Kakum National Park

Trip to Kakum National Park.

Kakum National Park is located within Cape Coast Region, northwest of the coast. Below is a map showing the regions of Ghana in color, Cape Coast Region is pink (to the west). Our final destination is the green region, Sunyani, to be precise. From there we will take some trips into other regions so I will refer back to this map.

Map of Ghana,
Kakum National Park is close to the coast.

The first stop was that of the canopy walk, a construction of seven hanging and swinging and swerving bridges, obviously high above ground. I had practiced balancing while exercising because I was determined to overcome my substantial fear of height. Ok, which I did in part thanks to my colleague Jeff who really helped when the swinging got really bad or when the ropes on the sides went too far down; by bridge four I was actually able to enjoy the scenery. Unsurprisingly we didn't see any animals; for one, many of the monkeys have become extinct, second, we were too many people  and third, it was the wrong time of day (noon). I wish I could have spent some night hours on one of those platforms with one other person who knows what whispering is. Below are some photos of the canopy system that was built 20 years ago.

High up in the trees--emergent trees are clearly visible.

After we recuperated from that walk we hiked to a very tall saba tree, a tropical wetland tree. The photo shows the buttress—enough for three people and more. The man in the middle is Sam, one of our four-person team.

Notice the space this tree buttress provides for three people!!

Photogenic Judi.