Weekend in Kumasi

On Saturday I headed to Kumasi, Ghana’s second city, where I was to spend a couple of days shadowing a High Court judge.

The drive up was itself very interesting.  I was taken aback by how green Ghana is.  My previous experience of Africa – two weeks in Egypt and, um, a day in Morocco – left an overwhelming impression of dust and desiccation, but Ghana is completely different.  The countryside is lush and thickly vegetated - although it is the rainy season, so no doubt it is much drier in other months. 

I was intrigued by an advert we passed while driving through Kumasi, which read in large letters: “Fire is preventable.  So is AIDS.  Take precautions against both immediately”.  This struck me as an admirably efficient use of resources and I couldn't help but wonder what other previously disparate issues could be combined in this way.

I was very kindly welcomed at the home of my host, Kwame, where a meal was already being cooked for me on the outside stove.

On Sunday I visited a few places outside of Kumasi itself.  I was shown around by my host, Kwame, and members of his family:

From right to left: Kwame, me, Kwame junior (Kwame's son), Alex (Kwame's brother), and Linda (Kwame's daughter)

We started off at Lake Bosumtwi.  “Bosumtwi” translates as “fetish antelope” (obviously), a name which comes from the legend about how the lake was discovered.  This is Ghana’s largest natural body of fresh water, situated in a meteor-formed crater and surrounded by forested hills.  

Lake Bosumtwi from above

The shore of Lake Bosumtwi

We then went on the Bobiri Forest and Butterfly Sanctuary.  This reserve harbours some 400 different species of butterfly, approximately 2 of which were in evidence on Sunday: apparently butterflies don’t like the rainy season.  However, we did see some very interesting trees, including one which had split into three:

Finally, we visited a traditional Ashanti shrine (or Obosomfie) at Besease, which houses one of the lesser deities who mediate between humans and the supreme god.  The building dates from around 1850 and it was where the famous Ashanti queenmother Yaa Asantewaa consulted the spirits before attacking the British fort at Kumasi.