, where there were even better harvests and the delivery of three young horses, which were exceptional signs of good luck. He named the land Widnaba or Horse Chief. The other two siblings eventually founded Tilli and Kusanaba.
The Kusaasis are called "the people of the earth", as they believe the chief god, Winam, created all animals, plants and people from the earth, and continues to dwell with his creations in the atmosphere. Spirits of the deceased can commune with the chief spirit while remaining close to their surviving families. Ancestral spirits play an active role in Kusaasi traditions, beliefs and families.
At Widnaba, visitors go out in guided hikes in the scenic hills north of Widnaba and Zebilla allow fantastic views far into Burkina Faso.
 The Tongo Hills and Tengzug Shrines are also a must see tourist destination in the Upper East Region.
This unique, beautiful, culturally rich landscape is a proposed UNESCO World Heritage site. The hills, with their wondrous rock formations, caves, and natural rock shelters, are the sacred cultural centre of the Talensis.
Numerous sacred shrines, including the paramount, ba’ar Tonna’ab ya’ nee, nestle in the cliffs above the village of Tengzug.
For centuries, the many agriculturists in the Tongo Hills were harassed by slave raiders from conquest states both north and south, and many ended up as Akan forest kingdom slaves.
More slave raiders, supplying new slave owners, returned in the 1880s–90s.
The Tongo Hills have been widely known as a site of sacred power since the late 1800s. The ancestor shrine, Tonna’ab, was also a refuge and potent symbol for those who resisted "pacification" — the hills were among the last areas in Ghana to submit to British rule.
In 1911 and again in 1915, the British evicted the Talensis to end that resistance, and all access to sacred sites was banned. However, by the 1920s, it was clear that the great ancestor shrine Tonna’ab could not be destroyed. The vibrant Talensi communities of the Tongo Hills show the same tenacity today.
The Paga Crocodile Pond is a culturally protected sacred pond grove with a resident population of “friendly reptiles” that enjoy a local taboo banning anyone from harming them.
In a bid to promote community-based tourism, an Accra-based non-governmental organisation, Nature Conservation Research Centre (NCRC), has taken the initiative to develop those sites and market those eco-tourism sites in the region.
NCRC is a Ghanaian non-profit, private voluntary organisation implementing conservation initiatives to promote a greater awareness and protection of the natural, historic and cultural diversity of Ghana and ultimately the West African sub-region.
With funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and other partner agencies, NCRC is working to develop a network of community-based destinations that link tourism development with environmental, historic, and cultural conservation.
According to the National Eco-tourism Co-ordinator of NCRC, Mr Bob Nakuku, the organisation was working to develop a network of community-based destinations that link tourism development with environmental, historic, and cultural conservation.
 He said the goal was to create sustainable income-generating ventures benefiting the community, and conserving local wildlife, environment and culture.
He stated that a tourism management team comprising local community members directed the project at ground level with advice from a volunteer stationed at the rural village.
“Development activities are dependent on community input, local workmanship, and communal labour. All revenue collected from the tourism project is managed by and for the village. Electricity, adequate drinking water facilities and a new school are just a few of communities' stated goals for the future,” he added.
In the Upper East Region, Mr Nakuku said NCRC partnered Community-Based Eco-tourism Project like the Paga Sacred Crocodile Ponds, Sirigu Traditional Arts Centre, the Widnaba Eco-tourism site, and the Tongo Hills and Tengzug Shrines.
He said under the intervention, visitor centres had been constructed, while guest houses and lodges had also been built at the various sites.
In addition, dustbins, sanitation equipment and directional signs had been provided to aid tourists visiting the sites.
The people, he added, had also benefited from several capacity-building workshops to empower them with knowledge on sanitation, first aid, and HIV/AIDS prevention, among others.
Mr Nakuku said the intervention of NCRC had also led to the creation of jobs for the youth in the respective communities.
The tourism sector in the Upper East Region has a great potential.  With enough investment, it is hoped that the eco-tourism sites would be developed and in the long run, make the region the preferred tourism destination in the country, not to talk about the economic benefits that it would bring to the people.