Kakum National Park, Ghana

One of the nervous tourists traversing the rope ladder...









This was one of the biggest trees I saw, with larger ones off in the distance!






Yours truly, 40 m above the rainforest floor!










Looking down the rope bridge from one of the viewing platforms...










ONE REALLY BIG TREE!!!








Hello Everyone,

Here are some pictures I took about two weeks ago at Kakum National Park, about an hour north of the Cape Coast area... Kakum is a semi-deciduous old-growth rain forest, with a wealth of animal life perfectly blended into its lush surrounds. The famous Canopy Tour (one of only 4 in the world) has about 350m of rope-ladder traverses by way of seven viewing platforms attached to some really huge rainforest trees. For all the non-greenies out there, these are the 'emergent' trees of the rainforest that tower above the primary and secondary understories of foliage that make up triple canopy rainforest. The LOWEST viewing platform is 18m above the ground, with the majority of the viewing platforms at 40m!!! That's 40m of tree, with still around 20% more tree until the top! Kakum also offers guided hikes around the many trails that make up the park, and the guides are extremely well-versed in the local plant and animal life.

Overall, Kakum National Park was one of the highlights of the trip here in Ghana... Ankasa was the second-best...

Even more recently I visited the Ankasa Nature Reserve in South-western Ghana, very near the border with Cote D'Ivoire. Ankasa is a true wet rainforest, with plenty of animal species like the forest elephant, monkeys, the endangered guinea fowl, and a plethora of other animals roaming the forest, which usually no one sees due to their 'shyness' of humans, and the natural cover of the forest. Ankasa is very much off the beaten path compared to Kakum, which is centrally located and close to Cape Coast and Elmina.

Ankasa, which I believe is larger than Kakum in total area, has a very basic infrastructure; the town and villages around Ankasa are very rural as well. For example, after making the 'cheap' three-legged 60km trip from Axim, I arrived at Ankasa's gates 3 hours later expecting guides ready to do some hiking. Turns out the one guide on duty was in town at the local market buying supplies. So I had to wait around 30 minutes near the gate before a Land Rover tears down the dirt road from within the park's interior. It was a staff car, and the staff were nice enough to let me tag along with them back to the market, then back into the park, where they dropped me off at the park ranger's camp. One of the newer park rangers, Isaac, was nice enough to take me on a two-hour hike through the forest's trails... When I said basic park infrastructure, this is what I meant... when we crossed rivers, we did it the old fashioned way. That is, we crossed over the rocks and fallen trees, not over any bridge or foot path. We donned rubber galoshes and the ranger brandished a gun to thwart any errant poachers or aggressive animals we may encounter. The jungle looked to be newly cut and raw, with plenty of elephant tracks and signs of wildlife; although we didn't see anything, we only heard things. Since I was with a ranger and not a guide, he gave me his perspective on dealing with animal sightings, fending off the heavily-armed poachers that still frequent the raw and porously-bordered forest, and periodically camping in the jungle at night. Although I had my camera with me, Ankasa was so thick with jungle there were really no photo opportunities, although I was ready to capture some forest elephants if we saw any. So, the above pictures are for the public, and the Ankasa experience will remain emblazoned in my own personal memory.

Stay tuned for pictures from these last two weeks I've spent at Axim Beach Hotel http://aximbeach.com which will be coming soon!

Take Care,
Chris