Salaga Slave Tree

The Salaga Slave Tree is a baobab (Adansonia) standing at the site of the former Salaga slave market, in the centre of Salaga town, East Gonja Municipal, Savannah Region. According to oral history reported in Ghanaian press coverage, slave trading at Salaga was conducted under the baobab, and enslaved people were reportedly chained to the tree and displayed for sale. Salaga was the largest slave market in West Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries, and merchants bartered salt, kola nuts, cowries, gold and European drinks for enslaved people.

The tree a visitor sees today is not the original. A large tree stood at the site until 2014; when it fell, a new tree was planted in 2016. The current baobab is therefore a replacement, maintained to keep the historical relevance of the area legible.

The tree sits within a wider heritage landscape. Nearby related features include the "Wonkan bawa" pond, described in Hausa as the "bathing spot of slaves", slave-dug wells, and a mass grave site tended by a priestess who pours libation at the tree. In July 2024 the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture inaugurated the Salaga Slave Market and heritage site, which comprises an information office, slave wells, and statues of enslaved people showing how they were chained and handled at the 18th-century market.

Practically, the former market area now also doubles as a public transportation terminal, so visitors should expect an active working space rather than a quiet monument. No verified coordinates for the tree itself were established during research; the town of Salaga is generally given as approximately 8°33′N 0°31′W. Whether the baobab is presented as a separately interpreted visitor stop or as part of the Salaga Slave Market site is not established by the sources read, and no opening hours, fees or guided-tour arrangements are confirmed here.