UNESCO nominates Ghana's Mole National Park as world heritage site

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has nominated Ghana's Mole National Park as a World Heritage site, an official told local media late Tuesday.

Oscar Mthimkhulu, an expert with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said the nomination was done after Ghana' submission on the Mole National Park was found favorable and impressive.

The expert was sent to Ghana as head of a fact-finding mission after Ghana presented a proposal to UNESCO and IUCN for the adoption of Mole as a world monument.

"Yes, Ghana's presentation on Mole has been impressive hence the nomination," Mthimkhulu later told Xinhua.

Mole, 687 km north of Ghana's capital Accra, occupies the largest wildlife corridor between Ghana and Burkina Faso and has the territory's largest concentration of elephants and other forms of wild life.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana's Forestry Commission Samuel Afari-Dartey said a lot had been done to safeguard the ecological integrity of the Mole park located on a 4,575 square km of land.

"It has remained a major tourism destination in Ghana since it is the only place in the country where wildlife can easily be viewed in large numbers and at close range. As such, it attracts about 17,000 tourists annually," said Afari-Dartey.

Mole was made a a Game Reserve in 1958 by Ghana's first president Kwame Nkrumah and subsequently became a National Park in 1971. Endi