I am so behind on posting about my travels. This is the conclusion of my January vacation series, more than three months after the fact. But as you’ll soon learn, Ghana was the gift that keeps on giving, so perhaps it’s fitting that my final post about the country is written from the vantage point of someone whose body left months ago but whose digestive system remains stuck there. My next post will deal with that sordid affair, but for now let’s stick to Ghana’s natural beauty, on full display at Kakum National Park.
I left off last time at Elmina and Cape Coast, where I visited two slave forts. During the same road trip, before heading back to Accra, we drove an hour north to Kakum for a quick canopy walk, which I had heard was a not-to-be-missed experience.
It is in fact a very-much-to-be-missed experience if you have any sort of fear of heights. I usually do, but in this case I uncharacteristically did not suffer vertigo when I looked down from each of the seven walkways suspended between some of the tallest treetops. It was a supremely beautiful view every which way you turned and I enjoyed being high above it – 30 meters, to be exact.
I need to be honest, though – my anxiety levels shot right up when I noticed that there were sections of the wire-and-rope bridge that seemed pretty frayed. The walkways were designed by a couple of Canadian engineers almost 25 years ago, and I was afraid to ask how often they are maintained. However, know that a. a little wear and tear in metal webbed cables is probably more visually disturbing than actually dangerous, and b. I am a scaredy cat who overreacts, and c. despite my trepidations, I still think that the experience was delightful and well worth the detour from the coast.
And… that’s it for Ghana, per se. Next up, a very shitty story.