Asenema Waterfall.

Asenema sits in the forested Akuapem Hills, a short marked trail off the main road between Adukrom and Koforidua. The water drops in a single plunge of roughly fifteen to twenty metres into a clear pool, and the surrounding slopes hold bamboo, tall canopy trees and dense undergrowth.

The falls lie in the land of the Guan, among the earliest known inhabitants of present-day Ghana, who here speak Kreypong, also called Okere. The Okere District itself is young as an administrative body: it was carved out of Akuapem North in 2018, with Adukrom as its capital, and takes in seven towns — Abiriw, Dawu, Awukugua, Adukrom, Apirede, Aseseeso and Abonse.

Awukugua, a few minutes away, is held to be the birthplace of Okomfo Anokye, the priest central to the founding of the Asante state, and the district’s Umbrella Rock stands nearby.

Long before the falls appeared on any tourism map, they were part of daily life on the ridge. Accounts from the area describe Asenema as a place where farmers, traders and travellers stopped to rest and wash, drawing fresh water and meeting to exchange news and goods on the route through the hills. The name is generally understood locally to carry a sense of blessing and of spirits, and the site has long held cultural and spiritual meaning for surrounding communities.

Asenema was among the sites featured in Ghana’s UN World Tourism Day activities in September 2021. More recently the falls drew international attention when the streamer IShowSpeed opened the Ghanaian leg of his African tour here, describing the setting as calm — a broadcast that put Asenema and the wider Okere District in front of a global audience.

That attention arrived alongside a deliberate local effort. Brand Okere was established to position the district on its own terms, around eco-friendly, green and wellness tourism: farm and cocoa tours, hikes, known and lesser-known waterfalls, traditional spirituality and holistic medicine, and freshly tapped palm wine.

A note on sources. Details of the district, its towns and recent events are drawn from published reporting and the Okere District Assembly. The account of the site’s older use and the meaning of its name comes from oral tradition recorded in secondary sources, and is best confirmed with the Asenema community and traditional authorities before being treated as settled.