Tourist 101
There is tourism in Ghana. Besides the beach and erm… erm….
Well, there is the “canopy walk”. This natural wonder was mentioned to me on my arrival in Ghana, in July last year. Lots of people have mentioned it and my first long weekend in Ghana (that we can actually take), this was high on the list.
Four guys – our plant manager. Workshop manager and Draftsman, hopped into my *new* vehicle and at 9am pressed off to go to the canopy walk. The road we took was past Wassa Mine to the main Kumasi/Cape Coast road. Considering that I had traveled the road once 8 months ago and Ike had traveled the road in February once, we knew “exactly” where we were going. Four guys in a car are loathe to ask for directions, but after a few wrong turns, asking a few people on the side of the road we finally arrived at the National Park.
GHC2,000 per person for entry was reasonable. The entrance fee to the canopy walk was GHC 90.000 for “Non Locals” (ZAR60.00). We stopped off for a beer first – was a thirsty drive – and after waiting for 30 minutes for a “tour guide” to make an appearance we finally took a walk through the only rain forest in Ghana.
The forest was identified in 1994, consists of 450ha of forest and is reputed to have bears, leopard, birdlife and 280 types of insects. I saw some ants and two butterflies. *shake of head*
The canopy walk consisted of a suspended rope walkway between five platforms mounted on tall trees which allow you to walk above the canopy – ergo the name – and look down onto the forest. I am not a great heights person and the entire walk was not made easy by the fact the part that you walk on was made from aluminum ladders with a board bolted on, was built in 1995 and the lads charged with maintaining the walkway were sitting on the ground playing cards.
The guides function was telling us we had 66 steps to climb up before we reached the walkway, give the above mentioned history and leave us to do the canopy walk by ourselves. Oh yes ! he did appear once we came off the canopy walk and “ask” – read demand – a tip. Silly little individual.
All in all it was interesting, but I am not sure as to their rainforest definition as the forest seemed really young to me, without the darkness and wetness that one would associate with a rain forest as well as no animals at all.
But the beer was cold.
We also all purchased a fresh coconut which was chocca with very sweet milk for GHC 1500. (ZAR 1.00).
We then decided seen that we were only around 30kms from Cape Coast, that would be a nice place to eat lunch. After getting lost in town, driving around in a figure of eight and getting stuck in traffic we finally ended up at the local hotel for lunch.
Was a great meal with basically 4 people having salad/sandwich starters and main course of meat/fish with beer and coffee cost GHC180.000 each. (R120.00). This at tourist prices which was great.
We left Cape Coast at 4pm, much too late to go to the slave castle, which was a pity, and got home happy chappies at 6:30.
Tourist 101 complete.
Well, there is the “canopy walk”. This natural wonder was mentioned to me on my arrival in Ghana, in July last year. Lots of people have mentioned it and my first long weekend in Ghana (that we can actually take), this was high on the list.
Four guys – our plant manager. Workshop manager and Draftsman, hopped into my *new* vehicle and at 9am pressed off to go to the canopy walk. The road we took was past Wassa Mine to the main Kumasi/Cape Coast road. Considering that I had traveled the road once 8 months ago and Ike had traveled the road in February once, we knew “exactly” where we were going. Four guys in a car are loathe to ask for directions, but after a few wrong turns, asking a few people on the side of the road we finally arrived at the National Park.
GHC2,000 per person for entry was reasonable. The entrance fee to the canopy walk was GHC 90.000 for “Non Locals” (ZAR60.00). We stopped off for a beer first – was a thirsty drive – and after waiting for 30 minutes for a “tour guide” to make an appearance we finally took a walk through the only rain forest in Ghana.
The forest was identified in 1994, consists of 450ha of forest and is reputed to have bears, leopard, birdlife and 280 types of insects. I saw some ants and two butterflies. *shake of head*
The canopy walk consisted of a suspended rope walkway between five platforms mounted on tall trees which allow you to walk above the canopy – ergo the name – and look down onto the forest. I am not a great heights person and the entire walk was not made easy by the fact the part that you walk on was made from aluminum ladders with a board bolted on, was built in 1995 and the lads charged with maintaining the walkway were sitting on the ground playing cards.
The guides function was telling us we had 66 steps to climb up before we reached the walkway, give the above mentioned history and leave us to do the canopy walk by ourselves. Oh yes ! he did appear once we came off the canopy walk and “ask” – read demand – a tip. Silly little individual.
All in all it was interesting, but I am not sure as to their rainforest definition as the forest seemed really young to me, without the darkness and wetness that one would associate with a rain forest as well as no animals at all.
But the beer was cold.
We also all purchased a fresh coconut which was chocca with very sweet milk for GHC 1500. (ZAR 1.00).
We then decided seen that we were only around 30kms from Cape Coast, that would be a nice place to eat lunch. After getting lost in town, driving around in a figure of eight and getting stuck in traffic we finally ended up at the local hotel for lunch.
Was a great meal with basically 4 people having salad/sandwich starters and main course of meat/fish with beer and coffee cost GHC180.000 each. (R120.00). This at tourist prices which was great.
We left Cape Coast at 4pm, much too late to go to the slave castle, which was a pity, and got home happy chappies at 6:30.
Tourist 101 complete.
1 Comments:
I was wondering about this treetop tour. Forest are generally pretty, well, green and leavy. Surprised you didn't see spiders, and lots of them.
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