Mini-Safari in the Shai Hills

Akwaaba! On our most recent day trip, we decided it was time to make our way inland again so we zipped up to the Shai Hills Resource Reserve, a wildlife sanctuary well within striking distance of Accra. Actually, I think the park is within the Greater Accra Region, so once you leave the traffic of Accra behind, it takes about 30-40 minutes. The highlight of the park (as you have likely already deduced from the above picture) is the presence of about a dozen or so families of olive baboons. The family we saw tends to hang out near the park gate and is pretty photogenic.

This picture, snapped just outside the park, captures some of the struggles that any such wildlife reserve will tend to face. Fortunately, due in part to the species present, poaching is not a serious concern in the park. However, once the animals are outside of the protection of the park, they are vulnerable to traffic and other human activity. As you can imagine, the park also has some of the nicest savannah grassland habitat around, which is a temptation for local farmers and their grazing cattle. The problem with this is that these herds take command of an area in a hurry, and leave little for the species who need graze within the park. Apparently it is not uncommon for the park wardens to have to shoot one of the herd as they try to encourage them out of the park and they charge.

There are other species of monkey, reptiles, kob antelope and bushbuck in the park but I think because of the time of day, the huge tour bus groups that tramped through just before us, and our small-legged limitations, we didn’t see them. There were—to Carmilla’s chagrin and Cuyler’s delight—a number of rather large insects such as giant snails and millipedes, along with dozens of (more pleasing) butterflies.

Mafu was our guide and he has been at this park for about thirteen years. I suspect that most of his pay comes in the form of room and board for him and his family. One of these energetic children is his and this is the employee housing within the park. He said that not too long ago a huge python came and hung around the gate for a day before moving a little further into the bush to die. It is rare that people would get to catch a glimpse of the python (no small mercy, I’d say!), so it was cause for excitement and concern.

We were a bit surprised to be run off the path by what appeared to be logging trucks. When I asked, Mafu explained that they were removing the Neem trees that were encroaching on the grassland. He explained that these trees had medicinal significance for the Shai people. He said that they boiled them and then draped a blanket over top of the mixture with their head underneath. It was supposed to help with malaria and fever--sort of a vapo-rub Ghanaian-style!

We also got to hike up into some bat caves that are still used for the traditional ceremonies of the Shai people every year. (And yes, there were hundreds of bats!!) There are a number of shrines spotted throughout the park as well. In the cave there is a gathering place that is centered around the light provided by the natural opening at the top. Cohen is pictured—with our guide’s permission—in the seat of the chief. (King Cohen of the “shy” people? It works!) The Shai people used to hide in the hills in times of conflict and to escape the slave trade but they were eventually chased out by the British. The area became protected in the sixties, but the Shai people are permitted to return to their traditional lands throughout the year.

Our guide, admission fees and vehicle charge for the day amounted to a surprisingly reasonable 12 Ghana cedis (about the same in Canadian dollars)! After spending most of the morning in the reserve, we went to the Shai Hills Resort, the only choice for some miles and reloaded our food and water humps, as we had not brought anything into the park with us. While they could probably charge more and be less palatable, they were actually fairly priced and the food was very good. A lucky break because we had little choice in the matter! All in all, our first (mini) African safari was a worthwhile excursion and there were many reflective moments and long sighs as we gazed across the long savannah landscape and reminded ourselves (yet again) that we are in Africa!