From Hausa, meaning a travellers’ camp or lodging place.
The zongos are the historically Muslim quarters of Ghanaian towns, settled from the nineteenth century onward by traders and migrants from northern Ghana and across the Sahel. Hausa is the common language.
In Accra the best known are Nima, Mamobi and Newtown.
They are dense, central, affordable, and among the most maligned neighbourhoods in the city by people who have never spent an evening in one. The food is outstanding, the street life is constant, and Eid there is a substantial public occasion.