Lake Bosomtwe

This particular picture was taken in Ghana, West Africa. In the picture you can see lake Bosomtwe. I took this picture on July 8th of this year. During this time we decided to camp along the lake for two days. We spent those wonderful days at the lake enjoying the sunshine and the pleasures of being outdoors again. In the morning the water often looked darker and clouds hung overhead, but later on in the day it would sparkle and gleam as it lapped at the lake shore. An occasional fisherman would paddle by on a boat made simply out of a wooden board that was rounded on the bottom. A basket would be tied behind him as he used his hands to paddle along and gather fish.When we swam in the lake we saw many fish darting throughout the water that were disturbed by our feet.

Around the lake are twenty four villages that dot the mountainsides. Hundreds of shiny tin roofs reflect the hot sun. At night some villages have a bit of light shining out from them that glimmer onto the lake. Others remain black in the darkness without any electricity. Lake Bosomtwe is around five miles in diameter. Some people think the lake was formed by a meteor, others speculate that it is in the mouth of an extinct volcano. The local legend is that a hunter shot down a deer and where the deer fell, sprang a fountain of water that formed the lake as it is today. This lake is used for many things such as watering crops, fishing, and its water is used for baths as well as being a place just to swim for pleasure.

Every year Lake Bosomtwe grows larger since there are no rivers taking away from the lake. It just keeps collecting water. Some of the crops that grow around the lake are corn, plantain trees, banana trees, cabbage, tomatoes, cocoa pods (That’s where your Hershey Bars come from!), cassava, and yam. Cassava, yam, and plantain are used to make a traditional dish called fufu. Fufu looks like a tan ball and it feels like a slightly sticky dough. You eat fufu in any of the following soups: Peanut soup, light soup, and palm nut soup. Either way, Lake Bosomtwe is very important to the villages around it as it provides a means of food for the villagers. The fish from the lake are used to make many local dishes like peanut soup, light soup, Ampesi, cabbage stew, and others. Sometimes they just serve fried minnows with a meal. If you were to see Lake Bosomtwe you might look toward the middle of it and think “There is so much litter!” but actually every bottle and empty jug is repurposed for fishing. The fishermen attach their nets to the bottles so everyday they can check for fish that have gotten caught. There are so many nets that when we took a boat across our boat got caught in fishing nets three times! Each time one of the owners of the boat would jump into the water and pull the nets out of the propeller. The lake is also so large that it would take you anywhere from eight to ten hours to hike around it! When you are just looking at it from the shore it doesn’t seem so large but just boating directly across took around a half hour or so, which is a lot longer than what you might think it would take. Along the lake are quite a few tourist resorts in which you might stay. There are nice hotel rooms next to the lake and some places offer you a place to pitch your tents to go camping like we did. If you should visit Ghana be sure to check out Lake Bosomtwe and the villages around it. You will find great insight and knowledge about the communities and culture there. Besides that, it has a great view and its very beautiful to look at! I hope you guys enjoyed learning about this lake as much as I did!