The Citi TV and Citi FM’s Heritage Month officially launched on Monday, February 28, 2022, started with its on-air series today, Tuesday, on both Citi FM and Citi TV.
The first week of the Heritage Month on-air series looked at ‘Places of Historical Significance’ in Ghana.
To help with the discussion was International Travel Adventure Photographer and Filmmaker, Steve Ababio.
Although an international traveler, he is more Afrocentric. His interest in tourism was from his travels with his father as a child growing up.
Documenting his travels began in 2004/2005 when he got in the country from abroad.
In his view, touring Ghana, beginning from Accra, some very significant historical places to visit include the Christianburg Castle in Osu and the Jamestown Light House. He also encouraged tourists to explore the art gallery in the city.
He suggested that every interchange in Accra should at least have Murals that tell a significant historical story engaging the services of talented artists around the country. This he thinks will set Accra apart.
“I noticed that there were some Murals at the interchanges, which has stopped. I think that every culturally relevant city should have significant murals. Like Paris has the Eiffel Tower, London has Big Ben, amongst others.
Touring the Central Region, everyone would immediately think about the Cape coast. But according to Steve, tourism does not begin from the Cape coast, but rather Kasoa.
“Travelling through Kasoa, you would find some of the most incredible beaches in Gomoa Fete, then there is also a Fort at Senya Breku, then to Winneba which also has its own interesting stories, and a series of very interesting places before reaching Cape coast.”
Enthusiastically, he mentions the Mankessim Market as an interesting site to tour, particularly on market days.
He also made mention of the road network to these beautiful places, making it more of a difficulty for people to want to tour the places, depriving the nation of some revenues.
“The roads to these sites are definitely bad and need to be addressed. Nonetheless, on reaching the site, you can say it was all worth it.”
Also on the series with him was Ms. Gina Arthur, an Events Planner, Fitness and Adventure Enthusiast, who became a lover of documenting places in the country that are worth visiting.
The Covid-19 pandemic strike gave light to her love for traveling and wanting to tell a story of places through pictures.
For her, there are more intriguing places to visit aside from all the known ones like the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles amongst others.
She mentioned something fascinating to her, the Farmers’ Market days, where one can get fresh goods on particular days in the market.
“One thing we should be proud of is the Farmers’ Market Days. In other places, you have just one day for Farmers’ Market. But around us, every day, there is a new thing in the market from farmers where we can get all the fresh goods to buy. We should look at making these places tourist attraction sites. The markets are a beautiful place to visit, like the Makola, Agbobloshie markets.”
Speaking about the Kakum National Park in the Central Region, she said it is a beautiful place to see animals, particularly because it is a reserve.
She however lamented how sad it is that we do not see more animals across the country because they have been eaten.
“Even Kakum, you would have to go at a certain time, so now there are camps provided for you to see the animals at night. But across the country, all the animals in the bush have been eaten and it is very sad. The luckiest you’d come to see in an animal even at the remotest places is probably a dead snake.”
Miss Gina advised that if traveling will be an exciting and remarkable experience, do not travel alone.
“If you want to have fun and experience the country, go with friends, or someone you are comfortable with. Going alone is ok, you’d get the pictures, but tourism is shared, not for one person. The more reason we share them on social media when we take the pictures.”