A WALK ON THE WILDSIDE
A Visit to Kakum Park for a walk on the wild side
For those who have been following our adventures here in Ghana, I appoligize for mission a day. Yesterday, Monday, we left very early, 5 am, for a trip to Cape Coast. Ghana played a large part in the exportation of slaves and has the best preserved forts, or here referred to as Castles. The most popular ones are west of Accra in Cape Coast and Elmina. The drive takes about 3 hours.
Tana holds on for dear life
Our first stop was Kakum Park, a nature preserve. They have an excellent canopy walk of 360 sqkm is breath taking. We arrived early and were treated to a show by a group of monkeys. Then there was the climb–very long climb up many steps and rocky paths to the top for the canopy walk. The view is incredible and a bit scary but all of us tried it, even our drivers Moses and Alai, though Alai and Tana took the short cut of only 2 bridges. The rest of us did all seven, yes, seven, swinging, rope bridges 13 stories above the floor of the rain forest. This was my 9th trip across the bridges and I still love the walk. The last bridge began a challenge amoung the team to see who could walk without holding on to the ropes. Thanks to Beth, we all accepted the challenge and Nicole really took the prize.
Debi, Lisa, Nicole, Beth
Lisa
Looking across to one of the bridges--Bruce, I know you are wishing you were here
To calm down all the adrenalin that was pumping from the walk, we next visited the Monkey Forest Preserve run by Annette and Dennis, a delightful couple from Holland. They have rescued animals, especially monkeys. We have become quite good friends and they really enjoy show us the newest arrivals. Unfortunately, they also tells us of those animals that have passed on. So we are sorry to hear that little Mama Lou, a blue spot nose monkey that we have come to love, has passed away.
Elf and Papa Lou are enjoying their new compound
Civet Cat
Then it was on to Elmina for a slave castle experience. Here are a few photos from the team–I stayed with the van and gave the drivers a bit of a rest. I will post team comments about this experience in a day or so. Please come back to this page.
