Tamale, Ghana

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The bank in downtown Tamale (November 1999)

Tamale (pronounced 'tamalɛ) is the capital of the Northern Region of Ghana, with a population of 305,000 (2005). It is mostly populated by Dagomba people who speak Dagbani and are followers of Islam. It is located in the northern part of the country, where the land is savanna, consisting of grasslands with drought-resistant trees. The city is like a conglomeration of villages, with many people living in traditional mud brick houses. While majority of the houses are roofed with corrugated iron sheets, a good number of them are roofed with grass. Many of these mud block compounds have TV antennae and electricity wires.

The University of Development Studies has a campus located in Tamale.

Tamale has electricity which is transported from the Akosombo Dam in the central part of Ghana. The electricity service has been relatively reliable. During periods of drought, Tamale experiences rolling blackouts because of the rationing of electricity (and water through the dam).

Telephone service is available in Tamale. Cell phones are also available in Tamale.

Bolga Road in downtown Tamale (November 1999)

There are several Internet cafes located on the major roads in Tamale. The Internet cafes are connected through Africa Online, which also offers dialup service to home users. Africa Online's Tamale office has a 256 kbit/s satellite link which is connected to a proxy server for web surfing. All direct TCP/IP traffic is channeled through a 64 kbit/s line to Accra, the capital city. Thus, the world wide web is perfectly usable in Tamale, but all other Internet applications experience packet loss and intermittent problems.

There are numerous NGOs with offices in Tamale:

USAID
Catholic Relief Services (CRS)
Ghana Institute of Linguistics, Literacy, and Bible Translation (GILLBT)
Northern Empowerment Association (NEA)
Tamale Institute of Cross-Cultural Studies (TICCS)

Indeed, Tamale is often described as the NGO capital of Ghana because it hosts most of the offices of local and international NGOs operating in the municipality.

Tamale, apart from being the administrative capital of the Northern region of Ghana, is also the capital of the local government unit of Tamale Municipality.