Man Burns Charcoal, Leaving Mountain Adjato in Horrible Flames

The busy tourism activities in the resort community of Liati-Wote, which is situated at the base of the mountain, was suspended for a number of days due to the devastating forest fire that has destroyed a significant portion of the tree cover on Afadjato, Ghana’s highest mountain.

Larger cocoa, coffee, plantain, banana, maize, vegetable, and cassava farmlands along the 885-meter highland’s slopes were also destroyed by the fire.

The majority of the locals were at home evaluating their losses because of the fire’s threat, which contributed to the quiet environment in an area where making noise and owning dogs are customarily prohibited.

A number of plantain and cocoa farmers lost their plantations to the fire, but local firefighters were able to save other farms.

Numerous wildlife species, including antelopes, impalas, tortoises, grasscutters, snails, snakes, and butterflies, were also killed by the three-day-long fire. A sombre brown hue is left by the charred trees that have left the once-lush mountain bare.

Togbe Kordadza V, the Chief of Liati-Wote, blamed a man from a nearby community for the fire by carelessly burning charcoal.

“The fire was the result of charcoal burning by a man who left the flames from the charcoal unchecked, making it spread rapidly with the aid of the strong harmattan wind in the extremely dry weather,” he explained.

According to the chief, the fire severely damaged the livelihoods of the residents of Liati-Wote.

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The community is looking into the possibility of creating a vigilante group to keep an eye on and catch those causing fires on the mountain in order to stop similar incidents in the future.

For safety reasons, visitors were temporarily prohibited from visiting Afadjato and Tagbo Falls after the fire. But now that the tours are operating again, people are going back to the mountain and the fall.