Koforidua

Koforidua, called Koftown locally, is the administrative centre of the Eastern Region, a hill town in cocoa country, and its principal draw for visitors is the bead market held every Thursday. Traders come from the Krobo bead-making towns and from across West Africa, and the ground fills with tables of powder-glass beads, old trade beads, Venetian and Bohemian glass brought into the region over centuries, brass, bauxite and stone, sold by the string and by weight. It is a wholesale market as much as a retail one, and the range and the prices are better than anywhere else in the country. The market runs from early morning and thins by the middle of the day.

History

By oral tradition the town takes its name from Kofi Ofori, an Akan man who built his hut under a great mahogany tree where farmers rested on their way home, the Twi word for tree being dua. Koforidua was founded in 1875 by Akan migrants from Asante, became an important road and rail junction when the Kumasi railway was completed in 1923, and is one of the country's oldest cocoa-growing centres, known for its Thursday bead market (Wikipedia, Koforidua).

What you'll find

• The Thursday bead market - tables of glass, trade and stone beads.
• Old trade beads - Venetian and Bohemian glass brought in over centuries.
• Krobo powder-glass - the locally made beads sold at source prices.
• The town - the Eastern Region capital in the cocoa hills.

When to go

Thursday is the market and the only reason to time a visit; it starts early and is largely over by the early afternoon. November to March is the driest season for travel. Other days the town is ordinary.

Good to know

Outside Thursday there is little to see. The market is crowded and prices require hard bargaining. Fakes and modern reproductions are sold as old beads. Photography is often charged or refused by traders.

Nearby

Boti Falls lies northeast; Krobo Odumase is east.

Key facts