You will soon fly directly into Mole national park
The Mole national park is set to soon get an airstrip which will allow tourists to fly directly into Ghana’s largest wildlife refuge.
The move is part of efforts to boost domestic tourism.
Over the years, tourists have had to fly to the Tamale airport and then embark on a two-hour road journey to Ghana’s largest protected area in the Savannah Region.
But speaking on the 2015 Annual report of the Forestry Commission, the Minority leader, Haruna Iddrissu revealed this would soon be a thing of the past.
“Mr. Speaker, I support the initiative which is captured in paragraph 523; Wienco and Eco Lodges are trying to use PPP to develop a Mole airstrip. Mr. Speaker that will make visitors arrive there safely and timeously,” he said.
The Mole national park can boast of four out of the big five tourist big games.
These are leopards, lions, buffalos, and elephants.
Mole national park is also home to over 500 bird species.
An average of 17,000 tourists visit the Mole national park annually.
Despite these figures, Mr. Iddrissu believes the country has not leveraged on its wildlife in Mole to boost revenue.
He wants Ghana’s the Forestry Commission to emulate Zambia.
“When you go to Zambia, and you visit the Victoria waterfalls and the water facility around the area, you will appreciate what we can do in terms of enhanced revenue for wildlife. So the Forestry Commission of Ghana should go to Zambia and study best practice and come and improve the wildlife regime,” he added.
Meanwhile, A Rocha Ghana, a non-governmental conservation organisation supporting collaborative resource management, livelihood, and green business development, as well as landscape restoration in Mole, has said that although the reserve is one of Ghana’s main tourist destinations, it has seen very little investment.
The Deputy National Director of A Rocha, Daryl Bosu, told theghanareport.com that “key tourism facilities that need to be improved are accommodation facilities and easy access to the place (Mole)”.
While welcoming the initiative to construct an airstrip in Mole, Mr. Bosu admitted Mole was struggling with harnessing its tourism potential.
“The other issue is that we need more accommodation facilities. Currently, there’s a Mole motel and the Zaina lodge, but all of these plans depend on PPP arrangement that the Forestry Commission can be able to broker with other partners. So until then, I will say Mole is struggling along when it comes to harnessing its tourism potential,” he said in an interview with theghanareport.com.