Anloga tide times

Anloga is a coastal town on the eastern edge of the Keta Lagoon, roughly 15 kilometres west of Keta along the narrow strip of land that separates the lagoon from the Atlantic. The town is the cultural and commercial centre of the Anlo Ewe people and the heart of Ghana's shallot-farming industry: the sandy, salt-tolerant soils of the Keta strip support intensive shallot cultivation, and Anloga's market is the main trading point for the crop across eastern Ghana.

The physical setting is unusual even by the standards of the Ghana coast. Anloga sits on a sand ridge less than 500 metres wide, with the Atlantic on the south and the Keta Lagoon on the north. At its narrowest points between the two water bodies is less than 200 metres. The lagoon is tidal and connected to the Atlantic through several natural cuts and the Keta channel system, but the exchange is restricted enough that lagoon water levels lag the Atlantic tide by several hours and dampen significantly.

Tide data for Anloga comes from Open-Meteo Marine, a global gridded model. Timing accuracy is ±45 minutes; height accuracy is ±0.2 to 0.3 metres. The Atlantic face experiences semidiurnal tides with a spring range of approximately 0.8 to 1.2 metres. The lagoon side has a reduced tidal range — typically 0.3 to 0.6 metres at springs — due to the restricted connections with the open sea.

For fishing, Anloga has a long-standing canoe-fishing tradition on both the lagoon and the Atlantic. Lagoon fishing concentrates on tilapia, mullet, and crayfish in the shallows; canoes work the lagoon on falling tides when fish are pushed into shallow channels. Atlantic fishing from the beach uses the surf launch technique common along the Ghana coast, with hand-hauled seines and cast nets worked from the beach on incoming tides.

The Keta Lagoon is one of the largest coastal lagoons in West Africa, covering approximately 300 square kilometres and extending from near Keta westward to the Volta River mouth at Ada. It is a significant wetland for migratory birds: waders, herons, and terns use the shallow margins, and the lagoon supports commercial shrimp and crab populations harvested by local fishermen using traditional traps.

Coastal erosion at Anloga and along the entire Keta strip is severe. Sea level rise combined with the sediment starvation caused by reduced Volta River flood discharge has produced dramatic erosion rates: the town of Keta lost substantial built area to the sea in the 20th century, and the sea wall built in the 1980s by the Keta Sea Defence project protects what remains. At Anloga, the beach narrows at high spring tides and the sea wall sections show active wave impact. Visiting this coast provides a vivid illustration of the pressures facing low-lying coastal communities across the Gulf of Guinea.

Shallot farming is visible from the beach ridge: the cultivated plots extend to within metres of the Atlantic beach on the ocean-facing side, and the salt-tolerant varieties grown here are adapted to spray and occasional flooding. The farming calendar peaks in the dry season when the plots are most productive.

The shallot market at Anloga is the commercial heart of the Volta delta shallot trade. Market days draw traders from across eastern Ghana; the pungent smell of harvested shallots and the stacks of woven bags in the roadside market are a defining sensory experience of the town. The shallot harvest runs primarily from October to January; visiting during this period gives the fullest market activity. Outside the harvest season the market is quieter, though trading continues year-round as different plots come into production on staggered schedules.

The Anlo-Ewe cultural heritage of Anloga adds another layer to the coastal experience. The Anlo people are the dominant Ewe-speaking group of the Volta delta, and Anloga is their cultural capital. The Hogbetsotso Festival, held annually in November, celebrates the Anlo people's migration from the Notsie kingdom in Togo and draws participants from across the Anlo diaspora. The festival involves sea and lagoon ritual elements that reflect the community's relationship to the water. Visitors present during Hogbetsotso will encounter a coastal cultural event of unusual depth.

The community of Anlo fishermen on the Atlantic beach has adapted traditional netting techniques to the low-tidal-range Ghana coast conditions. Unlike the surf launch fisheries of west Ghana, here the beach seine — worked from both ends by groups of men pulling the net manually toward the beach — is the dominant technique. The net is set at dawn, worked for 2 to 3 hours, and hauled by 09:00 before the sun and heat build.