Insects Causing Havoc To Tourism Potential

By Stephen Kwabena Effah
Thursday, 04 October 2007

Most of the country’s waterfalls are inhabited by insects which cause onchocerchiasis or river blindness, a study has revealed, thus affecting their potential as tourist attractions.

Of the 26 waterfalls studied, 10 of them recorded the vector that cause river blindness while most of them had the larvae that cause skin lesions.

The study, conducted by the Water Research Institute (WRI), between March and September, this year, also revealed that about half the number of sites studied, have sandflies which are a nuisance to humans.

The preliminary ecological assessment study, funded by the Ministry of Tourism and Diasporan Relations,was aimed at gathering enough information about known and undocumented waterfalls in the country.

Presenting the findings on faunas of the falls, Mr. Godwin Amegbe, a Senior Research Scientist of the institute said the pressure of both the black and sand flies should be a major source of concern in efforts at developing these sites into tourist attractions.

"There is the need to control the flies which constitute a nuisance, in order to enhance the tourism potential of these sites," he advised.

Dr.Osmund Ansah-Asare, a senior research scientist said, the Amedzofe, Tsatsadu, Trudu,Kintampo Stage III and Adom waterfalls were found to be of poor quality while the rest were classified as fairly good.

He said that the poor quality of the falls were the result of domestic and agricultural activities in the catchment areas.

He also said that there is the need to do reforestation of degraded areas of the various falls to ensure that streams do not dry up in the dry seasons.

Dr.Mamaa Entsua-Mensah, a Principal Research Scientist, said that although there are numerous waterfalls in the country some of them are unknown because they have not been developed and catalogued.

"Clearly, there is a great potential for the development of more Ghanaian waterfalls into important tourist destinations," she said.

She, however, explained that eco-tourism may not necessarily pull Ghana out of its economic pain, adding that it would be prudent to view some of the falls as educational sites and preserve them for posterity and research.

The Chief Director of the Ministry, Mrs. Bridget Katsriku, said knowing the quality of the country’s waterfalls is very important as it would enhance and boost visitor confidence and make them more attractive.

She said that eco-tourism is not only a viable tool for environmental conservation and wealth creation but that more importantly, a tool for poverty reduction and therefore deplored the indiscriminate human activities around the waterfalls which are polluting them.

The various assemblies that are endowed with such resources should utilise the findings for the development of eco-tourism programmes in the district, she said.