Berekum, Ghana

The Berekum roundabout is a roundabout in the city of Berekum, Ghana. The roundabout is located on the main Berekum-Sunyani Highway. The statue of the woman with a baby on her back and a basket on her head is the most iconic symbol of this pleasant regional city.

Based on oral tradition there were three Akan people groups who originally migrated and settled in the area now known as Berekum. The first branch to arrive, known as the Awasu people, are said to be migrants from Denkyira now residing in Biadan. (I visited Biadan yesterday).

Berekum, nicknamed "The Golden City", is the capital of Berekum East Municipal in the Bono Region of Ghana. The city had a population of 62,364 as of 2012. The native language of the Berekum people is the Bono Twi. This nickname of Golden City was coined by Queen Elizabeth II upon her arrival here on the invitation of then President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, during her visit to this country shortly after its independence. The name has stuck since.

The city is located in the Berekum Traditional Area in which the paramount chief or the Omanhene is Daasebre Dr. Amankona Diawuo II.

These photos of the roundabout were taken from a moving vehicle yesterday, but I've walked past it several times, mostly in the evenings. Berekum is 32 km from Sunyani, which is close to where I'd had my first month-long sojourn in Ghana just over a decade ago. These regional towns and cities offer a more intimate appreciation of life in Ghana.