Wli Falls

WaterfallsHohoe Municipality, Volta Region,Ghana

Ghana's tallest waterfall, an 80-metre drop off a forested escarpment beside a cliff sheltering up to a quarter of a million fruit bats.

September·Peaking now

Jun–Oct

Wet-season rains, heaviest in September, drive the falls to their loudest and widest, throwing a cold misty downdraft across the bowl. The bats have gone, though: the lower trail is muddy and slippery, and the upper-falls hike is too treacherous to attempt.

Year-round The falls run year-round, and so does the sanctuary behind them: some 400 butterfly species and more than 200 kinds of bird, in any month you come.

Wli is the tallest waterfall in Ghana, about eighty metres in two drops off a forested escarpment in the Volta Region, and the dark rock beside it is not rock. The path in follows the river through farmland and forest crossing the water eight times on plank bridges while the roar builds ahead of you. The sanctuary counts some four hundred butterfly species, and on a still day they are what you notice between crossings. The lower falls empty into a wide pool open to swimmers, a few steps from where the water lands. It comes straight off the escarpment and is cold enough to take your breath, which after the humid walk in is the point. The plunge pushes a permanent wind and a fine mist across the base. Once the sun climbs over the gorge wall in the afternoon, a rainbow stands in that spray until the light moves on. Then you look properly at the cliff and it turns into animals. Straw-coloured fruit bats fill every crevice, up to a quarter of a million, loud enough to hear over the water. When something spooks the colony it peels off the wall in one shifting cloud. A steep trail switchbacks up to the higher of the two falls, three or four hours there and back with a guide, trading the easy stroll for a canopy-level view over the forest toward Togo. The water falls here for a plain reason. The river is running off the edge of a folded ridge that Ghana shares with Togo, ancient sandstone and shale buckled up and then worn back into an escarpment, and the same ridge carries the country's highest summit. It is often billed as the highest waterfall in West Africa, which it is not: Farin Ruwa in Nigeria falls nearly twice as far. And the bats do not stay. Tagged animals have crossed thousands of kilometres of Africa, so the cliff that holds a quarter of a million empties out when the season turns.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Go in the late afternoon — the gorge wall keeps the base in shadow all morning, and the colony only stirs and streams out to feed as the day cools.
The bridges and the wet rock get genuinely slippery when the river is high, so wear shoes with grip; the pool is safe to swim but cold enough to knock the breath out of you.
Upper Wli is a separate expedition, not an add-on — a steep three-to-four-hour round trip with a guide, rewarded by a canopy-level view most visitors never bother with.

Things to do

1
Swim in the plunge pool
The lower falls empty into a wide pool that is open to swimmers, a few steps from where the water lands. It is fed straight off the escarpment and stays cold enough to take your breath, which after the humid walk in is exactly the point. The plunge pushes a permanent wind and a fine mist across the base, and once the sun climbs over the gorge wall in the afternoon a rainbow stands in that spray until the light moves on.
2
Find the bats on the cliff face
The dark rock beside the plunge looks empty until you focus and it turns into animals. Straw-coloured fruit bats are wedged into every crevice, up to a quarter of a million of them, loud enough to hear over the water. When something spooks the colony it peels off the wall in a single shifting cloud.
3
Hike to Upper Wli Falls
A steep trail switchbacks up the escarpment to the higher of the two falls, three to four hours there and back with a guide. It trades the easy stroll for a canopy-level view over the forest toward Togo, and you will likely have it to yourself.
4
Cross the eight bridges of the Agumatsa trail
The path in follows the river through farmland and forest, crossing the water eight times on plank bridges as the roar builds ahead. The sanctuary counts some 400 species of butterfly, and on a still day they are the thing you notice most between crossings.

Nearby

137 km