Monkeys and elephants and hippos....or not

The trip to Ghana wasn't all work.  On our trek south to visit the Slave Castle in Cape Coast, we also made our way to the Kakum National Forest.  Kakum is a 145 sq miles of protected tropical rain forest.  At the park we did the canopy walk where we walked across bridges suspended from the tree tops  almost 100 feet (30 meters) up!  The walkway connected seven tree tops and was over 1,000 feet long!

I don't know about you, but when I thought of Africa, I thought of jungles and wild animals and safaris...you know, The Jungle Book and The Lion King.  Sadly my Disney fantasy of Africa was crushed.  Ghana is not the place to see lots of animals (though the group that went to the more rural Volta region got to go to a monkey sanctuary!).  There are supposedly forest elephants in Kakum but we didn't see any.  I don't even remember seeing any birds!  The park ranger explained that many of the animals in the forest are nocturnal.  The park offers an overnight visit in a tree house with a guided nocturnal tour.  If I ever go back I'm definitely going to do that!

But despite my disappointment at not seeing any cool animals, it was still pretty amazing walking through the trees.  If you're afraid of heights, this is not the activity for you!  The walkway was constructed of a metal frame with wooden planks over it...in some parts the planks were broken or there was clear sign of repair work - not the most reassuring thing to see when you're so far from the ground.  

All in all, it was a nice day away from the hustle and bustle of Accra, nice to get some fresh (ok, it was insanely hot and humid and it felt like I was breathing underwater and it was not refreshing at all, but I'm assuming the air was fresher there than in the city).  Interestingly,  most of the other people at the park were school groups. Even in Ghana, learning about the environment and the natural world is important.