Dandwa Waterfall - Hidden, untapped touristic treasure
The Dandwa Waterfall, located at a deprived farming community which bears the same name in the Nkoranza South Municipality in the Bono East Region, is a beautiful gift from nature.
Advertisement
The waterfall is located on the Nkoranza-Ejura Highway, about six-kilometers from Nkoranza.
This unknown waterfall has the potential to become the main source of income for residents in the area if it is developed.
Located about 15 minutes’ drive from Nkoranza, the municipal capital, the beautiful waterfall flows from a hanging rock of about 14 feet high, before falling steeply over a rocky ledge into a plunge pool.
The area has a serene environment because of the presence of different species of trees surrounding the water which has made it a spot for holidays and festivities.
The waterfall, according to residents in the community, has flowed nonstop since it was discovered many years ago.
Aside the Dandwa Waterfall, there are beautiful caves in the area, which according to the residents served as a resting place for their ancestors.
Untapped
The waterfall, which lies in a virgin forest, remains unknown to many people because it is yet to be developed.
Other Trending Stories
Additionally, the about one-kilometre road leading to the location from the Dandwa community is in a poor state which will kill the spirit of potential tourists who may want to visit the site.
Joseph Appiagyei — Bono East Regional Director of the Ghana Tourism Authority
Even though the potential tourist site is underdeveloped, coupled with the poor nature of the road, a handful of vacationists including foreigners occasionally visit the site, especially on holidays and festive seasons to have fun.
Currently, visitors can only stand on top of the rocks to enjoy the flowing water from the fall. It is impossible to swim because there is not enough water on the ground to do so.
Attempt at development
The Daily Graphic gathered from the community that the site was handed over to a UK-based Ghanaian, Rose Twene, about six years ago under a supposed Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement.
However, after constructing five summer huts and a lawn tennis court on the upstream of the waterfall, the investor abandoned the project.
Some of the summer huts, which were left in the bush, were later burnt by bushfire, while others collapsed.
A Tour-Guide, Nana Gyimah, told the Daily Graphic that the current state of the waterfall was bad and appealed to the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) to collaborate with the Nkoranza Municipal Assembly to develop the site.
He also expressed the need for the GTA and the assembly to find ways of marketing the potential of the waterfall to attract investors to invest in the development of the site.
Mr Gyimah said developing the site would help consolidate the image of the community and generate revenue for the assembly and the region as a whole.
He said the community had made several appeals to the GTA and the assembly and other private investors to develop the site to attract tourists but they had not been successful.
Site sold
However, the Bono East Regional Director of the GTA, Joseph Appiagyei, told the Daily Graphic that the chiefs in the community had sold the site to a private developer under the PPP for the development of the site.
Advertisement
He said as a result, it was impossible for the GTA to take over the development of the site, since the authority was not privy to the agreement made between the investor and the chiefs.
Mr Appiagyei said before the chiefs handed over the site to the developer, Dandwa was part of the sites GTA had planned to develop.
He explained that since GTA operated with private partners, it allowed the investor to continue to develop the site.
Mr Appiagyei said since there were no facilities at the site, people continued to visit the area without paying any fee, adding that he believed the investor had run out of funds.
Advertisement
He, therefore, appealed to the chiefs in the area to put pressure on the investor to come back to develop the site or compensate her to allow other investors develop the site.