By Abdul Raafi Mohammed
Rafiu fishbone | https://rafiufishbone.com/gh/
Tamale has recently been the center of discussion after the political season. In Tamale, for instance, many vote on the basis of the political flag. But this year was a different thing altogether.
Business went on after people in the city cast their ballots on the 7th December 2020 signaling to residence that the Northern region has grown over the years. Speaking of growth, so has the interesting sites in the region, residence and historians are taking a key interest in tourist sites, art spaces, and simple luxurious spots and hangouts.
So if you have your bags packed and still trying to figure out where to go, maybe you should consider taking a trip to Tamale, maybe get to experience how 31st night is celebrated.
If you are taking a morning flight from Accra/Kumasi, you should be in Tamale around 8 am. Tamale has some 4star hotels and also affordable guesthouses which are incredible, hopefully, in another holiday piece, we would help you with a list of hotels and guest houses in Tamale.
Alright back to schedule, you should be in your choice of hotel or guesthouse within an hour and a half. if you are not exhausted and too excited to start your adventure in the city of Tamale, then your first site seeing at the SCCA Tamale.
Day 1 Adventures
SCCA Tamale
In March of 2019, the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) was opened. The center first showcased the work of renowned Ghanaian modernist art, Galle Winston Kofi Dawson. The exhibition was a retrospective of the work of the artist.
The exhibition included a great number of works from the artist that spanned for five decades such as soil painting, woodcut, ink and line drawing, acrylic collage, sculpture, and installation. These arts work also informs people that the artist likes experimentation and innovations while working.
September 4, 2020. The Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA) made another opening, this time, the life work of Dr. Agyeman Osei (Dota), titled Akutia: Blindfolding the Sun and the Poetics of Peace (A Retrospective of Agyeman Ossei ‘Dota’), co-curated by Adwoa Amoah, Kwasi Ohene-Ayeh and Tracy Naa Koshie Thompson at SCCA Tamale and Red Clay.
Akutia art exhibition is a retrospective of the life’s work of Agyeman Osei (Dota). Engrossed in arts, the artiste’s style of work includes translating Akan proverbs, idioms, legends, myths, etc. into paintings, theatre plays, animations, and sculptures. He literally embeds his thought in these literary arts as a means of communicating.
After that refreshing view for art works we bet you might want to brunch for a drink or maybe go for lunch straight. Don’t worry Tamale got you covered. Grab a sit at the SCCA library and place an order from Adee’s Food | ZEE ROYAL Consult | Maaya Food Court MFC | Ana’s Pizza, Tamale
Is the 2nd place to visit before heading back to your hotel or guest’s house, Hopin Academy is a hub of entrepreneurial and tech enthusiasts. These young giants have created and built touchless hand-washing cisterns, introduced a Business Incubation Program, SEED Ghana project, AppCycle, and many more.
HOPin Academy is an entrepreneurship ecosystem organization located in Tamale, they provide pragmatic and innovative approaches towards exploring the various fields of entrepreneurship with the aid of technology.
Hopin Academy SEED project seeks to empower youth to advocate for better policies for doing entrepreneurship in northern Ghana, this will in the long run create a safer environment for entrepreneurship to thrive and reduce the poverty rate in the northern part of Ghana.
Day 2 Adventures
Sometimes we just need a place to go and relax, bring us closer to our environment and reflect on the past, present, and future. One place to visit when in Tamale is the Red Clay Studios and Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art.
At Redclay centre in Jana Kpeng, the centre has created space to teach children. The Redclay use their experimental aircrafts as classrooms to teach. This, the founder explained will create a motivating environment for the children.
One of the children who has shown keen interest in this training is Abdul-Latif; son of the Assembly member of the locality where Redclay is situated.
Within few training sessions with Ibrahim Mahama, he is flying drones and also teaching his colleagues in the area. Abdul-Latif has also learned to take photos with the camera and does that passionately.
The drone practice with his community mates happens to like their usual playgrounds. They play with it at Redclay like playing with sand.
Fatsu Fashion House
Fatsu Fashion House specializes in designing & sewing bespoke, ready-to-wear apparel for both women and kids. Founded by Fatima Sumani, They offer Weekdays and Weekends Training Sessions 🛐 Fashion & Design Workshops 💡 Fashion Entrepreneurship.
Day 3 Adventures
The Famous Nkrumah Volini
To those who were born in the 1970s, 1980s and the 90s, in Tamale, the story of Nkrumah ‘volini’ was part of the stories told to children.
Located at Nyohini, three-hundred (300) metres away from the Abedi Pele roundabout, Nkrumah ‘volini’ has been believed by the locality to have some form of spirituality surrounding it.
As a very old structure, Nkrumah ‘volini’ is a habitat to some owls, pythons, vampire bats, and other few creatures. The pythons are said to be spiritually inclined to the place, since the locality in which it is situated (Nyohini) consider their land god to be a python.
On rare occasions, people have come across a very big python there, which have been considered as a god. Sometimes, some snakes are seen with ring(s) around their tail ends. This even intensify their spiritual thoughts about the building.
People often said those days that, Dr, Kwame Nkrumah had built the place as a safe house – and that, it was connected to all regions of Ghana. According to the myths told, Nkrumah had envision times of wars and by way of protecting Ghanaians, he built it as a secret passage through the underground to the ocean.
SmockyWorld was adjudged the Start-Up Brand of the Year at the third edition of the Ghana Business Awards (GBA) which came off last week at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel in Accra.
SmockyWorld makes quality hand woven Smock fabric, and also ready to wear apparels made from the Smock fabrics. We are dedicated to providing an ensemble of fashion items to clients from all over the world that will enable them to connect to rich Ghanaian (northern) history, make meaningful use of their own unique and modern tastes for fashion, and feel high self-confidence when they appear in any sociable environment.
“Each smock has its own story as they were uniquely made for Chiefs (the ruling class/elite).
Again, each smock has both cultural and historical symbolism attached to it. Therefore, when one wears a smock it is worth knowing a little bit about its history; for instance, to whom it was made for and why it was made,”
Mrs Gertrude Kunde Kwallinjam, founder of SmockyWorld
Through the indigenous smock fabrics, Smockyworld provides the unique opportunity for its clients all over the world to connect with the rich Ghanaian (Northern) history in unique and modern fashion designs to enable them to express their distinctive identity by connecting their past heritage with modernity. This nouveau fashion style has caught on around the nation and influenced many other brands.
