Already in Ghana and have never seen the Northern Region? Journey with us to experience the largely untouched magnificence of the Northern Region of Ghana. The Northern Region, which occupies an area of about 70,383 square kilometres, is the largest region in Ghana in terms of land area. It shares boundaries with the Upper East and the Upper West Regions to the north, the Brong Ahafo and the Volta Regions to the south, and two neighboring countries, the Republic of Togo to the east, and La Cote d’ Ivoire to the west.
The region has four paramount chiefs, namely: the Yaa Na based in Yendi; the Yagbon Wura in Damango; the Bimbila Naa in Bimbila; and the Nayiri in Nalerigu. Each represents a major ethnic group. The major ethnic groups of the region are the Mole Dagbon, (52.2%) the Gurma, (21.8%) the Akan and the Guan (8.7%). Among the Mole-Dagbon, the largest subgroup are the Dagomba and the Mamprusi, while the Komkomba are the largest of the Gurma, the Chokosi of the Akan and the Gonja of the Guan. The Dagomba constitute about a third of the population of the region.
The indigenous languages spoken by the people vary from district to district. The Gonja language is spoken mostly in three districts, namely East Gonja, West Gonja and Bole. Dagbani, the language of the Dagomba, is spoken in nine of the thirteen districts. The Kokomba language is spoken mainly in some parts of Saboba-Chereponi, Zabzugu Tatale, East Gonja and Nanumba, Districts. More than half of the population of the region (56.2%) are Muslims. The rest are largely adherents of Traditional religion (21.3%), Christians (19.3%) and other religious groups (3.3%).
We will take a short, 1 hour flight from Accra to Tamale. Once we arrive, the journey continues for 2.5 hours to Bolgatanga where we will check into our hotel, freshen up, have a quick lunch and head off to visit the Tengzug Shrines. The rock formations, caves and sweeping landscape of the Tongo Hills at Tengzug are reason enough to visit, but the village is also home to multiple shrines. The shrines draw people from across Ghana and neighboring countries who believe they have a sacred power to provide guidance and resolution of problems. Tengzug’s combination of natural beauty and cultural richness has resulted in it being short-listed for future consideration as a World Heritage Site by Unesco.