GHANAIN FOLKTALE SERIES - THE LEGENDARY PAGA CROCODILE POND - 29/12/2020

Greetings everyone,

In this particular edition of the Ghanaian folktale series, I would like to take you to the Upper East region of Ghana, in a town called Paga. This is where the vehicle exit point from Ghana to Burkina Faso is situated just north of Bolgatanga. However, Paga is mostly known for its sacred crocodile pond that has existed for many decades.

One of the crocodiles at Paga

Legend has it that one day a traveler called Nave entered the Gold Coast (present day Ghana) from Leo (present day Burkina Faso). This traveler almost died of thirst until he came across a crocodile that led him to its pond and basically saved his life. He really cherished what the crocodile did for him and saw it as a sign from the ancestors signifying a bond between us humans and the crocodiles in the area. He therefore decided to settle there and proclaimed that none of his descendants shall ever harm any crocodile in the community.

Since his demise, the paga community inhabitants have peacefully coexisted with the crocodiles with no fear any harm at all. In fact, the locals sometimes play with them by holding and grabbing their upper back side. It is believed that their souls are interconnected with that of the prominent people of the land and has been noticed each time a crocodile dies at Paga, a high status person of the land also dies. A befitting burial is therefore provided to any crocodile that dies on in the area.

Paga is well-known in the country and one of the topmost tourist attraction sites we have in Ghana. Tourists usually come to this site to have a first hand feel of these friendly crocodiles. What happens here is that, once you arrive at the pond, the tour guide would call for them to come out of their pond. This is usually done by throwing food (mostly chicken) in the pond upon sighting the presence of one near the surface. Once it is properly fed, it would then come of out of the pond and rest gently on its stomach. Visitors would then be invited to get closer to it and take as many pictures as they want with this live crocodile.

I have personally visited the Paga crocodile pond. I must admit that I was very scared at first since it was my first experience with a live crocodile. However, the fear in me subsided once I realized how calm it and showed no signs of attack despite all the movement that was happening around it.

A picture of me touching the back of a crocodile at Paga

I learnt a lot during this visit to the pond and might pay another visit somewhere in the near future.

Note : All images are mine.

Thank you for your attention.

cc :