The hills of Kwahu in Ghana’s Eastern Region are once again the centre of the country’s most anticipated holiday event, as the 2026 Kwahu Easter Paragliding Festival opens today, Friday April 3, and runs through Sunday April 6 at the Odweanoma Mountains in Atibie.
This year’s festival is held under the distinguished patronage of President John Dramani Mahama, with support from the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, and organised under the leadership of Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA) Chief Executive Officer Maame Efua Houadjeto.
The 2026 edition features tandem paragliding flights, aerial displays, safety demonstrations, tourism exhibitions, and curated visitor experiences aimed at positioning Ghana as a top destination for adventure and domestic tourism. Beyond the skies, a full programme of street carnivals, musical concerts, nightlife events, cultural performances, traditional displays, food bazaars, and exhibitions of Made-in-Ghana products will run across the Kwahu enclave throughout the Easter period.
A Kwahu Business Forum is also scheduled for April 3 and 4, adding a commercial dimension to the celebrations and drawing corporate participation alongside the usual festive crowds.
Now in its second decade as a formal tourism event, the Kwahu Easter Paragliding Festival was first introduced in 2005 by the Ministry of Tourism as a way to give the traditional Easter homecoming a new dimension that could attract visitors from outside the region and beyond Ghana’s borders. It has since grown into West Africa’s best-known adventure tourism attraction, with the GTA describing it as a flagship event for domestic tourism growth and job creation.
The economic pulse of Kwahu Easter extends well beyond the paragliding ridge. Hotels and guest houses across Mpraeso, Obomeng, Atibie and Nkawkaw fill to capacity in the days leading up to the holiday, while food vendors, transport operators, informal traders, photographers and event promoters all record their busiest commercial activity of the year during the Easter weekend. At GH¢1,500 per tandem flight in 2026, up from GH¢1,350 in 2025, the flagship activity alone represents growing commercial value, but the broader spending it generates across accommodation, food, movement and entertainment forms the larger part of the economic story.
Security arrangements for this year’s celebrations are extensive. Municipal Chief Executive for Kwahu South, Effah Osei Bonsu, has confirmed that over 1,000 police personnel will be strategically deployed throughout the municipality, working alongside the Ghana National Fire Service and Immigration Service to ensure a peaceful and incident-free celebration.
The GTA is collaborating with the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council, Kwahu traditional authorities, local assemblies, security agencies and private sector partners to deliver a coordinated and safe festival.
The authority has extended an open invitation to the public, corporate organisations, development partners and international tourists to attend. For many Ghanaians, the decision requires little persuasion. Kwahu Easter has built a reputation that no marketing campaign alone could manufacture: a recognisable national moment, anchored in a specific landscape, with a specific season, that people plan for months in advance and travel to from across the country and the diaspora.
