This sleepy town in Upper West district is too remote to see much in the way of tourist traffic, but it's an amiable place and has served as the seat of the Wa-Na (Chief of Wa) since the mid-17th century. The Wa-Na's Palace in the town center is a superb example of traditional West Sudanese adobe architecture, and there are also well-preserved mud-and-stick mosques in the town center and in nearby Nakoro.
The award-winning Wechiau Community Hippo Sanctuary south of town is a good place to look for hippos and marine birds, and the village of Sombo farther north is home to a sacred colony of the astonishing hammer-head bat, which—with a wingspan of almost 3 ft/1 m—is the largest bat on the African mainland.
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