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Fun days at Lake Bosomtwe back
The Abono community, the gateway to Lake Bosomtwe in the Bosomtwe District of the Ashanti Region, was, on Easter Monday, filled with hundreds of revellers who had come to the lakeside with their families and friends to have fun.
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Some came as early as 6 a.m. to avoid the annual huddle and bustle at the entry to the lake.
The entire stretch of the tarred, single and undulating road from the main checkpoint to the lake was completely at a standstill.
Traffic
Aside from those who arrived in their private vehicles, passengers on commercial buses got down from their stuck vehicles and did the rest of the journey - a barely one-hour journey - by foot, to get access to the beach.
Some had to carry, on their shoulders, the younger ones who, in some instances, got restless after a long walk and needed some assistance to enable them to continue the journey.
The traffic situation could have been worse but for the ongoing dualisation of the Kuntenase to Abono road - linking the lake, which has taken shape.
The usual long-stretch traffic congestion that characterised the stretch in the past, was, however, not the case last Monday when the news team visited the lake, one of the world’s biosphere sites, according to UNESCO.
It is among the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) comprising 669 reserves in 120 countries.
Beaches
Unlike Accra and other coastal cities where one could - at his or her leisure time- spend some moments at the beaches with their family and friends, residents in Kumasi, and, to a larger extent, the entire region, are deprived of that, and Lake Bosomtwe has become the preferred substitute for the people.
In fact, during the peak of the novel COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in public gatherings being barred to control the contact and spread of the virus, Lake Bosomtwe was what most residents missed.
“Oh COVID-19, why did you deprive us of our happiness,” one of the patrons exclaimed in his excitement as he spoke with the Daily Graphic. He said he came from Kumawu in the region to celebrate Easter Monday at the lakeside.
Another reveller, who only gave her name as Baby, and was spotted with her two children on their way to the lake, said that but for COVID-19, Easter Monday at the lake was a must for some of them and their loved ones.
Others expressed their joy over the dualisation of the entire road network from Brewery Junction in Kumasi to Lake Bosomtwe, by the government, given its socio-economic potential.
Security, business activities
A tight military cum police team was deployed to maintain law and order at the site, who, at short distances, mounted checkpoints to conduct searches on the passengers, to ensure no one entered the lake with any weapon or peddled illegal drugs such as Indian hemp and tramadol, among others.
There were also brisk business activities in the town while the usually sought-after fish popularly known as ‘Apatre’, which is harvested from the lake, was fried and served with hot pepper, most people preferring to eat it with Kenkey.
Residents of Abono took advantage of the huge crowd and sold their wares at exorbitant prices.
For example, five sizable pieces of fish (Apatre), which on a normal day was sold at GH¢20, went for GH¢80 and in some extreme cases, especially at the drinking spots, they were sold at GH¢100.
