Rainforest Rope Bridges in Kakum N.P.!

We are halfway thinking about a Christmas safari in Northern Ghana, but until such time, our morning spent in, or rather "above" Kakum National Park, will have to stand as the highlight of our days in Ghana thus far. The national park itself is impressive enough and the vast expanse of rainforest would be well worth exploring on foot. We stayed at the Hans Cottage Botel (see earlier entry) which was on the Kakum N.P. road and was pretty much the closest above average accommodation in the immediate area and outside of Cape Coast.

The main, rather hair-raising, attraction of the park, is the rope bridge walk, suspended above the rainforest canopy. It consists of seven rope walks that are as high as forty metres above the forest floor. In the above picture, you can just make out a person with a white t-shirt on the bridge perched high above the rainforest. It was equal parts harrowing, breathtaking, and exhilarating and unless you have a pretty intense fear of heights (speaking here as someone who has a fair bit o' fear himself), you too could conquer it! It was cause for a great moment of national pride when we learned that two Canadians were a part of the small team that constructed the bridges. There were moments where I could forget the map and the truth of our present geography and be transported to the rainforests of BC, namely Carmannah. I do feel as though I am treading heavily through sacred ecological ground in such places, but I'm also aware of the ironic truth that eco-tourism has, to a large extent, saved such places. Even Kakum N.P. has been affected by extensive logging in its recent past, though we saw no evidence of it.

Some of you are probably wondering about the kids, particularly our one-year-old Cuyler (a.k.a. Finn). Children can only go on the walkway if they can walk by themselves, and as Cuyler is very much an active 21 month old, we decided to give it a go. Carmilla and I took turns walking behind him, as he wobbled along and fell against the side mesh a couple of times. At one point his shoe fell off and Carmilla had a tiny heart attack! Thankfully, the bridges were closed in and we were able to recover both the shoe and a degree of our emotional stability.

We were on the bridges with a group of about thirty people, and we went last as we expected to be well behind the pace. Douglas, who has quietly become so much more than our driver, also came along for the walk. He pitches in with the kids like an adopted uncle and has made a number of excursions that much more enjoyable. He joined the group of people, who were waiting on the final platform, in a thunderous round of applause as Cuyler stepped off the last walkway. People were taking pictures of him as he approached the end, and he was--to be perfectly honest--pretty oblivious to any and all danger or accomplishment. I think I remember learning in psychology that fear of heights is learned, and this is a feather in the cap of him never learning such fear!

I am sorry to say that wildlife once again eluded us while on the walk. This is, in all likelihood, due to the fact that we sound similar to a cape buffalo-like herd of elephant-sized monkeys when we travel anywhere. The only thing noisier in the wilderness is progress. We did not have a chance to linger in the park and we were all feeling pretty satisfied with our having survived the walk. Cohen's shirt declares "Cool as Ice" (below) and despite the humidity of the rainforest (who turned that damned greenhouse mister on again?!) we were all feeling the statement to be true, that is after we had returned to terra firma.