Lake Bosumtwi — Sacred Lake of the Ashanti

Lake Bosumtwi is the most sacred natural site of the Ashanti (Asante) people of Ghana. According to tradition, the lake is the place where the souls of the dead come to bid farewell to the god Twi (or Asase Ya, the earth goddess) before passing to the afterlife. Because of this sacred function, the lake's waters must not be defiled — traditionally, no metal or modern boats were permitted to touch the surface, and fishermen used only padua (wooden planks) to paddle across the lake.

The antelope deity Bosomtwe is the guardian spirit of the lake, and the waters are his domain. Fish from the lake are considered sacred gifts, and their periodic mass die-offs (caused by natural turnover events in the lake's stratified waters) were interpreted as the spirit's generosity — providing food in abundance.

The lake is surrounded by 22 villages, each with its own relationship to the sacred waters and its own fishing rights determined by traditional law. The lake's ecology and the communities' livelihoods are governed by a system of taboos and permissions that has functioned as an effective conservation mechanism for centuries.