Most visitors treat Tamale as a jumping-off point for the wildlife and landscapes of northern Ghana, and Mole National Park is genuinely worth the journey. But the city itself has more to offer than a night in a guesthouse before the bus west. The central market, the Central Mosque, and the Cultural Centre give a solid morning's worth of northern Ghanaian life. If your timing is right, the Damba Festival or Bugum Fire Festival will be the most memorable thing you see in Ghana — not the park, the parade.